Top 10 JRPG Series I Can't Get Into 

I think even the most die-hard JRPG fans have games/series that they just can't get into, it is part of the literal definition of an RPG that you personally take on a 'Role' therefore not all games will click with all personalities. That's why I never recommend specific games, rather publishers like Square Enix, NIS, and Atlus that consistently make quality products and hopefully some game in that group will connect with a person. The best thing about a JRPG is that when it does connect, it can be a bond that lasts a lifetime.

I would be interested to know your top 10 favorite JRPG composers, it can possibly be a future subject of video!

I usually stay away from RPG’s where I’d feel embarrassed if a friend or family member saw me playing it. Usually it’s jrpg games with too much fan service.

Some tips about etrian odyssey. You can turn "auto mapping" on for the newer games. It does all the map work for you. And the random encounters are slightly less random as the orb in the bottom of the screen goes from blue to green to orange to red. Once it's in the orange/red color you know you'll have a fight soon.

Erick you're quickly becoming my favorite JRPG channel. Please keep up all the awesome work!

When it comes to the Neptunia games, I do admit it is a required taste and the map interface is really off putting to those who are so used to just starting in a village and exploring the world. In Neptunia, the map interface is your world and the parts of the map that are open to you are the Dungeons you have to explore and when you pass through a dungeon that goes into a Story Based cut scene, that is where you progress through the game. It is not like your usual JRPG adventure so I can understand why some can't get into the series. To be honest, I think the most enjoyable Neptunia game is Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2, the second game in the series and perhaps best played on the PS Vita version that is a remake version of the original 2nd game's story. The opening scene has all 4 Goddesses captured by Tentacle Chords in the Console GraveYard and Artfore is going to kill all 4 Goddesses really slowly, so you play as NepGear (the SEGA GameGear handheld character) and she had to unite the sisters of the original Goddesses in order to save the main heroines. Of course the little sister characters are based on the handhelds of each consoles at the time of 2011 where Nintendo had the 2 screens of the Nintendo DS and therefore Nintendo Goddess little sisters were twins. While the SONY Goddess little sister was the little sister who tried her best at everything but could not do much right in the PSP but she does have good long range sniping abilities. The XBox Goddess didn't have a little sister considering Microsoft didn't get into the Handheld market so the Goddess of the XBox was a mature busty woman who would often want a little sister of her own.

Mario and Luigi got me into turned based RPGs

"I dont care at all about tanks!" made me laugh more than I should. I feel the same way about "monster-collecting" mechanics, but for a weird reason: I just like my characters/party members to be as humanoid as possible.

13:00 now i want a breaking bad Jrpg

Even as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I totally understand why you couldn’t get into it

Rune Factory is one that has always been on my "Want to play" list, but never did get around to any of them. Monster Hunter is a massive addiction for me, but it really shouldn't be. Like you I'm story driven, which monhun doesn't have much of, but I also generally dislike grinding, which MonHun has A LOT of, but man.. the fights are always so fun haha.

Dark Souls and Etrian Oddysey are probably two of the most hardcore series I've ever played. Both games punish you for not playing them right, but I love the heck out of them.

Advance Wars is a (very good) strategy game, but definitively not a RPG.

i'm a fan of Pokemon, Etrian Odyssey, Mario and Luigi, and Kingdom Hearts, and I find some enjoyment in Rune Factory and Monster Hunter games LOL

I'm surprised that you don't like Neptunia's battle system but you like other CH/IF games. Fairy Fencer F is a modified version of Neptunia Victory.

Digimon world 1 is hands down one of the greatest RPGs to date, from graphics, storyline, gameplay the digimon raising mechanic were well before its time. An absolute masterpiece.

Advance Wars definitely isn't an RPG, it's a strategy game 😆

You're killing me with putting Advance Wars on this list :( . One of the greatest.

I have seen a few of your videos, and liked them quite a bit. This video however, blew me away. As the video went on, I thought that I would have liked some of the series that you would eventually mention. No. I don’t like any of them either. Granted, some I have not played, but I have researched all of them. They are very popular right? Some of these series I own every game. They are supposed to be good, right? It just goes to show that like with any media, art is subjective. I also know that a lot of the series that I like others will not care for as well. I just find it interesting that I agree with every single selection that you have mentioned. Cheers.

