10 Underrated JRPGs That You Must Play 

Sorry in advance for the long essay response, but I'd like to try and explain the "lukewarm feelings on the game", at least in my eyes. The issue is that the game focuses far too much on being an epilogue to the Liberl arc, rather than being a more self-contained, deep-dive into Kevin's character and the Septian Church. The majority of the game is more focused on tying up loose ends in character backstories/motivations and giving us little data entries about miscellaneous events that rarely have anything to do with the main story; it's interesting to read about them, but the execution was off the mark. So many of the doors only exist as fluff and could be cut from the game without affecting our knowledge of the story in the slightest, like Moon Doors 1, 2 & 5; Star Doors 1, 3, 6, & 9, and all of the Sun Doors naturally. And even without those miscellaneous doors, some of the better doors, like Moon Doors 3 & 4, and Star Doors 2, 4, 8, 10, 13 & 14, should have been included in the last two games, Sky FC & Sky SC! Most notably, Star Door 2, which would've been PERFECT for explaining Kevin's salt-tipped arrow before we see him fire it off in Sky SC. And Moon Door 3 being included in Sky SC as a mandatory story segment where Kloe recounts her early years at Jenis Royal Academy to Estelle during some downtime (as well as her meeting with Lechter) would've added much-needed depth to her character back when Kloe was still uncertain on whether or not to inherit the throne from her grandmother. Anyway, the point is, there's a lot of content in Sky the 3rd, but very little of it actually adds to the narrative in any meaningful way. Plus, a lot of it feels out of place in a story that SHOULD be Kevin's, and Kevin's alone, but, like I said before, is instead focused on being an epilogue to the Liberl arc through tying up loose ends and whatnot. This is important, because all of the content I mentioned above actively distracts you from Kevin's character story, instead of keeping you engaged and adding more layers to him (on top of eating up his precious screen-time!). You can't simply ignore this fact either, as skipping the Doors entirely would be... foolish, to say the least, especially knowing that great doors such as Star Door 15 exist (plus all of the crucial rewards you receive for completing them). So, your experience ends up being a very fragmented one because of this; one where you have to constantly go back and forth between slowly progressing the story, and backtracking to read through several doors that have little meaning in the grand scheme of things. And this fundamental issue with the pacing is probably why I, and many others, found ourselves burning out more than a few times while playing the game, which isn't helped by how pointlessly drawn out the mystery behind Phantasma is. Now, as for Kevin's story itself, ON PAPER, a story about self-hatred, deception, and the inevitable redemption should've been one with the potential to resonate with audiences all over, as issues like these are getting more and more common by the day, but, IN EXECUTION, it was far less stellar. Possibly the most egregious example of this is the entirety of Chapter 7, which was supposed to be one of the heaviest segments in the game, and a pivotal turning point in Kevin's character arc, yet ended up hitting like a wet noodle due in large part to what I mentioned above about the Doors/focus of Sky the 3rd overshadowing his character as a whole. The game insists on making you feel for these... blobs of slime(?) that apparently share history with Kevin, yet NEVER EVER show/tell you ANYTHING beyond the BARE MINIMUM along with a single line about how sad Kevin feels about having to kill them again... And then they try to sell