JRPGs

[The Madman]

Tell you what, send me a PM with consoles you own/JRPGs you enjoyed. Similar games you enjoyed, too and I'll hook you up with some fun JRPGs. Or die heroically trying.

I always wanted to be a martyr, but I always end up a Marty.

Might as well make it a post.

Let's see, I own a Nintendo console, you know, the old grey box ones that barely worked when they were new and now only seem to work when you beg and plead with the thing on your knees and have presumably sacrificed a loved one to try and earn the damned things favour, and even then it's sketchy. I've got a Genesis, which still works just fine. Various gameboy throughout the years till the semi-modern DS, which I own a few games for. My gaming PC which is quickly getting out of date, a laptop that has nothing to do with gaming so no clue why I even mention it, and a Wii which is mostly used to play Mario games and retro games from the NES and Genesis era, go figure. My understanding is that most of the 'iconic jrpg' are on the Playstation, none of which I own. I'm also pretty against piracy and by extension emulation, so that's out as well.

That's about it though. As for games, played a few of the Final Fantasy games though the only old sprite one I ever particularly found memorable was 6. FF7 I played since it had a pc port, was alright. I never beat the ending after my savegame got corrupted while climbing down some giant demon-hole thing to presumably fight Sephiroth. Never liked it enough to replay it after that, but whatever, was enjoyable. And 8 was also ported to the PC but I hated it with a fiery passion. Seriously, you can't just seque out of the main character being stabbed through the heart and go on like it never happened. That doesn't work. It's shitty storytelling! The game built up this grand dramatic 'assassination' attempt at the end of the first disk that achieved seemingly nothing story wise and only pissed my off by proving how inept the storytelling was.

You can get away with some deviation from the classical story arc and a few plotholes are fine. But that was just stretching the limits of believability wayyyy past the point of breaking and beyond return. It's that sort of tripe that gives the genre a bad view in my eyes. Bah Humbug!

Anyway, also played about half-way through Chrono Trigger since I'd heard it was not unlike Final Fantasy 6. Was enjoying good what I played, not quite sure why I stopped. Pretty sure I just got distracted by something shiny in the distance and wandered off to gawk at it!

Have a friend who tried to push the modern Final Fantasy games on me... that ended badly. Don't like all the CGI stuffs and blatant pretty-boys. Shallow of me, I know, but hell it's only a game and when it comes to entertainment shallow is fine. Then he tried to introduce me to the Persona series, at least I think that was it. Teenage youngsters shooting themselves? Yeah, didn't like it. At all. No clue if I've even got the names right but judging by a quick google search that seems right. I know someone who loves the Kingdom Heart series, but I'm not allowed to look at that game in their presence anymore because I inevitably burst into long-winded rants about the poor games and how they're defiling a classic legacy of Disney golden-era excellence.

I would probably like Final Fantasy tactics since I'm a sucker for HoM&M, X-Com, or Advance Wars style tactical games and that seems sorta kinda similar but never got the chance to play it myself despite having looked into it. But still, maybe that's a good starting point in the search for something I don't instinctively hate.

Beyond that I know nothing. Someone I know occasionally comes over and talks about the anime stuff they're into and tries to share their interest, but it's never worked and at this point I doubt it ever will. I'd prefer to keep the pointy-haired angst to a minimum if possible, not my cup o tea!

 

[Mintyflesh]

You know, I kind of feel like when people complain about JRPGs, mostly they're just complaining about Final Fantasy games. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll get someone who'll branch out and touch maybe the Dragon Quest or stuff by Tri Ace or Monolith, but most of the hate focuses squarely on FF. (Also Kingdom Hearts, which has always struck me as kind of insane. HEY DOUBLE DRAGON IS A TERRIBLE RPG.) When people DO branch out, they seem to mostly include stuff in the PSX era. No one ever bitches about, you know, Valkyria Chronicles or Resonance of Fate, or something cheap and quirky by Gust. It's always ALL THE GUYS LOOK LIKE GIRLS AND EVERYONE HAS A TON OF ZIPPERS. What is up with that?

