10 JRPGs That Are A 10/10! | Backlog Battle 

Interesting that you chose DQ VIII vs XI I can't really compare the 2 as I only played XI

not disagreeing with your list at all; just curious as to your opinion. how do you feel about chrono cross?

@@swampsong9740 Honestly, it's been more than 20 years since I played it, so I'll have to revisit it again to see if I still like it. THAT SAID, the most memorable part of Chrono Cross to me is its soundtrack! It's absolutely phenomenal!

I LOVED how you introduced FFVI. I have so many amazing memories of this game. It was the first RPG I played as a kid where I became OBSESSED with the story

@@HelloHero08 I was less about Comparing and more about what games I really wanted to talk about in this video!

It also has incredible pacing. There aren't many slow points in the game at all, always onto the next plot line. I feel a lot of JRPGs suffer from a lack of editing and proper pacing.

@@76_SPZLand the only true slow part of the game is btw when you get Crono back and when you actually go fight Lavos. That’s it. The slow time is doing the side content to get the best gear in the game and even that is fun because of all the stories that get wrapped up and side bosses you can fight.

You're gonna

Yeah I played it for the first time last year. I had just finished Persona 5 and was dead tired mentally, because the first 30 hours were cool, the last 70 hours were exhausting. But then playing Chrono Trigger freshened me back up! Just a pure fun ride from start to finish.

I played the game on a SNES a bunch of years ago and it also had a full playthrough 100% with all the consumables at 99, so it gave my new game something to aim for, still one of my favorite rpgs.

It’s a 10/10 in my heart

While I enjoyed the game, it's writing leaves a lot to be desired. However if I were younger when I released it probably would not have bothered me so much. But some of the dialog is incredibly awful in the game. Particularly Rose, who is supposed to be hardened and stoic, makes some of the most out of character statements randomly.

Back when it first came out, I remember being so excited to play it. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand the combat, and as such, just couldn't get much enjoyment out of it. I played through it once, and haven't touched it since. I'm not even sure I finished it. Every time I look through my games and see it there I always feel a pang of regret that things turned out that way. Any kind of combat that requires specific timing for button presses, I just couldn't handle. All my life, I've never had any sense of timing or rhythm. Not only that, but since you had to press the buttons when the reticle landed within a specific area, I had to focus all my attention and concentration on that one area during the attack, meaning even in the off-chance I managed to get lucky and press it at the right time, I wouldn't even see the cool attack animations because my focus was on that one specific spot. I know it might sound weird to people who've never had that problem, but it was a big deal to me growing up. There was a lot I couldn't do because of it. I still have that problem today, though it's such a natural part of my life that I'm used to it. When it comes to games, I've never been able to properly play ones like that, though. I just can't get any enjoyment out of it when I miss out of key aspects of the gameplay.

The only four disk RPG my adhd ass could stay with as a kid. Masterpiece

@@geoffreychauvin1474 if you are talking about the translation bits there are 2 notes about that. first is a lot of Japanese games, manga, and even media even now a days uses absurd names to represent things (just take a look at the names for death notes prisoners DBZ basically is a pun-fest) 2nd if you are referring to translation errors that was common place back in the 90's because jrpg's were no where near as popular in the west as they are now and even in popular games such as mentioned if you pay attention there are errors everywhere people just choose not to pay attention to them.

It's aged quite well too!

If you get a chance to play FF3 you might find something a little familiar.

FFVI has always gotten love. FF IV and FF V need some love :)

@@lf170 FF5 super under rated

@@professionalinsultant3206 agreed! While not better than IV or VI imo, FFV doesn't get the love it deserves.

One of the few games I went for 1000 achievement points on. The villain was corny but the good guys were all pretty captivating.

💯

Gawt dammmm right

I never liked it back in the day, but your hype towards over it makes me want to give it another chance.

​@@acidwizard6528 was it the random encounters?