his redemption by having you traverse through a recreation of Gehenna, a segment of which lasts a mere 15-20 minutes depending on how fast you are; undeniably rushed for what should've been handled much more delicately. Self-hatred isn't an issue that's resolved so easily, and the fact that it happened like it did in Chapter 7 was insulting. Joshua took 2 games to come to terms with himself and face reality once more. Renne took 3(!) whole games to finally accept Estelle and Joshua's love for her. And you're telling me that all Kevin needed was a short backstory cutscene at the beginning of each chapter, a few pointed conversations sprinkled throughout the game, and a leisurely stroll through Gehenna?? Kevin honestly deserved so much more than what he was given. Which brings me back to my main point: Rather than being so utterly focused on being an epilogue to the Liberl arc, it should've cut all of the excess and used the free space to give us a story focused SOLELY on Kevin and the Septian Church. Think about it: How interesting would it have been if, instead of Phantasma, they completely scrapped the concept and let us go through every stage of Kevin's life ourselves, giving us a first-hand experience of his childhood up until the present. Each phase of his life could be 1-2 Chapters long, with the Prologue being his early childhood living with his mother, Chapter 1 being his daily life after his chance encounter with Ries and Rufina, Chapters 2 & 3 being his initiation into the Gralsritter and his days as a fledgling Squire, Chapter 4 could be THE moment that broke him at Aster House, Chapters 5 & 6 could place us in his depressed mindset during the lowest point of his life after he becomes the Fifth Dominion, and take us on a globe-trot introducing us to all of the heretics that he'd slain while traveling all over the continent of Zemuria like that Owen guy from the Church that we still know very little about, even though his character is INTEGRAL to the ongoing drama over at Crossbell's Cathedral, and so on, which would make his story feel that much more personal. And while doing so, they could also give us an EXCLUSIVE look into the inner-workings of the Septian Church; probably not show us all of the other Dominions just to keep them a secret, but at least allow us to explore The Holy City of Arteria and demonstrate the leverage it has in politics and whatnot. Like, there was just SO MUCH potential when it came to having Kevin as the protagonist and seeing the world through his eyes that was wasted when they made whatever Sky the 3rd was... Anyway, TL;DR - Trails in the Sky the 3rd has a plethora of issues and fundamental flaws that I tried my best to convey, like it getting its priorities mixed up (Paragraph 1), the off-kilter pacing that makes it a slog to play through (Paragraph 2), Kevin's rushed character arc crippled by the story's 'Tell, Don't Show' approach (Paragraph 3), and the wasted potential that Sky the 3rd had to become a truly personal story that cuts deep (Paragraph 4). P.S. - Whew, that ended up being a lot longer of a response than I was expecting, but I didn't know how else to explain the "lukewarm feelings on the game" that you insisted were so common (although I personally don't think this is true at all, since everywhere I go nowadays I see people praising this game) without going into detail. I'd be glad if you, or anyone else, were to give me your thoughts on this, and maybe prove me wrong! Oh and, hopefully I didn't come off as being a belligerent hater or anything, because I think this game on its own is genuinely solid (all things considered), and, like you said, contains a CRUCIAL part of Renne's-a FAVORITE of mine's-story. And I think that in and of itself makes it more than worth the price of admission!