If you are into japanese strategy games, I highly recommend Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Great tactics and great story. The best ones were on PS2, but XIII on PS4 is also really good.

Really good reasoning behind all of these, they all make perfect sense based on what you look for in games. Much respect for pointing out Yuzo Koshiro's music in Etrian Odyssey: it's so good!

I agree with most of these actually (though I can still enjoy some of them, but I can agree with the faults), but Etrian Odyssey is so near and dear to my heart. But you mentioned it has to have a good story, so makes sense lol

This list is almost exactly the list I would have too. Except for Soulsborne, I have loved every single one of those from day one. Since you prefer story so much, you might check out the vaatividya lore series - it really helps you to see the story , and it makes playing through the games a whole new experience

Fun fact!: Digimon was designed to be a rival to Tamagotchi rather than pokemon

For Pokémon/digimon, does this include ni no kuni wrath of the white witch, or is it different enough?

I agree with your list, totally! I still have to try Neptunia, but I’m curious so I think I’ll give it a try. Today I got the Chaos Rings tretralogy, let’s see if it’s good.

There are some in this list are my favorite JRPGS but I don't blame you it Depends on someone's Taste

Based on your shirts, I would love to see some vids based around music. Just came from a vid where you were wearing a Cure shirt and now Hocico. Awesome.

Hi Erick how are u? can u give u one video Playstation store is closing. And what games can buy it Por favor

This is why in Etrian I turn on the auto-map feature. I'm not fond of the the map drawing either.

Maybe Digimon Adventure for psp? It was a standard rpg without monster collecting mechanic. And the story is the tv show gamified. Maybe it will suit your taste better

I agree with you on most/all of these. I am gonna give Neptunia another try though. I didn't realize it was comedy the first time I tried to get into it and it wasn't what I expected. Now that I know that, I'm gonna give it another go. I don't mind the occasional not-so-dark story. That's what I normally play, so a reprieve is nice on occasion.

The first Digimon back on ps1 was cool though you collected monsters by opening the disc tray and putting in a music cd not sure how that worked but it was cool I remember going to my local library and checking out tons of cds just to see what monsters I would get.

Didn't know you were a Clan of Xymox fan Erick props👍

Id argue that Yokai Watch is different enough from Pokémon to give it an extra slot or extra shot. When it comes to story there is definitely something there but if the problem is how goofy the stories are and the monster collecting in general I can totally understand this position. to this day I have no idea what the story of Etrian Odyssey is about. I played one game a couple of hours but can't remember shit about it

Even before I clicked on the video, I knew Pokemon was gonna be first. You've made it very clear over the past that you're not the biggest fan of it. Although I find it funny you used Monster Rancher as an example of a monster collection game considering you don't actually capture monsters so much as you, ahem, 'hatch' one monster and then raise it until it dies, after which you can hatch a new one.

Im surprised about your number 1 choice. Did you try the remake of the first one? Auto maps for you, more of a story and additional bits. Its the only one ive got and played. Im shit at it but I still enjoyed it

On the subject of Soulsborne: When I first played the original Dark Souls, I really couldn't get into it. I tried my own build, a mix of melee and pyromancer, not really having an idea of what to do. After the first boss outside of the tutorial area I gave up. A year and a half later I was convinced to try it again and this time looked up a mage build (sorceries), since that's the kind of character I play in most games, and ended up falling in love with the game and the genre as well. So, I'm not saying give it another shot but, if someone else had a similar experience to my first try, perhaps my second experience will speak to them as well.

Hey Erick, i'm a Brazilian and a big fan of your channel. I'm a really fan of Jrpgs, and in my country i don't have much friends fans. Your channel helped me a lot to meet more games like that. Continue with this very good job. (Sorry if have any grammar error. I'm a beginner in english)

I enjoyed the main series neptunia games, i found the meta-storytelling charming for some reason, and i played the originals on ps3 experiencing the evolution of the battle system.

