Thanks for the invitation. I loved having the chance to talk about Terranigma. Enjoying the great insights from all other contributors too! Castle Northwind FTW!
LOVING THIS! Yay for SuperDerek picking Earthbound!!! Loving it! Earthbound is home for me too!!! Thank you again for having me. This is a fantastic topic and everyone's answers are soooo special. Great idea. So thankful to be a part of this!
Oh man what an AWESOME video! Thank you soooooo much for having me! I was smiling throughout the video of us just admiring and loving our favourite jrpgs! 🥰🌸
Hey man, thanks so much for having me on board to talk about Dragon Quest 5! It’s not very often that I talk about coming out or that period in my life because it’s deeply personal, but this game helped me out so much during those trying times
S2 all the way sir!! That series will always be what that made me love gaming for decades. Regardless of the mess companies keep trying to make it to be.
I love videos like this as I get to explore and find new content creators. As for my JRPG that means the most to me, that would be Xenoblade Chronicles. It was the game that was my reason for buying the new Nintendo 3DS and it was my first JRPG. It opened my eyes to a world of genres that I had never thought about and it's a genre that I now love to this day.
Omg, lovely question....so many RPG's to choose from. But I would say Chrono Trigger is at the top, because I played it with my kids almost 28yrs ago when they were 10 and 8. We had such a great time, we love that game. Then there was Earthbound, Zelda and Secret of Mana....sweet memories. 🤗
For myself, Star Ocean 2. Something about seeing the characters move around on the battlefield and with voice acting during battle intrigued me. Plus having different characters you can recruit on different playthroughs made it my favorite.
Very cool stuff! Love seeing collabs like this, especially about games that mean a lot to people. Sorry I couldn’t join :( If I wasn’t so sick I would have been there.
For me it’s Persona 4. When I played this game when it came out on PS2, I was already close to 30. Like many, my JRPG journey had started more than a decade earlier with Final Fantasy VII, so I wasn’t new to the genre by any means. I was looking for something to get me back into long-form narrative gaming after a period of relative inactivity, and to say that Persona 4 delivered on that front would be a tremendous understatement. The game felt like it was made for me and the place I was at in my life at that point. I was a little tired of the usual JRPG trope of “boy and friends set out on a journey and save the planet from certain calamity”. Persona 4’s more down to earth setting and loop of just getting on with your days, paired with the narrative of bored small town kids having to create their own excitement and wouldn’t you know, a murder mystery just happened to present itself so “of course we have to become detectives and solve it” was just such an intoxicating cocktail that it grabbed a hold of me and never let go to this day. I loved the depth of the character development, the social commentary, the setting of Inaba, the art style, the Japanese game show style presentation and music, the customizable and fluid battle system and the overall relaxed vibe of the game to my core. There was always something interesting to discover and to do that I never got bored and when the game ended, I immediately started it back up for New Game+ to go through it all over again. I don’t think my ongoing love for this game is down to anything as subjective and distorting as mere nostalgia; I replayed it this past year for the first time in nearly a decade in the form of the PS4 Golden release, and it held up big time. The only things that felt slightly dated were the simplicity of the side quests and the randomised dungeons, but even these didn’t detract much, if at all, from the overall experience; it’s all part and parcel of this singular game’s charm and legacy. I truly believe Persona 4 should be up there on JRPG’s Mount Rushmore of spiritual all timers alongside the likes of FFVI and VII, and Chrono Trigger.
If it's about meaning, Suikoden II sparked a lot of deeper conversations on friendship and nostalgia with my high school friends. We really held this game in the highest regard for its narrative and more nuanced war conflict. Final Fantasy 9 also stuck with us for some time for its 2-player feature and Bahamut and Vivi and Odin and Kuja and Beatrix and... uff, good game, haha.
To me, my most important and enjoyable JRPG is an old Sega Saturn title, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean. The art, the characters, the story, I loved all of it. My only gripe was the frequency of random encounters. But the world felt alive, characters weren't one-note, and it has a nice balance of emotion, levity and darkness. Plus, it was the very first that I played that had a proper fake-out. Just when you think the game is over and after the credits roll, you find out that it's only the halfway point, and it drags you deeper into the narrative that the opening scene portrayed to you. I wish this game could get a remake or remaster so everyone can enjoy this overlooked diamond of a game.
Some great choices. For me there is only one possible answer: Suikoden 2 It is not just my favorite JRPG, not even just my favorite game overall, but the game that means the most to me. I met so many great people due to it and the forums I was part of, due to it (and the series) are a giant part of my past.