@@semblance6433 Thanks for the detailed response. Most people wouldn't have bothered to explain and simply insist that "game bad" lol. It's nice to see someone actually back themselves up for once. I only wish I had time atm to give you an equally long response. As an aside, damn, I don't think I've ever heard anyone praise this game, you and I have had very different experiences XD

I never understood it either. Sky the 3rd is actually my favorite entry in the Sky Trilogy because of the huge focus on the church, fleshing out the characters that needed it the most, all the interesting lore and set up for future games, and making one of my favorite characters from SC the main character. I loved (almost) every moment (screw that sky bandit mini game with Gilbert lol) and was genuinely shocked when I came across people who were overly negative or felt it was all filler and did nothing for the overall story.

To me, it always felt more like an add-on to Sky SC instead of a whole new game. Like they simply put all of the stuff in it that didn't fit into the main game and added a crawl through a mysterious dungeon into the mix to tie all of the lose info dumps together. I liked getting more intel on the church and their handling of artifacts as well as the additional stories of all the characters, but as a standalone game it's simply not as good as the previous or following ones.

This is going to be a pretty late and unfocused follow-up, but I only recently came up with these concepts and just wanted to get them out there for anybody who cares: First off, like I mentioned in paragraph 4 of my first post, to elaborate on the inner-workings of the Septian Church, Ein is a character who would’ve been perfect to explore as Kevin’s mentor and best friend of Rufina Argent; she’s a pivotal character in Kevin’s life, and the fact that Sky the 3rd only gave her 2 mins of screen time in the post-credits scene where they only talk about getting a new title for Kevin is... more than a little disappointing. There was potential to develop Ein as a mentor figure for Kevin throughout the game, one who would give him advice every now and then, recount her early years within the church and how she came to befriend Rufina, and so on and so forth, which would also serve to flesh out both her character and Rufina’s too. I could also see her being a key player in Kevin’s character arc as one of the people who would help him realize his self-worth (being his teacher she would know Kevin best after Ries), and start him down the path of redemption. Continuing with that line of thought, they could also introduce us to characters like Toval and Barkhorn, who have deep ties with the church (and are pretty important characters in their own right) that receive next to no meaningful screen time to develop their characters when they actually show up/are mentioned in the Erebonia arc. (Note: I am aware that Toval’s character is explored in the Carnelia novels and in a spin-off manga series, but I’ve always been of the opinion that if they can develop characters within the games themselves, then they should do so without forcing us to turn off our game and read a random manga series to know what they should’ve told us in-game.) I also want to add that Star Doors like Renne’s would still be able to work even if they got rid of the whole Phantasma pocket dimension gimmick, by running with my idea of playing through Kevin’s past up until the present day (After Sky SC and before Zero), due to the fact that Kevin actually took part in the operation to shut down the D.G. Cult back in 1200 or something. So, based on that fact, they could’ve used his perspective to give the player a first-hand account into the horrors of the D.G. Cult as Kevin and the other Gralsritters go around and storm each base, eventually stumbling onto Paradise (of course, by that point, Renne would’ve already been saved by Loewe and Joshua, but the player would still be able to piece together the events that transpired at the location through context clues and a general investigation of the premises conducted by Kevin alongside Arios as he mentions in Trails to Azure having worked alongside him to shut down the D.G. Cult back in the day). Annnnd that's about it. I've got a few more ideas for a complete remake of Sky the 3rd floating around deep in the recesses of my mind, but these were the only ones I felt were relevant enough to share underneath this post, as they related directly to my first post 4 months ago. So, uh, to whoever stumbles upon this addendum, I hope you found these concepts interesting, or at the very least plausible. Have a nice day!

True+ The last chapters of Radiant Dawn are just epic with a massive number of characters and a chances to use lot of them (at the opposite of other games where an endgame team will rarely change)

We will never see a remake for both games for a long long time

@@therealjaystone2344 A remaster would be fine, right?

That and the physical game are just real expensive now.

@@thunderknight4149 I mean, if you're willing, you can play both for free with an emulator on your PC

Basically all game series from this develeoper are underrated in West (Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, The House of The Dead, Dragon Force, Sakura Wars, Skies of Arcadia, Valkyria Chronicles, Shining). It's Sega America sabotage their games, for focus only on advertaising Sonic ?

​@@nr2676 dragon force was working designs. But i do agree, almost all rpgs on the sega consoles have been forgotten.

@@az_tinkerer_gamer Dragon Force was coop-developed with Overworks (former AM1) who made Skies of Arcadia, Shinobi games on PS2 and Sakura Wars 1-5.

I think people put too much weight on games with 'similar concepts'. So what, all games are influenced by others in various ways. It's just a very narrow way of thinking and discredits what each game does differently in their own ways.

@@TheKisekiNut Exactly! 100%

Because God forbid people be allowed to want something genuinely different as opposed to the same basic idea with a different coat of paint right after.

I feel bad for the people who willingly don't blame it without at least trying the first few hours. They're missing out.

I agree, I can only assume that people that say sky 3 is skippable are ones that haven't played it, Kevin is a great protagonist when you unravel his story although I never liked his character design at first, by the end of the game I thought he was really well written and the 3rd game was awesome. Perhaps the majority of people that say it's skippable say so because you spend the majority of the game going through previously played through dungeons, however that wouldn't make sense because sky 2 has you doing the same thing and that is revered by most as the best in the sky arc. Sky 3 imo is definitely not skippable though, it sets up so many future scenarios and is a great game.