You actually hit the nail on the head with me - those are all series that I just cant get into myself. Although, to be fair, I don't mind Digimon Cyber Sleuth and I find myself looking forward to Rune Factory 5 despite not really getting into the previous ones.

I love the Etrian Odyssey and the Mario and Luigi games I've played. I want to try a Pokemon game, but otherwise I pretty much feel the same as you

Can somebody tell what Neptunia game is in 8:58?

I have never been able to get into the Star Ocean series. It's, weird, I can't put my finger on to why, but playing them I lose interest quick.

Pokemon is so good and the gameplay alone is what does it for me, but then again it was the 1st rpg game series I got into and then I played ff7, haven't stopped since then.

The first Etrian Odyssey was fun and an interesting idea with in game mapping. I bought the 2nd and never touched it because I gave up on 100% the first one to get the transfer code. The difficulty was insane

I'd like to suggest you, Landon, a topic for a future video: Best JRPG intros. I've recently uploaded this video: 'Top 10 Video Game Intros Ever! Best Game Opening Cinematics! Most Legendary Video Game Openings Ever' but I considered all genres. I think you are the most suitable man for the job!

I'm actually on my third try to get into kingdom hearts and i gotten the farthest ever: starting kingdom hearts 2 :P rune factory doesn't get good until 3 but i agree, if you don't like the farming aspect of them better to pass them by, as for collecting monsters i only liked pokemon conquest so far but i was wondering if you accepted games like "ni no kuni" where the monster gathering aspect takes a back seat but still kinda important for the game?

thank you for adding adv wars famicom wars in nippon i love these game and disgaea too

I love all your videos! But what I didn't get about this one is the criteria for the ranking. The higher in the list, the more you disliked the series? Or was it another way? Also, you said you don't like the monster catching type of game play, but you like persona, which I find the game play somewhat similar. Maybe can you elaborate on the difference you find?

The Kingdom Hearts series is my favorite series of all time (Minus the mobile games X/Unchained X/Union X, PC Browser game X, Back Cover X, anything post KH III Re: MIND DLC BUT PLUS!! TWEWY and TWEWY Final Remix because I'm weird and include that in the series for fun 😉) But I totally understand why as an outsider looking in anyone would be overwhelmed, not wanting to attempt Kingdom Hearts or like yourself not being into it altogether. Hell... It's my favorite series of all time more than any other video game series... It's literally my number 1 spot... but like I mentioned above KH III Re MIND will be my last KH game... I'm a retired KH player I guess. The reason why is because I've grown up with the series at 12 years old when the original PS2 title came out, absolutely captivated me like nothing else and really pushed the boundaries of just being a kids game to something much more deeper. There are four types of Kingdom Hearts fans 1. Only loves KH 1 (or KH 1 & 2) and nothing else. 2. Loves everything Square Enix pumps out for the KH series blindly regardless of quality and ultimately refuses to admit criticism (unfortunately alot of those) 3. People who don't like the series at all (Someone respectful like yourself my friend, others who over hate) which is fine like lol 😂 all good 4. Me.... A retired KH guy who loves a beginning, middle, and ends to his fantasy stories... and I personally believe Kingdom Hearts was meant to go on for a little while longer... but not on forever and a day like it is doing so now (Example if you take the final mix + portion out of KH II that's another way it concludes the series nicely with just 3 games instead 400 😂)... I personally believe the Final Fantasy series during the FF 13 games & FF 14 original (the one that almost f**ked the company) Square was like ... Fans aren't into FF as much as they used to be so let's make Kingdom Hearts never ending because Disney wants it and the fan base buys everything KH anyway, hurting it's reputation creatively in the story to core fans like myself. To the people that want Kingdom Hearts to go in forever and ever and ever.... Why?.... Despite the mobiles back cover foreteller crap portions that I choose to ignore KH III Re MIND really ends the story on a high note. You (Player/Sora) have been trying to stop the unbalance of darkness and light to save you're loved ones across multiple games now make the ultimate sacrifice for the ones... And one you love. In the final battle with Yozora (Nomura) A guy with endless amount of creativity scorn from the repercussions of FF Vs. XIII turned FF XV decides to sacrifice Kingdom Hearts so his FF Vs. XIII story can be told even if it means Kingdom Hearts suffers.... I don't care what's in a black box... I don't care about the Foretellers... I don't care about the Master of Masters.... Because now.... Instead of interesting story beats, all this is, is to milk the fan base dry. And you will never get that satisfying conclusion because Kingdom Hearts has become the New York Yankees. Essentially Ending B for KH III REMIND is my canon ending.... And when you get to the final boss fight you'll understand why I have TWEWY as canon 😉