 

[Mintyflesh]

My understanding is that most of the 'iconic jrpg' are on the Playstation, none of which I own. I'm also pretty against piracy and by extension emulation, so that's out as well.

Poor Phantasy Star and Shining Games, no one ever cares about you. :`(

And 8 was also ported to the PC but I hated it with a fiery passion. Seriously, you can't just seque out of the main character being stabbed through the heart and go on like it never happened. That doesn't work. It's shitty storytelling! The game built up this grand dramatic 'assassination' attempt at the end of the first disk that achieved seemingly nothing story wise and only pissed my off by proving how inept the storytelling was.

I will absolutely agree with this. VIII was freaking terrible. "You will go to a dimension where the very fabric of reality will tear you apart. The only way to survive is... FRIENDSHIP!" Man, really?

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Ok, so I hear it all the time on Yahtzee's reviews and from a lot of other people on the forums, but I generally do want to know what people seem to have against JRPGs.

I actually have a hard time getting into the the western ones like Dragon Age, the Witcher or Mass Effect.

about the only Western RPGs I like so far are Fallout and Borderlands.

What is so bad about games like Final Fantasy (except VII, I do see plenty reason to hate on that one), Tales of Symphonia, Disgaea, and Kingdom Hearts?

I think, as has no doubt been said many times, that people don't get on with the character archetypes. It can be an odd genre to get into if you are unused to the usual tropes.
Also, a lot of current gamers[footnote]not on the escapist, but among people I know[/footnote] simply don't enjoy playing turn based games (many JRPGS).

I get the hate for the story and characters in most JRPGs, but anyone who complains about those in say Chrono Trigger I simply can't understand.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Ok, so I hear it all the time on Yahtzee's reviews and from a lot of other people on the forums, but I generally do want to know what people seem to have against JRPGs.

Well, for me it's the linearity. Almost every JRPG has a completely linear story where the player's rare if even present choices have no effect on the world. In fact I don't really consider most JRPGs to be proper RPGs. A roleplaying game where you can only play one pre-determined role (clarification: while combat roles in JRPGs are occasionally customizable, the important role: that of the player's character is, in my experience, never meaningfully alterable) isn't really a roleplaying game. If it was, then every game ever made would be a RPG. I submit to you that (in my experience) all JRPGs are not really RPGs but merely adventure games with a huge emphasis on combat.

You said in your original post that you liked Fallout. What did you like about Fallout? Did you like how you were free to decide your own morality and combat role (or lack there of)? Did you like how you were able to create your own story? Did you like the choices that made a difference?

I like how I had the option to get a new water purification chip for your vault or to let it rot. I like how I can fight any person in the game. I like how I can fully control my dialogue. I like being able to take on companions and to abandon them. I like freedom. I like choice. I have never seen a JRPG that offers those things.

 

[Krinku]

Hmm... I for one love RPGs in general WRPGS and JRPGS as long as the games good. I do see some problems that some people would see:

-Character Archetypes
-Story is hit or miss
-Culture Differences
-Gameplay can be linear

Thing is though...we don't even get too many good JRPGs to base anything off of in the first place, and even if a JRPG gets localized the translation might be crappy ruining the whole thing.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

snipped for sanity.

Well, I just joined the conversation, but I have to respond now.

1. Finish Chrono Trigger. (I got part way through a couple of times but when I finally completed it I was like 'How have I not done this before?')

2. Fire Emblem is always worth a try if you liked advance wars. (Fire emblem (GBA) is my favourite)

3. I totally agree with you on Kingdom Hearts and the new final fantasy games, they just don't seem right to me.

4. Generally have a look at the less popular stuff, for an interesting battle system something like 'The World Ends With You' might be a good choice, but it is angsty-teenager-with-silly-hair-character-driven-story. (Lots of story... LOTS OF TEXT) The characters do show more than one dimension though, as the story progresses. It's one of those love-or-hate games. I love it.