I have bought about all Falcom games on GOG. I will go through Xanadu Next soon. The zwei games are just fun. I go through them at this moment for a second time. There is also Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. Although it's VERY basic, it's still a fun game. It's more aimed at kids, but who cares about that? 🙃

Agreed, Sky 3rd felt like it was just fan service to see your fave characters again, didn't have the substance of the rest of the series, tho.

Eh, neither felt bloated in my opinion. Both feel epic but in different ways. But agree to disagree

I have a feeling there are plenty of issues you overlook in the Sky games but criticize in Cold Strel.

No such thing, it's either all or nothing. Every Arc has its fair share of large cast, along with what people want to call "bloated" which leads to CS being dogpiled on despite Sky having a cast that is of similar/equal size. It's ridiculous and shows the clear bias against CS.

@@toiletseat777 yes the issues i "overlook" such as outdated combat system that gets boring after 2 fights, long confusing dungeons with no maps, no fast travel, having to mod your own voices in, some doors in sky 3rd taking forever with little payoff, unused party members not leveling up after a chapter,... But yeah assume all of that about me after 1 comment that's half about cold steel...

But this is not JRPG, it's mostly VN, that's why is not on the list.

Yes when I was first looking into Trails everyone said skip Sky 3rd. I didn’t skip it thank god. It was my favorite of the arc. There is so much great story that fleshes out the world. I do not understand why people say skip it. That is the worst trails advice I see everywhere. Worst of all, people listen to it because its repeated so much. PLAY SKY 3RD

@@drowningin I am glad I didn't listen to people saying skip the 3rd, however it is definetively not my favourite of the 3 games. I didn't really like the doors and I never found Kevin to be that interesting, not sure why to be honest. That said, replaying FC an SC I do miss the combat from 3rd. And I loved meeting the whole cast again and getting more backstory/seeing what they've been up to, I just didn't enjoy HOW we got those stories...

Oh yes! Sequel to Tokyo Xanadu is what I'd gladly go for. I genuinely enjoyed the original story with Ex+ addition. Would love to see these characters again. As of Sky 3rd Kevin and Ries are my two favorite characters from the trilogy. In my opinion Kevin is one of the most complex characters in the series. I really felt in tune with him all the way. And was really happy to see him and Ries again in Crossbell duology 😊

You'd be surprised, so many people have either asked or actually followed through and dodged it completely. Guess what, they don't understand why characters like Renne are so well liked because of it.

I did not skipped Sky the 3th, but at the other hand I did not really loved it. I loved Kevin and Rie as characters, and found their story very good. And without living through Stardoor 15 I guess people feel far less connected to Renne (one of my favorite female characters, together with Estelle, Rixia and Juna). However I really hated those dungeons. Especially that dungeon you had to work through to activate Stardoor 15. It was floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor (you get the picture). That very game mechanics made me enjoy the game a lot less (I also did not like that very last part of Cold Steel II for that reason, although it was luckily a very small part of the game)... And I think almost anyone that has played Tokyo Xanadu eX+ would really, really LOVE to see a sequel. So far Falcom has given some slight hints, but nothing specific. Well - We can dream about it at least...

Both of them shine in different ways. But the amount of times I've seen Replicant dogpiled on because it doesn't play as well as Automata is crazy. You'd think it was one of the worst action based games ever made.

Bruh.

​@@TheKisekiNutwhen you played rogue galaxy, you know it's not true.