Ah this is going to be interesting

Megadimension Neptunia Victory 2 was really fun. I really enjoyed the combat

With you not enjoying Souls born games. Have you played any of the Nioh games?

I'll agree with you on MonHun, it's kind of boring without a team to play with you all the time, but I was always the kid that made a story about what was going on in my head as things progressed... plus it can get pretty hectic and challenging for a PvE kind of game, which extends the life of it for me.

I agree with a lot of the games on this list. As for pokemon I haven't played it since gen 2, although the one they announced a month or so ago looks pretty cool.

I once gave Etrian Odyssey 2 on 3DS a try but couldn't get info it. And I don't how I persevered through Strange Journey Redux, but I somehow did.

I wonder why wouldnt someone get into kingdom hearts, I mean the plot couldnt be hard, its just disney with final fantasy characters. by the way whats the name of the soundtrack that plays at the end of the video? I find it familiar but cant remember which game is it from

Have you tried Rune Factory 3? I, not a Harvest Moon fan, really enjoyed the story and liked lovely characters. it's recommendable for those who are not a fan of Harvest moon series.

Etrian Odyssey was hard for me at first, but after playing Strange Journey Redux, I now love first-person dungeon crawlers.

I actually agree with all of these, apart from Mario & Luigi. Kinda liked those games.

Hocico T-shirt? Subscribed!

Has erick covered hogs of war for playstation one yet? It's a tactical rpg game that plays exactly like valkyria chronicles, but with pigs! It's a really funny game with great gameplay and a decent story

In defeating the normality of the 17 year old protagonist I found that the idea of what Yakuza: Like a Dragon gives you for age range and the differences in the lead character I find refreshing, however, it is the first game in that series to my knowledge that really did turn-based and the fact it plays that way is a huge reason I respect it as I don't really enjoy the styles of the previous titles nearly as much. That said, the concept of who you're playing as I could certainly see being difficult to adapt to. This is a great list, maybe in time some of these series will end up being games you will change your mind about.

It kind of hurt to see Mario & Luigi series, Advance Wars and especially Rune Factory on this list somewhat. On the other hand though, I thought I was the only person who felt that way about Etrian Odyssey lol

I love your channel man!

When is the Ranking all PS3 JRPG video coming? :D

How about the Rance series of games?

Hey Erick, great video! While I completely agree with your distaste of Monster Collection games, I feel compelled to recommend the game "Monster Sanctuary" to you. Generally Monster Collection games bore me by or before the halfway point, so prior to last year I had never completed any of them despite having played well over a dozen, but Monster Sanctuary is narrative driven and has deep progression systems that make it nearly impossible to grow bored of. I know there's a demo on steam and the full game is available on all platforms, but I don't know if the demo is. I implore you to give it a chance to prove that there's hope for that genre for people like us! Keep up the great work!

I understand trying to get into several of these. I like your open approach of still giving the games a chance rather than just dismiss them. I like all of the series here (besides Mario & Luigi. I couldn't get into them). Playing EO with having a terrible sense of direction seems like hell. I'm so sorry for that. For me, I could never get into Shining Force of any sort. I've tried in the past to start it up and go through but I can't stay interested for long. It's not a bad series at all. It's really fantastic to watch but for me, I can't seem to play them for myself.

I'm not a fan of first person dungeon crawlers in general and didn't care for Etrian Odyssey either, so it surprised me how much I loved Strange Journey.