@@michaelclifton9498 It was over 20 years ago, but I remember a little of what turned me off. I prefer big sprawling adventures with a cast of well developed characters each with their own backstory and motivations. IIRC in Vagrant Story you play as only one guy and there is no world exploration per se, you just go from dungeon to dungeon. There are cutscenes in between dungeons, but the story didn't leave an impression on me compared to other games from the era like Star Ocean 2, Lunar SSS, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Valkyrie Profile. The battles felt clunky where you only had the one character and you would attack certain body parts of your opponent, then when your HP got low you would heal and rinse repeat until the enemy was dead. It's been more than 20 years and what didn't appeal to me then, might be more amenable now though.

I saw Lunar and cried out "F- yea!" Just hearing the first few notes of Wind's Nocturne.

Lunar and Vay were my jam on Sega CD. I burned SO MANY HOURS. .... omg to be a teenager again and replay those.

a great game with best gameplay and storyline. I love it so much.

Have to show my mother this comment ABSOLUTELY

Is it much better than OT1?

@@Gugassauro from what i Heard yeah, pretty much. Waiting for It to be on sale to buy It🤔

@@Gugassauro it’s a lot better. I fucking love OT1 too. But the sequel is goat status

The game is as close to perfect as a game could be. It's so crazy that after all these years they still haven't surpassed it.

@@lloydlineske2642 All the truth! The stars aligned to bring this game into existence.

Definitely stands out among the others. 11/10

@@lloydlineske2642 how do you surpassed perfection? :)

Played it much later in life thought it was highly overrated

Definitely in my top 5, maybe top 3.

The best until Nier Automata

One's a fact the other's an opinion

​@@DragAmiotpersona too

FF6 enters the chat

I loved it. I loved Tales of Symphonia even more.

i dont know why i prefer XI but VIII is the original international Dragon Quest gem

you guys should try Dragon Quest V. Best story in the series imo.

When I was a kid I got the lunar eternal blue box set and Chrono trigger/final fantasy IV and couldn't have been happier. I remember being blown away as I had never seen an animated cutscene in a video game like the ones in lunar. That probably was my first introduction to Japanese animation as well.

Hail Hell Mel!

I just played it for the 1st time a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic. Psx version.

Yeah, people point to Chrono Trigger as being the quintessential JRPG, but Lunar Silver Star is absolute perfection thanks to its endearing cast, simple-but-well-told story, perfect pacing, and general upbeat vibes.

Have my original copies of The Silver Star and Eternal Blue. Take out my Sega CD every now and then to play them both.

Glad to see you agree!

triangle strategy? You mean Fire Emblem :P

@@kukukachuRecent fire emblem wishes it could be triangle strategy

@@Mariowizard9 eh…I’ll take great gameplay in a tactical rpg over extensive overbloated stories.

@@Mariowizard9 true that, but then again, a body snatcher got to the franchise as a whole.

Hey man! OMG Lufia II, FFVI, Chrono Trigger is my SNES top3. SO many memories. and BOFIII! Takes me back.

I still think about the original PS2 release constantly. I originally bought the 3DS re-release with all the bells and whistles and sold it because I couldn't stand the MIDI soundtrack LOL

@@BacklogBattle I know what you mean I always play the PS2 version cause the 3DS version just isn't the same without the orchestral soundtrack. The same reason the original version of DQXI just didn't cut it for me.

Never forget when the curse was taken off and the king looked the "same"

I loved it. I loved Tales of Symphonia even more.

I remember getting timbrel of tension on this

It definitely doesn't! Yasumi Matsuno is the man!

Vagrant Story is extra dope. Legend of the Dragoon will always be my number 1 jrpg. It got me interested in a genre for years I thought I would hate, and while the reveal was fairly predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed every facet of that game. Suikoden is up there too.

@@davidrosensin7985 great choices of course.