Automatas characters have a lot more nuance and subtlety to them than replicants, and their lore is fascinating. I'd wager anyone saying replicants characters are better hasn't read the lore of automata. The games use their lore to expand on different things. Replicant has an incomplete story so its side materials explain its story more. Meanwhile it has tons of text segments to expand on its characters. Automata has no text segments explaining its main characters. A2 only kind of gets one. All of automatas lore explains and expands on its characters. Automatas story is entirely contained within the game though. Automata can't really give the player text sections on 2B or 9S without giving massive spoilers that takes away from the reveal at the top of the tower. The secrecy and unexplained strange familiarity between 2B and 9S is a big part of automatas setup and overall story, and is a very captivating dynamic. Aside from having much more in depth lore on its characters and just outright darker and sadder side stories, automatas main cast is much more important than replicants. The story revolves around 2B and 9S, and without their characters being written the exact specific way they are and put in the exact kind of relationship they have, automatas story just wouldn't work. Its very centralized on 2B and 9S. Replicants story functions based on the effects its main cast has on the world/people around them. You could replace kaine with any number of different characters, and that character could fulfill kaines role just as easily. The main casts characters are not integral to the story since they are not narratively baked into the structure and purpose of the story as much as 2B and 9s are. Kaines romantic feelings aren't even focused on, and get suddenly dropped on the player at route C with nothing to build that up. Kaine and emil serve more functional roles in the story/plot rather than integral roles. Integral roles of replicant are the protagonist and weiss. Protagonist for his narrow minded view of his world and situation, and weiss for overall role in project gestalt and choice in rejecting that role. Kaine and emil just feel replaceable. They're great characters, they're just not narratively important. Replicant is more about the suffering the main cast inflicts onto others anyways. Whereas automata is more about the suffering that the main characters are put through.

I would definitely recommend playing the entire trilogy of Atelier, but its more the fact that Lydie and Suelle hardly gets mentioned even in Atelier circles, like it's been forgotten.

The side quests being busywork in Replicant is mainly before the time skip when Nier is a boy. After, the side quests develop confusing and morally grey twists to them that almost feel like they're mocking versions of the first half of the game (which is very much a reoccurring motif of ignorance in the game) I will admit that it's very committed to that idea to a significant degree that it isn't always fun especially the first half, but I respect the hell out of them designing it that way

Koei clearly didn't care about dubs after Firis. Not sure why, but evidently the cost wasn't worth it in their eyes.

You've got two awesome games on the radar then!

It's excellent. Yeah, not a typical JRPG but I don't really care, it's a game that fans of the genre can enjoy.

For Atelier, i think it's possible after they deal it with Salburg series Remake.

TMS is a fascinating contradiction of a game. It's a bad crossover that fails to deliver or showcase most of the appeal of its source material (especially Fire Emblem), but its a good game in its own right, from the distinct presentation to the entertaining cast of characters and solid gameplay loop. Yet while almost everyone is quick to call out its faliures, TMS really doesn't get enough credit for everything it does right...

@@finaldusk1821 pretty much, it doesn't feel like either of the games its supposed to be a crossover of but its still a great game!

The 3 Super Famicom Fire Emblem games have the most rich and dark story, but they are challenging and long (60-80 hours each for Geneology of the Holy War and Thracia 776).

@@michaelp4122 Thracia isn't really long. I've beat it in like 35 hours

Can’t wait for fe4 remake

@@Haarwyvern Counting every time you died and had to restart? I think it took me 60 hours, but I spent some time in the colloseum levelling up my characters. Geneology of the Holy War is the longest Fire Emblem game, and you should play that before playing Thracia.

@@therealjaystone2344 FE4 remake won't happen, it's too dark. Murder and rape are central themes to the plot, and without it the story wouldn't make sense (Some characters are offspring from raped characters). The team who made FE 1-5 are a different group that the ones who made FE6+. I think FE6 is the most likely to get a remake since it's the game with Roy and it's never been localized.

That translation error was a real killer. I'm even more impressed I managed to beat it as a 15 year old back then with no prior SRPG experience, though I definitely lost a few characters on the way.

Nah, this is a JRPG channel and I choose to keep it mostly centred around that, though I will mention games that aren't specifically JRPGs but I feel fans of the genre can enjoy (Aegis Rim, Opus etc.)