I love this list and I totally agree with all of them being here!

Surprisingly I agree almost with all the list, but some have been my favorites (but still can't get into when I'm adult) - Mario & Luigi (because I didn't play paper mario / Super Mario RPG, those might be better based on people review, but Mario & Luigi is my first Mario RPG so maybe biased) - KH (I did play KH, and KH2 was great, then multiple sequel/prequel are thrown out between consoles/mobile, and KH3 conclusion was one of the worst for me, everything is simplified just so the big boss could die, lots of build up in previous series aren't even important in KH3, heck you can skip them all and it wouldn't change anything) - Pokemon (I grew up playing pokemon (Ruby & Sapphire), then my GBA broke and never really getting DS and 3DS, straight to Switch (Sw/Sh) I was like "oh you can practically beat the game with just starters"), realized it was fun because I played it as a kid, and missing the fanboy factor (I skipped from GBA to Switch), realized how "basic" the game is, like a simple RPGMAKER games, but slapped with Pokemon graphics/theme. people can argue about PvP was tactical, but Single Player Gamer won't bother with that, and even if we played competitive, the combat still suffer from Hax and Luck.

I pretty much have the same opinions about most of these. The only series on this list im into is Mario & Luigi, and Neptunia. Although with the Mario & Luigi games i mostly only really like the first 3 games. Neptunia i just like the charm the series has. Not to mention i like the music as well, even though a lot of stuff gets reused throughout the series.

Kingdom Hearts is a series I tried to like for many many years, since 2006. I played every single game, I tried myself to force to like it, because I was such a huge Final Fantasy and Square Enix fanboy back in the day that I thought that I needed to like Kingdom Hearts as well. But in truth I never liked, I never understood the story and I always thought the story was boring and a mess. Nowadays that I am older I accepted the fact that Kingdom Hearts is not for me.

Thought I was the only one not getting Kingdom Hearts!

@EricklandonRPG if you wanted more story and character development in a souls like game then Code Vein might be way better for you if you've never tried it. It has both even if they are less then other jrpgs because it has a good focus on the souls game like difficulty as well. It's also nicknamed anime dark souls so it's definitely got the anime like visuals with a darker story to be more souls like.

90% Agree with you... But I love Advance Wars

First time viewer here. Bro. What games do you like then?!?!?!?! So many good games on this list!!

If you'd like a modern tactical game that isn't cartoony like Advance Wars check out Field Commander on the PSP. As a side note, I like drawing the maps in the Etrian Odyssey games. It reminds me of drawing maps on graph paper while playing Dungeons and Dragons as a lad.

Gave up on Pokémon a loooong time ago. Loved em as a kid though. Put a crazy amount of time in on blue. We’ll see if arceus brings me back around 🤷🏻‍♂️

I liked Advance Wars but the thing is, it's genre is "War Game" which is very similar to, both yours and mine, favorite genre: SRPG. The main difference between both genres is that in one you control units and in the other, characters. One is a derivative of tatbletop games and the other is closer to JRPGS.

That could be exactly my list, until you mentioned Yakuza at the very end. Damn, I love each and every Yakuza game soooo much and Like A Dragon is no exception from this.

Have you done "10 worst games from series I love" or "10 best games from series i hate" ?

I understand you don't love Advance Wars... because it's not a tactic jrp. It's a tactic skirmish battle game, without any jrpg element. I do love Advance Wars (expecially the first one) but I understand why they're not your cup of tea.

I love many games you mentioned, especially Monster Hunter and Etrian Odyssey but I gotta say that you really should give Yakuza a chance unless playing a "real life" setting doesnt appeal to you at all. The stories in these games are amazing. Also, the protagonists of the Yakuza franchise are actually never part of the Yakuza in the actual games for most of the time, which is ironic as hell. They're actually some of the most honorable, morally and ethically good guys I've seen. Seriously, Kiryu has to be the best "good guy" trope I've ever seen, the writers make it look so easy to write his character without falling in the many traps of this trope that it shocks me. I'm not pissed or anything but your sentence "I don't like playing drug dealers" couldn't be more wrong :D You must have mistaken GTA Chinatown Wars (the best drug dealer simulator) with a Yakuza game somehow.

