Best jrpgs that aren't final fantasy or dragon quest

Elvaril

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Paper Mario and Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. Paper Mario is still my all time favourite game.
 

Mrkillhappy

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Sep 18, 2012
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Surprised no one has said this but earthbound
Others though Chrono Trigger, Paper Mario, and Xenogears are all awesome.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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lRookiel said:
Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.

Anyway, my vote goes for Dark souls :3
Dark Souls? More like... Dark SHIT! LMA0 OWN3D!!!!!!!!!

Yeah Persona 4 is best game ever. If you still have a PS2 you can get it dirt cheap at probably no more than £15 for a 40/50/60 hour game

Apparently Golden is really good as a standalone from the original but I still doubt it's that much different from the original to be worth buying a Vita solely for that one game. The handheld market really doesn't appeal to me too much, i'll just buy all the Visual Novel-esque games that everyone says are good and stop there and that's more of Nintendo thing I believe.

By that I mean the Ace Attorney games are all on the DS so I have to get one.
 

Sack of Cheese

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Sep 12, 2011
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A lot, really...

Lost Odyssey is my favourite of this gen.
Persona 3, Persona 4
Suikoden 2
Grandia 2
Breath of fire 3
Legend of Dragoon
Xenogears
Demon's souls
Dark souls
Dragon's dogma
Recrettear
Chrono Cross
I enjoyed .hack//GU too, but it was only so-so
...
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
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Tales of the Abyss - and for that matter, every "Tales of-" game by Namco Bandai - is pretty good. The Suikoden and Shadow Hearts series are also famous classy JRPGS. Disgaea is fun but it's more of a strategy JRPG. And the Persona series is always getting hits.
 

Keneth

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Oct 14, 2011
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I'm gonna kick it old school here.

Chrono Cross/Trigger
Super Mario RPG
Lunar Silver Star and Eternal Blue
Parsite Eve
The Legend of Dragoon
Xenogears
Grandia I and II
Vagrant Story
 

Yopaz

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Jun 3, 2009
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Exius Xavarus said:
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
Now here's a list that makes me drool.

Also Earthbound is a great game and it will soon be released on Virtual console on the Wii U.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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Phew, lotta good lists there, even somewhat covering .hack, though I'd recommend all of it. Anyway, I've got one here that hasn't been mentioned yet. It's pretty good and pretty original:

Shadow Madness

Welcome to the tale of a pirate, an outdoorswoman, and a robot...and so much more! Definitely worth a play, much like alot of the things listed here.
 

Mauler

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Jul 11, 2012
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Xenogears
Suikoden 1235(four was realley bad)
Persona
Anachronox
xenosaga
metal saga
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Valkyria Chronicles is probably the only JRPG where I actually enjoyed the gameplay. Too bad I can't say the same about the story and characters.
 

Korten12

Now I want ma...!
Aug 26, 2009
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The Wykydtron said:
lRookiel said:
Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.

Anyway, my vote goes for Dark souls :3
Dark Souls? More like... Dark SHIT! LMA0 OWN3D!!!!!!!!!

Yeah Persona 4 is best game ever. If you still have a PS2 you can get it dirt cheap at probably no more than £15 for a 40/50/60 hour game

Apparently Golden is really good as a standalone from the original but I still doubt it's that much different from the original to be worth buying a Vita solely for that one game. The handheld market really doesn't appeal to me too much, i'll just buy all the Visual Novel-esque games that everyone says are good and stop there and that's more of Nintendo thing I believe.

By that I mean the Ace Attorney games are all on the DS so I have to get one.
Persona 4 Golden is a loooooooot better than the original. With more events through the year, the new character Marie, an epilogue that takes place after persona 4 arena, expansion on explaining the ending, Adachi and Marie social links, more personas, updated combat, new anime cutscenes, night time, extra dungeon, and a new dark ending.
 

TheEvilCheese

Cheesey.
Dec 16, 2008
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I'm going to be boring repetitive and predictable here. But there's a reason some of these games come up in every thread.

-Pokémon, Nintendo DS, if you're not a pokemon person; start with black/white. There's a reason it's this successful after 15 years. One of the deepest competitive rabbit holes out there. The level of complexity that goes into the high-end battling combined with the simple addictive progression make it one of those series' that truly is suitable for all ages. Here's [http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3482311] an example of the level of detail we're talking in a 'rate my team thread' it will go waaaay over your head but serves as a reasonable example. Full honesty here, I've spent more hours in pokemon than anything else and I played WoW for years. I like the series that much. In fact... I think I'll go play some now.

-Chrono Trigger, Nintendo DS, fan favourite, classic, some say best SNES JRPG- I would be inclined to agree with that. Fun characters and a pretty cool if clichéd story along with solid ATB fights and NO RANDOM BATTLES make this one to play. Then comes the art, much of it done by Akira Toriyama (if you don't like his style this may put you off, the character designs are very much DBZ) and it it beautiful. I still regularly listen to the soundtrack and various remixes to this day. Play this game.