From Cold Steel onwards the games have a severely decreased difficulty to the point of making the team building meaningless... that is if you play without mods, or on Abyss difficulty in Hajimari.

Aksys owns the translation rights to the game so let's hope they'll bring it over later.

I wish the enhanced/definitive versions of the Sky games on the PS Vita came out in the west. Those are the versions I might've actually enjoyed playing.

Have you played all the other FE games? Other than the most recent one, I beat them all. Now I want to do the unofficial Tearring Saga and Vestaria Saga a go. Can't see myself replaying an FE game (outside a remake) for a long time coming, but if I did, I'd replay Awakening.

@@michaelp4122 yup I’ve played every other FE game! It’s become my favourite series now!

@@betterthanbrooklyn5806 It's a fantastic series. Ever play Shining Force 3? To me it was the N64 Fire Emblems we never got. SF3 specifically is the gem.

@@michaelp4122 oh I’ve heard of it by name but didn’t know much. Looking at it, it’s definitely in my backlog now!

@@betterthanbrooklyn5806 I beat it in 2020, english translated patches for scenario 2 & 3 is perfect. Shining Force in general is ok, but SF3 specifically is really good. Sort of like a Golden Sun twist to Fire Emblem.

A tip - If you are looking for a sale of Tokyo Xanadu eX+ - It's on summer sale (12-6 until 3-7) now on GOG. It's €11 at this moment. While that's not the bottom-line cheapest I have ever seen through the years, it's still way cheaper than normal and on Steam (€54,99). I don't know if these are regional prices though, so you have to take a look for yourself...

I wish Ys games weren't so expensive physical. I want to give this franchise a shot, might have to get a steamdeck and go digital.

It's on Steam, the enhanced release that is.

For me the impression Tokyo Xanadu is like how Trails and Ys next games will be. The game is fun too each chapter is like episode because of Opening.

It has similar elements, but I see so many call it a 'rip-off' of Persona, like Persona itself made the genre. Crazy really, but I enjoyed it.

At least I bought when it was on sales like less than $10, but I really had a good time with and it deserves way more than that. And if it has sequence I am willing to buy with full price

Play them in any order. I'd say the only one you'd lose a bit of appreciation for if you hadn't played other entries is Ys IX due to it being the last game canonically in the series, but references between most of the titles are fairly minor.

@@TheKisekiNut Cheers for the recommendation. Will play Hajimari after YS VIII then get into Ys IX!

Mysterious trilogy feels so... Low stakes and too slice of lifey to me. Granted i absolutely love sophie 2. Also loved dusk trilogy where there is a huge problem to be solved.

Xanadu Next is a nice one, but also take a lot at the two Zwei games. They are also loads of fun...

It suffered from poor marketing that's for sure. It ended up alienating both sets of FE and Megaten fans. If it was its own IP I'm certain no-one would care nearly as much.

One of the big reasons why it was ignored is because Atlus din't learn anything from the Wii release and decided to censor it even more.

I'd summarise TMS as such: A bad crossover (especially on the Fire Emblem side) but a good game in and of itself. It's no masterpiece, but it's definitely overhated and not given enough credit for what it does well!

It's a very good game, did a lot of things right. Impressive when you consider it was basically it's own IP!

Yes, it is very difficult. I have an unfinisjed run on hardmode still open, but my first attempt softlocked me at chapter 1. I couldn't beat the first chapter. I suck at videogames but that was just bad. I then played again on normal and that playthrough I could beat. I then found out almost every secret and even got the secret ending with every character. But only on normal! I could never do that on hard or maniac. And you can get stuck at certain maps if you want every character to live. Which I did and that only made it harder. But yeah, the mistranslation basically made everyone play the game on hard instead of normal first. But hey, everyone who beat the game on hard can be proud of themselves.

I forgot to add that technically 2 people can play with 1 player controlling a companion character to assist in battle!

Child of Light is a great little game and hey, it has RPG elements in it!