DQXI S is the one that means the most to me. It’s the reason I love jrpgs, & became all over the genre. It also got me through my toughest times in my life mentally.
Awesome video and amazing picks from all the creators in this video! The JRPG that's the most personal to me might be Fire Emblem Awakening. It introduced me to the genre of JRPGs and at that time I had never played a game which so much focus on characters and a grand story. Also the music takes me back to my high school days which is always super nostalgic to me. It's still my favorite Fire Emblem and one of my favorite games of all time!
This is a great video. Lot of great picks. It's hard to pick just one. Maybe FF9. It always gets me reflecting on life and how ephemeral it is. Makes me question whether I'm doing all I should in life and stuff.
Tough question for me to answer here. I think FF7 is probably the most memorable for me, but the most impactful might be Phantasy Star IV. As a kid that game kept me up at night and I really just loved the turn based battle system and the story. I still dream of a remake of that game at some point. I've been hooked on JRPGs ever since.
I'm surprised that no one named Chrono Trigger! Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time. It was the first pure rpg that I ever played and I learned about video games and grew up as I played through it. I was probably 7 or 8 when I first played it. I got stuck early on multiple times, not knowing where to go, but I would start over and play again because the world felt so real to me at that age. I think that's what makes this game so special to me, it's the feel of the entire package. It doesn't have the best story of any game I've played, though I do really enjoy the story. It doesn't have the best music of any game I've played, though the music is fantastic! It's characters aren't the deepest, nor is the combat the most unique or challenging, nor is the gameplay the greatest thing since sliced bread. Everything in this game is really good, but nothing is the best. It's the feel of the world, the design of the characters inside of it, the twists and turns of the story, the risks it takes with its plot and its themes. It's the simple things like the fact that the vast majority of npc dialogue references quests or plot elements later in the game. It's also the music brings all the emotion to each scene that tells you everything about that scene and how it is being felt by our characters. It's the colorful characters and how they interact with each other and important NPCs. Combine all of that with me playing it when I did, at a formative time in my life and the result is the most important game I've ever played. I've been searching for a game to bring me the same amount of joy that this game has and I've yet to experience one that surpasses it. I've played plenty of games that also inspire me and that I have experiences with that have shaped me, but nothing has gotten to Chrono Trigger's level yet and I don't know if anything ever will
Damn, the David guy went hard with dq5 spoilers. It's a game I wanted to play. But now because of him, looks like 2 major plot twists will fall flat...
RPG that means the most? gotta say FF7 for me. First played back in 1998, and I credit it for moving me away from western RPGS and into the warm embrace of the JRPG. And also because of FF7 I actively seeked out other JRPGS released at the time (such as BOF3, Wild arms, Suikoden 2 etc)
After i went to college, i stopped playing console games, and more into pc mmorpg. 2 years ago, i emulated FF X on my smartphone After finishing it, i straight bought PS5 just for FF XVI (pre ordered)
Just finished the 108 stars of destiny true ending of suikoden 2 last week again and can't wait for the remaster of the first 2 games. Hopefully we will see them sometime this year. Keep those reviews coming!
Complecated question, FF7 and Suikoden 2 is the easy ansver, but where did i lurn to love Jrpgs and where did games start in my life are posebly more importent, still going with the easy ansver :)
Thank you for this video the only one of those i havent played is teranigma. It is like a love letter to some of my favorite games. I think its missing legend of mana, star ocean: the second story, chrono cross and some others. I love all those games and its great hearing from others that love them too.