-Star Ocean (Till the end of time), PS2, one of the last games released by Enix back in the PS2 days, and it's one of the best in my opinion. Think final fantasy with a real time battle system and some slight tweaks to the formula. But honestly it's pure JRPG at heart. Another case of no random battles being a selling point for me. Vastly unappreciated.

-The World Ends With You (TWEWY), Nintendo DS, This game can't get enough praise in my eyes. A fresh and interesting take on the genre. Unique battle system very dialogue heavy story with no real player agency, but some excellent characters and a gripping story get you hooked. It's a very 'marmite' game, you either love it or hate it. It's nowhere near as loved as some of the others in my list but it's one of the first ports of call for me as far as great JRPGs go. Best thing SQUEENIX has made in a decade.

Then you have things like the Tales series, Xenogears, Secret of Mana, Persona series, Earthbound, Disagea (however you spell it) and many more. Frankly JRPGS are far more interesting outside of final fantasy in my opinion. Modern FF is almost a gateway drug to the great experiences out there. The Escapist has great and varied taste in the genre so I'll let those who know more about these games say it.

Oh, and if you're up for a Strategy RPG, you literally can't do better than Fire Emblem (series). Awakening is the current incarnation and by far the best. It's got the highest metacritic rank of any original (IE: not remake) 3DS game and is just amazing.
 

EHKOS

Madness to my Methods
Feb 28, 2010
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I remember Legia 2 Dual Saga having a fun battle system, Okage Shadow King's battle system is balls but everything else is pretty great.
 

zefichan

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Jul 19, 2011
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Chrono Trigger, the Etrian series, Valkyrie Profile, Wild Arms 3 (but NEVER 4, 4 SUCKS), Star Ocean 3, Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Legend of Mana, Valkyria Chronicles
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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Korten12 said:
The Wykydtron said:
lRookiel said:
Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.

Anyway, my vote goes for Dark souls :3
Dark Souls? More like... Dark SHIT! LMA0 OWN3D!!!!!!!!!

Yeah Persona 4 is best game ever. If you still have a PS2 you can get it dirt cheap at probably no more than £15 for a 40/50/60 hour game

Apparently Golden is really good as a standalone from the original but I still doubt it's that much different from the original to be worth buying a Vita solely for that one game. The handheld market really doesn't appeal to me too much, i'll just buy all the Visual Novel-esque games that everyone says are good and stop there and that's more of Nintendo thing I believe.

By that I mean the Ace Attorney games are all on the DS so I have to get one.
Persona 4 Golden is a loooooooot better than the original. With more events through the year, the new character Marie, an epilogue that takes place after persona 4 arena, expansion on explaining the ending, Adachi and Marie social links, more personas, updated combat, new anime cutscenes, night time, extra dungeon, and a new dark ending.
I've heard of the new super bad ending at least. Something about you helping the killer cover up his crimes and get away scot free. Something that completely undermines the entire theme of the game and I frankly have no idea why they even included it as an option. I'm not sold on Adatchi having a Social Link either.

Oh and I have to raise my stats up again won't I? You know how hard it is to raise Courage, Understanding, Knowledge, Diligence and Swag in tandem with Social Links and dungeons? I DON'T WANT TO HAVE MORE TIME MANAGEMENT! IT'S TOO HARD! T-T



I suppose i'll have eight days to complete Persona 4 Arena's story mode then hopefully get a Vita for my birthday + Golden. Mother has a dislike of buying me game systems though. She'd rather give me flat money to which I would use to buy a Vita with regardless.

Logic.
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

RIP Eleuthera, I will miss you
Nov 9, 2010
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Resonance of fate...

Seriously! I loved this game! The battle system is fresh, and interesting, (albeit slightly complicated at first) and it has some of the best character design and graphics on the XBox to date! Very underrated game!

The game focuses on playing and looking cool... even to the point where there is a shed loads of customisation options for your characters in game, from hairstyles to sunglasses to clothes... and they are all pretty cool looking post-steam punk-esque stuff!






 

4RM3D

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lRookiel said:
Is Dark souls a JRPG? Some say it is and some say it isn't.
Kaimax said:
I'm with the group that says, "it's a WRPG made by Japanese."
And some say the Japanese did a better job making a Western RPG than the, well, Westerners. XD
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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Tales of Phantasia


Nobody seemed to remember this one but it was a limited SNES release (if it was released at all) in the West and definitely a limited western release on the GBA.

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Enchanted Arms
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Legend of Dragoon
Persona 3
Persona 4
Pokemon (any really)
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Sword of Mana (on the original Game Boy, this was Final Fantasy Adventure for some reason...in the US)
Vagrant Story
Wild Arms/ Wild Arms Alter Code F (PS2 update of the original Wild Arms)

I should have Blue Dragon today so I'll see about doing a Shoggy Look at it in the not-too-distant future. It's an Xbox 360 exclusive so there's a reason to grab it: I own a 360 and don't want Gears of War 3 or Judgement...or a Kinect.
 

mrhappy1489

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May 12, 2011
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Fire Emblem: Awakening. I have fallen in love with this game and guarantee that you would. I'm not sure about the rest of the series, but Awakening, is definitely worth the money, I'd go so far as saying that it justifies the purchase of a 3DS, not the 3d element because that's useless.