5. I've never played FF: Tactics, but from what I hear it is worth a shot.


Above all, try things that aren't final fantasy, or anything to heavy at first.

 

[Chibz]

SNIP

Well, I see you didn't play Secret of Mana which is available on the Wii. Final Fantasy 4 on the virtual console too. Might as well pick up FF1, as long as you understand that it might not have aged well.

I'd also recommend Phantom Brave: We Meet Again. It's a fantastic Tactical JRPG, and some Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love wouldn't be a bad bet too.

Genesis? Phantasy Star. Definitely Phantasy Star games.

Oooh, you've got a DS. Final Fantasy 3, Dragon Quest 9. I'm fond of the Pokemon games (THEY COUNT), and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. But your milage may vary.

Got a PS2? If so, I've got some fantastic titles for that to recommend, too.

EDIT: I don't enjoy newer FF games either. Can't defend them.

 

[Plinglebob]

Stuff

Something I would like to pick up on with your comments is how you feel WRPGs give you choice and JRPGs give you the "Illusion of Choice" as I think you're wrong here. Personally, I've always felt WRPGs give the Illusion of Choice where as JRPGs give you no choice at all.

In WRPGs, you are given the oppotunity to complete quests in any order and customize your character how you want but in the end the story won't actually change aside from how you kill things and how some NPCs will react. For example in Dragon Age, after the unique starting zone, you have no influence over the story. You must become a Gray Warden, you must do all the main story beats and no matter what the arch-demon will die in the end. The fact that you can help or kill the mages has no point to it other then to make the player think they have an effect on the game world. I will agree that the TES/Modern Fallout games are better at the player choice option and Eve Online is probably the only RPG where I'd say you really have choice on what to do. All other WRPGs just keep dangling the "Choice" options saying they're better and people fall for it every time.

In JRPGs, you have no choice. All your characters are set, the story is fixed and the only real option you have is your team make-up (and sometimes not even that). However, they never try to pretend otherwise. The JRPG fans I know all accept that when you buy a JRPG, you're going to get a certain formula and this is even more true with a long running series like Final Fantasy (this, by the way, is one of the reasons why FF12 has a bad rep). If you don't enjoy the formula, then thats fair enough, but don't think a format should change just to suit you.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Stuff

Something I would like to pick up on with your comments is how you feel WRPGs give you choice and JRPGs give you the "Illusion of Choice" as I think you're wrong here. Personally, I've always felt WRPGs give the Illusion of Choice where as JRPGs give you no choice at all.

In WRPGs, you are given the oppotunity to complete quests in any order and customize your character how you want but in the end the story won't actually change aside from how you kill things and how some NPCs will react. For example in Dragon Age, after the unique starting zone, you have no influence over the story. You must become a Gray Warden, you must do all the main story beats and no matter what the arch-demon will die in the end. The fact that you can help or kill the mages has no point to it other then to make the player think they have an effect on the game world. I will agree that the TES/Modern Fallout games are better at the player choice option and Eve Online is probably the only RPG where I'd say you really have choice on what to do. All other WRPGs just keep dangling the "Choice" options saying they're better and people fall for it every time.

In JRPGs, you have no choice. All your characters are set, the story is fixed and the only real option you have is your team make-up (and sometimes not even that). However, they never try to pretend otherwise. The JRPG fans I know all accept that when you buy a JRPG, you're going to get a certain formula and this is even more true with a long running series like Final Fantasy (this, by the way, is one of the reasons why FF12 has a bad rep). If you don't enjoy the formula, then thats fair enough, but don't think a format should change just to suit you.

It depends on the JRPG and WRPG, really. Devil Survivor (a JRPG) has an insane number of choices, and is a strong contender for the best implementation of choice in any game I've played so far. And I don't think you could classify something like Witcher 2 or Fallout: New Vegas as offering only the illusion of choice, either.