For me it will always be Final Fantasy IV or lets say Final Fantasy II U.S. version, since thats the only version you could really play in the west in late 91. But i am older - man this game was amazing. If you are not old enough you cannot know this game's impact, all of hese games on this colloboration list did not exist, and FF IV in comparission is just as good as any of these games as the ultimate pioneer of excellent JRPG games, that was availible at release to the west and proper translated into english. In a world with no commercial internet, this was very important to say the least. :)
For me it would be the first 4 .hack games. .hack is a massive multimedia franchise comprised of 3 main story arcs. The first story arc is my favorite and I would say I like the prequel anime SIGN a bit more than these games, but SIGN, these games, and the Liminality OVA that came with the games are one of the most compelling mystery stories I've experienced to date. It's also an adventure to experience all of this in one go and I've probably done this around 20+ times since these came out 20+ years ago. I really like the B plot of this first story arc involving Macha from SIGN and her reincarnation Mia from the games. Like there was some amazing character writing for a silent character with Macha, and Mia's story really messes me up. I also have quite the appreciation for the gameplay in these games after playing them so much as well. Like I know Xenoblade has pretty much perfected what these games were doing in terms of combat, but I still love going back and dealing with the clunkier more menu driven MMO style combat in these games. Heck I enjoy dealing with the BS difficulty spikes these games have as well. Even after 20+ playthroughs I still love going back to these games. I just wish they would get remastered or remade so others can experience them as well because the 4th game Quarantine is going for $250+ these days. Unfortunately Bandai isn't doing that many remasters/remakes in general so .hack and another series I love Xenosaga are still stuck on the PS2. Bandai still works with the developer, CyberConnect2, so maybe CC2 can eventually convince them to let them remake them someday when they aren't having them make another Naruto or DBZ game.
To the Legendary Zoltan, I'd have to say Xenogears is not so much a rip-off of Evangelion, but in actuality more a love letter to the entirety of the mecha genre from here to Gundam. Hell, I see far more VOTOMS, G Gundam, Ideon and Five Star Stories than it does Evangelion, especially in the storytelling and world-building. And not to mention there's even a Super Dimension Fortress Macross reference later on. Major props for having Gundam Wing as a major favorite too might I add.
FF13 was technically the first jrpg i ever played but it was just wayy too complicated for me as a kid. i hated it lmfao. when i turned 17, persona 5 came to the west and that game sucked up my life for months. definitely going to remain my most influential jrpg.
Dragón quest 1 this might be a surprise to many because many have enjoyed FF 7 xenoblade earthbound fire emblem saga xenosaga xenogears live a live persona shin megami tensai etrian odyssey crono trigger etc but this game was so special to me for some reason i played it after playing most of this masterpices people love but why such a short yet simple story stuck out to me well its easy i took the role of a knight hero who is from an uknown origin hes actualy a complete mystery but also has a known liniege and is tasked with a no brainer plot rescue the princess beat up the bad guy but you know what was amazing hear its not about the task itself its the Journey before reaching this important quest you start in tatangle castle talk to the citizens and they all speak about whats happening and the lore was rich because the story was told by npc they wherent meningless some offered funny dialogue some actualy gave useful tips or guide to reach places or connected to other npc in the world it had world building and not only that your choices mattered they gave you 3 endings in a Nes title think this out in a time were that was unheard off you could easily ignore the main quest of saving the princess and the ending will be effected you have a choise of joining the villain and you do get a bad ending and then thiers the true ending and not only that item management mattered in other games you find items useless because they get replaced with magic or skills in hear you need to stack up with items you will need and each fight was like a test of survival because if you run out of items or MP you are done for but the real reason y loved this game was because i just miss when simplicity can be deep and still be fun without trying to hard for example some wepons are imbued with magic spells and if you use them in battle they cast without MP as a usege for survival so you can use your spells wisely i like this aspects of this game sadly this game never got an oficial remake or added new content it feels like know that we know the lore of DQ 3 this hero should have more movesets and even more stuff than DQ3 because this is after that games story but hay we cant win everything
Means the most huh, probably technically pokemon G/S/C on a technicality even though these days i dislike the series just because it took so many hours of my life and was the gateway drug. If we are talking at this moment, probably Xenoblade 3 + DLC because i am still in awe of how fantastic everything in that game is. Traditional JRPG that i have nostalgia probably something like FFX, FFVI, or Tales of Vesperia. Some weird picks that hold a lot of sway in my memories are Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2 just because i remember pirating it and sending the rom to everyone in high school (the game is now $1000+ to play legit lol) or Luminous Arc 2 which i got everyone in high school to buy off gamestop for $2... which is also now really expensive lol (wish i took my high school friends advice and bought path of radiance or radiant dawn lol) EDIT: Oh and Baten Kaitos which i played in an arcade and thought it was "final fantasy" which ended with me buying FFX, i still have no idea why a rare game like that was being demod in an arcade.
@HellFireRPGs I'd hazard a guess that someone on the net told them the Tidus laughing scene is bad and the game is a hallway simulator. One of those things is (kind of) true, but neither makes it a bad game, nor should their view somehow devalue the experiences of your guest.
![The JRPG that means the MOST! Epic Collaboration! [Featuring JRPG YouTubers!]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