When FF8 was dropped by Squaresoft I thought they would go on forever. When the first Final Fantasy movie came out and about the same time Vagrant Story, the game didn't get great reviews because of the blocky look of the people. I'm not sure exactly what happened next but SquareEnix was born just after that so Vagrant Story was easily overshadowed by Breath of Fire 4, Chrono Cross and people were still playing Suikoden 2 and Pokemon yellow. The combat seemed confusing at first and most of the time I didn't care too much about where I hit, just as long as I hit. Even people today have a hard time focusing. If it takes too long for combat then people tend to give up on the game.

Yup. Never gets the love it deserves online

The things I would do for this game to get a fresh coat of paint are endless.

DQ 8 was amazing! but I felt it went on for a few hours longer than it should have. DQ 11 kind of had the same issue but meh, both were still amazing.

Dq IX is by far my favorite game ever made, characters, battle system, monster taming, story, post game, vast world. Like MAN as a kid I had multiple play throughs and did a no flee challenge run for fun, truly a goated game everybody should play I admit it's flawed but it's my number 1 childhood game and nostalgia wins

DQ VII, VIII, IX and XI are some of my favorite games. Like KID as a man I played each of them once and then it was on to the next game, maybe a platformer or a shmup. Played the first one when it came out, but I don’t remember too much about it, except it was called Dragon Warrior. I don’t have any childhood nostalgia for videogames because they didn’t exist then! Game On!

Because it needs to be remastered and released on modern consoles.

8 was so good I couldn’t get into 11 that much. i was comparing too much. The fact that the game still holds up to this day whether on the 3ds, iPad or even just emulated sooooo well goes to show how ahead of its time it was.

True. I prefer Chrono Cross than trigger. I find chrono trigger a boring game

I own them on PlayStation but yes amazing games !

Yeah... Star Ocean and Xenogears felt so fresh when playing them back in the day. SO was my first real-time action RPG and I remember Xenogears for it's amazing cutscenes and story telling

preach brother

Replay?? It is ultra linear game for one run, maximum two to compare the story from the start.

@@dencheq It also has multiple endings. And the story is engaging. My opinion may differ from yours and that's OK. Have a nice day!

@@johnnycashm0ney307 Yeah, I forgot there are multiple endings

@@dencheq I haven't completed the game but I'm guessing the multiple endings happen from a choice right at the end, is this the case? And if so, then the replayability is only from that point onwards.

@@permadeath4767 Better to watch those endings on youtube. Most endings are the same thing but depend on when have you defeat Lavos.

i keep waiting for capcom to make a remaster for breath of fire series like they did with megaman . As for the list , i add Legend of Legaia , and Grandia series .

I think Breath of FIre IV is definitely a 10.

@@gasparddelanuit3462 would like to add Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1 and 2 to the list :)

The end game bonus stuff is amazing. Nobody does this anymore.

you should try triangle strategy out! while it may be not everyone's favorite rpg type it definitely can deliver on the story department and replayability aspect of it.

I liked FF:Tactics, but when I played Triangle Strategy it felt hollow. The SRPG combat was solid, but the characters and story were very simplistic. There was a veneer of a story / characters, but it was all just surface level and formulaic. The music in Triangle Strategy was maddeningly repetitive -- it's one of the few game soundtracks my wife complained about having to hear. FF:Tactics was superior in almost every way, aside from the combat - which was different but not better/worse. I loved the old FF games up through X - I also considered that the last of the masterpieces before FF started losing its way. I forgot about Lost Odyssey -- might need to pick it up and try it out!

Anyone who mentions Lunar is fantastic in my book and deserving of a feature!

All this love making me want to give it another run. I was on recruiting the nurse and was getting a little blah and put it down. For other games that came out at same time.

@@Trace153 The initial stories are alwasy going to be a bit heavy on dialogue and light on action as they also "initiate" you to combat, but the game is fantastic and I'm not someone who necessarily complained about OT1, but OT2 has so many QoL improvements it's ridiculous. All of the stories are better in 2 IMO as well. Throne, Osvald and Hikari stand out for me, but there wasn't a story I was annoyed to complete.

Made me happy as well ❤

Blue is by far the better and I'm surprised as well . Even to this day blue is in my top 5

I read some of the entries while looking for footage for the game and I swear I shed a tear and stopped reading ASAP LOL. Such a crazy sad game.