I'm on the same page with most of these. In addition for me, anything modern or sci-fi I can't get into. Swords, axes, bows, great! Guns, lasers, mechs...can't do it. Beats me.

I agree with 90% of the video. My biggest gripe was your Yakuza take at the end of the video. I don't even remember drugs being part of any main quest in the game besides 7 (which I still haven't played). Etrian Odyssey I kind of agree though. I dislike not having actual characters as my teammates and that's why I also hated DQ 9. However, I was able to enjoy Etrian Odyssey 1 and 2 remakes on the 3ds thanks to the new story mode. In fact, I went with the very same party the game gives you without having to create other generic characters myself.

Neptunia main games are fun with nice characters and music , you won't get a story that is meant to hook you but when you want to play something to relax and have fun nothing beats neptunia in short bursts. Also the battle mechanics are solid.

Mine is: Pokemon Digimon Shin Megami Tensei Valkirya Chronicles Any Tactic RPGs Compile Hears games Atelier series after "Iris" Most Western RPGs

I am a sucker for 1st person dungeon crawlers and I really wanted to love Etrian Odyssey. I gave multiple tries to multiple titles of this series and nope... can't get into it, don't know why, I just get bored after 1-2 hours.

I can’t get into RPGS or anime that involves Mechs...but I think I have to get Xenogears from the PS3 store. I also don’t get into strategy RPGs

The souls series was one i never expected myself to be so in love with. I played Bloodborne and loved it a lot i never gave up with it. But i never gave dark souls another shot since before that i had played 1&3 a bit and didnt have fun so i found them uninteresting. Until i out of curiosity played demon's souls on ps3. Now ive played all the games 3+ times

Agree with almost everything on this list. I really enjoy the dark souls series though, the story is actually very intriguing and deep it just doesn't spoon feed it to which I understand can be a turn off and I used to like Kingdom Hearts up until the second one then it just started to be too much story 😂

10.- That's fair 9.- Le gasp... *explains why he does like Shin Megami Tensei*... that's fair. 8.- That's also fair, but this reaffirms my belief that KH2 was the best of the whole saga. Haven't played the third though, so I could be wrong. 7.- Don't like it either, but I think it mostly causes the graphics. The blood makes me nauseos. 6.- I still haven't tried Stardew Valley, so I can't say if I would be a fan of the farming simulator as well. 5.- Just played the GBA one. I guess if they had units instead of generics tanks and soldiers, it would have been better 4.- Never played one, but I do love the Monsters/Armor/Weapons design. Is good worldbuilding exercise 3.- I'm gay, so not touching one. 2.- Same problem as you when I tried one. 1.- Never played it. Still curious. Love your work, and have a good day.

The funny thing is, I never could get into monster hunter main series. I did how ever instantly get into monster hunter stories

About Kingdom Hearts series, I couldn't get into Birth By Sleep. Tried it for about 10 hours, put it down. Revisited a couple years later, and nah. I found the overall story convoluted.

I'm actually surprised by how many of these are applicable to me too. Pokemon, digimon, KH, Monster Hunter, Etrian Odyssey, Soulesborne, can't get into any of these either!

I'm in ALMOST complete agreement with this list. The only one I got into was Kingdom Hearts, but I've also given up on that series now. Part of the reason was the endless string of spinoffs instead of mainline games. But, I think it had more to do with the fact that in the mid 2010's, action games were really going on a rampage, and kind of REPLACING Turn-Based games. Since I strongly prefer Turn-Based, I found myself feeling resentful towards the entire Action genre. So, I spent years and years playing Kingdom Hearts spinoffs while waiting for Kingdom Hearts 3, and then when it finally came out, I just didn't care anymore and didn't even play it.

Love Etrian Odyssey, but I'm a big dungeon crawler fan. Wonder if theyll ever be able to port that game without dropping the map mechanic