Best jrpgs that aren't final fantasy or dragon quest

tonyh900

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Just give some ideas of great jrpgs that aren't part of the final fantasy or dragon quest series of games
 

ScrabbitRabbit

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Shin Megami Tensei is an amazing series. They can be pretty challenging, but it's so, so satisfying. The Persona series is the most popular subset, but you're likely to get a LOT of replies talking about them (for good reason) so I'll stick to the main series.

In each game, you play as a human (or ex-human) in a world filled with demons. For the most part, this character is your only consistent party member. You recruit other members from the ranks of the demons by conversing with them during the battles instead of fighting them. Demons can be fused together to create new, more powerful demons. There's a bit of elemental rock-paper-scissors with the combat, to the point where some of the games afford you an extra turn for exploiting enemy weaknesses. They also get this privelige, though so be careful.

The games are no slouch, narratively either. IIRC, the first two games tie in together but, while it is canon, the third one (Lucifer's Call in EU, Nocturne elsewhere) is it's own thing. Strange Journey is technically a spin-off, being narratively unrelated to the others, but it plays like the other main series games and is my personal favourite. Each game is quite dark in it's way and relatively none-linear. There are normally at least three different routes you can take through the game, based on your alignment. The three alignments are Law, Chaos and Neutral. Don't mistake this for Good, Evil and Neutral, though.
 

ShinyCharizard

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Golden Sun
Shin Megami Tensei series and spinoffs
Tales series (Vesperia is the best IMO)
Resonance of Fate
Xenogears
Xenosaga
Shadow Hearts Covenant
Lost Odyssey
Star Ocean
Radiant Historia
Sakura Wars
Grandia III
Suikoden III
Kingdom Hearts
Ni No Kuni
Atelier series
Valkyria Chronicles
Record of Agarest War
Chrono Trigger
Etrian Odyssey Series
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Luna Silver Star Story
Breath of Fire Series
Legend of Dragoon
Vagrant Story
XenoBlade
The Last Story
Skies of Arcadia
Baten Kaitos
Arc Rise Fantasia
Ys Series
Chrono Cross
 

krazykidd

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I'll try not to say some others said already .

Lufia
Lufia 2
Secret of evermore
Legend of legaia
Legend of dragoon
Parasite eve 1
Legend of mana
Suikoden series
Star ocean series
Mana khemia series
Altelier Iris series
Magna carta series
 

Exius Xavarus

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May 19, 2010
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Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Graces f
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Legendia
Chrono Trigger
The Last Story
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Star Ocean: The Last Hope International
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga
Golden Sun
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Baten Kaitos Origins
 

Andy Shandy

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Jun 7, 2010
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That I've played anyway...

Lost Odyssey
Persona 4
Ni No Kuni
Pokemon
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Xenoblade Chronicles

There's also The Last Remnant, which personally I really enjoyed, but I am well aware that it can be quite a love it or hate it kind of game.
 

sextus the crazy

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Oct 15, 2011
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The World Ends with You
Fire Emblem (Series)
Pokemon
Radiant Historia
Persona & the rest of the Megami Tensei Series
 

lRookiel

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Jun 30, 2011
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Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.

Anyway, my vote goes for Dark souls :3
 

IllumInaTIma

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Well, I've only played Persona 3, Persona 4 and Atelier Totori, and they are quite awesome.
 

Kaimax

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-Persona 3 and 4
-The Suikoden series (The main ones 1-5)
-Xenogears

lRookiel said:
Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.
I'm with the group that says, "it's a WRPG made by Japanese."
 

Sheo_Dagana

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Personally, my favorites are Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, and Xenogears. So far though, I'm really enjoying Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Lost Odyssey was also pretty note-worthy. I've never finished a Tales game, but I've started all of them at some point.
 

theresay

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My favorites are Xenosaga series and Kingdom Hearts series.

Worth mentioning and highly recommended:

Shadow Hearts series
Shin Megami Series, including spin-offs Devil Summoner and Persona
Tales series
Rogue Galaxy
Eternal Sonata
Valkyria Chronicles
White Knight Chronicles II
 

zidine100

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persona 2 innocent sin.

i havent played the official re-translation, so i wouldn't be able to gage that one, but i remember the fan translation being completely awesome, although i heard they censored it a bit for the official release.

btw bowties are cool

captcha
 

AwesomeDave

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Chrono Trigger and Legend of Dragoon are among my favourites... the Secret of Mana games are awesome too, but they are more of an action-rpg, still amazing games though.
 

Signa

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krazykidd said:
I'll try not to say some others said already .

Lufia
Lufia 2
Secret of evermore
Legend of legaia
Legend of dragoon
Parasite eve 1
Legend of mana
Suikoden series
Star ocean series
Mana khemia series
Altelier Iris series
Magna carta series
That may be the first time I've seen someone recommend Secret of Evermore on this forum besides myself.

OT: I think my favorites were more or less covered in the first post, but one that I know that never gets mentioned is Super Ninja Boy. I loved that to death when I was a kid.