There is one story in the 1000 year dreams that had me stand in silence with tears in my eyes for about 5 minutes after it ended. It was like standing still, quietly, total silence, just looking to myself and nothing else. Then, another day, I decided to read that story again, already knowing what was gonna happen... and I again I stood still after reading it, sobbing this time because I read it more carefully. The same story. I don't remember any kind of media had had the power to do this to me ever twice. I think the way the background images, sound, music and text pace helps a lot to amplify things, but even that wouldn't work if the content of the stories weren't so thought provoking and moving. They are also varied and rich, so that at least some of them will hit a "critical hit" and connect perfectly with one of the reader's past experiences or feelings, causing the emotional reponse. The 1000 Years Dreams is something unique. Truly special.

havnt watched it but i can prob guess 8 out of 10 games in this video😂

@@sanane66543 give it a try, it will be fun :). I think there are a couple you wont find. Don’t cheat though :)

@@someonefromcanada2668 i did ive guess 6 out of 10 right so my guessing power accuracy is about 60%

@@sanane66543 pretty impressive! So many great jrpgs out there.

@@someonefromcanada2668 yea for sure for me the most excited i am are dq 12, persona 6, ff7 r p2, ff10 x3? ive heard rumours idk if this will happen do, and a new nier automata game would be great

So many people asking me about that! But yes, I do need to do a part 2!

@AntiquusUnum701 Not yet, unfortunately…

for me it was FFX...

My first was FF7

❤

Great to hear! Figured I started with more recent games, then going backwards to enhance the effect!

Vagrant Story isn't in nearly enough conversations these days. That game is a fantastic piece of work!

Thank you so much!

It's one that people can easily miss! Really happy to see so many people commenting and supporting Lunar!

So many memories of pouring days into Lunar when I was really sick as a kid

Even it is the older version, you should play the Sega CD version of both Lunar The Silver Star and Lunar Eternal Blue if you get the chance.

Suikoden 2 is the finest of the series without a doubt and deserve a place in most top 10 jrpg lists

Phoenix

I agree! It’s been trapped for far too long on the 360 that it needs a port!

I’m so happy to see so many Vagrant Story supporters in the comments!

Haha thank you!

Are they controversial because they're typically not generally considered JRPGs?

@@BacklogBattle that was my thought process. While they are RPGs developed by Japanese companies, I know some games like Dark Souls, Nier: Automata, and Pokémon may not fit everyone’s definition of a JRPG. They may also just be bad games though haha

NieR: Automata is a masterpiece. Kingdom Hearts, I have mixed feelings about it. Great gameplay with an unnecessarily convoluted story.

I bought it on a whim, picking it up in a GameStop bargain bin randomly, and lost my mind when I discovered an *XB360* game that was multiple discs! I knew I was in for a ride when I discovered that. Enjoyed my time with LO 100%. Only reason I didn't 100% the game itself is because I think I missed two freaking chests somewhere, and the game is so massive I didn't have the fortitude to find 'em!

It would be interesting to read how life changing these games are for you!

While I prefer FF4, I think FF6 is just about as good. Even has some aspects I think are better, like controlling who is in the party.

Hurray! More people showing support for Vagrant Story!

Triangle Strategy was a game changer for me! I actually reviewed it a month ago, and talked about a perspective on the story that no one seems to have brought up! Great choices in Persona and Three Houses as well!

Terra

@@KenjiEspresso I would add Shadow's tragic story,and Cyan..hell ALL the characters have great stories

You should definitely try out the hard mode mods / balance patches as they utilize the gameplay to its fullest and allows for an amazing challenge with everything it has to offer

So glad you mentioned Golden Sun. Loved those games!

I thought 11 was SO CRAP but loved 8.

I want a Switch re-release of DQIV: Chapters of the Chosen. I like the chapter system the game has.

Having played DQ9 first, I can tell you it was such a terrible experience that I cannot see myself giving this series another go.