 

[Plinglebob]

It depends on the JRPG and WRPG, really. Devil Survivor (a JRPG) has an insane number of choices, and is a strong contender for the best implementation of choice in any game I've played so far. And I don't think you could classify something like Witcher 2 or Fallout: New Vegas as offering only the illusion of choice, either.

I admit I've never heard of Devil Survivor and I mentioned Fallout as a step in the right direction. I still haven't gotten round to playing Witcher 2, but from what I've heard it sounds like its another leap in how RPGs should go. I was aiming more towards those that keep saying how Bioware games are better then JRPGs because they have choice, when really they don't.

*Goes and researches Devil Survivor*

 

[SpaceBat]

What is so bad about games like Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy games are often pretty decent, but I don't regard the series as an excellent one due to often seen weak, stereotypical characters, occasional stupid plot, ridiculous dialogue and lots of melodrama. Of course, this isn't the same for every FF mind you. IV, VI IX and Tactics were excellent games IMO. Here are a few flaws I've heard people mention (I do not necessarily agree with all of them et cetera):

- Incredibly slow gameplay. Random encounters and having to wait fifteen seconds to start every battle and seeing a victory pose after every single battle kinda puts people off.
- The games rarely require any strategy. They often consist out of Scan Weakness the first time you fight them --> Pick appropriate magic attack while attacking them with melee, heal when low on health --. Grinding and buying the best equipment in stores solves all your problems, so very little skill is needed.
- Characters are usually either great (Cid) or just downright horrible (Vanille, Hope, Squall, Rikku, Yuna, Tidus, Wakka, Yuffie).
- Flee from battle and lose a small amount of Gil --> Get attacked in the back by the same monsters you just fled from just two steps later.
- Story is often a hit or miss.

Those are the ones I remember reading about from others. People might hate it, but I don't, even if FF13 is a horrible game.

Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Symphonia is probably one of the best JRPG's I've ever played actually.

Disgaea

Funny and cool, but my god, the grinding...THE GRINDING!

and Kingdom Hearts?

Nothing wrong with this one. There are a few weak games within the series as well, but every series has that.

I used to be an avid JRPG fan, but those times kinda faded away with time. I can't seem to find a good JRPG these days other than Lost Odyssey, Devil Survivor and one or two others. Not exactly an avid fan or WRPG's either (Love Mass Effect 1, like Witcher, like Origins, Hate Fallout 3), but I find that WRPG's have the upperhand this gen.

 

[thedoclc]

Snip

Edit

Something culturally does not connect - think of Frodo - he's comfortable, happy, has prospects in Hobbiton, comes from a wealthy family, and has lots of friends. He's the cool guy at school you all hated because he was popular and utterly without issues. The Japanese enjoy stability, and relish 'same old same old'. Frodo leaving this life of security and running off to fight Sauron is simply illogical to them. Sure, eventually Sauron is gonna come and enslave all the Hobbits too.

But the Japanese will think "Frodo is an insignificant runt - if anyone is gonna save us, it'll be the men of Gondor" and leave it at that. Westerners enjoy the underdog-to-saviour story arc, Japanese don't unless the underdog actually has some super bullshit uber power (despite strength of character, which is Frodo's ONLY strength - and he still needs Sam to carry him half the frickin' way to Mordor).

Edit

This is true. I would love to find out if anyone has looked at this academically, but it seems the Japanese are culturally very into the "chosen one" sort of hero. Being a hero is a matter of being the right person with the right class/caste/fate/karma/breeding. There's actually a kind of disturbing classism in there that many people probably miss. Yanks and Brits at least, and I'd like to think Westerners in general, think anyone can be a hero -or- sometimes that the hero is chosen by god (small G intentional). This is certainly true in Tolkien. Gandalf says as much directly to Frodo.

Westerners flirted with this idea that the hero couldn't be a common man. Our classical lit is full of the nobleman being the hero, from Beowulf to Agatha Christie and how the villain is almost never genuinely upper crust. It just doesn't mesh with modern folks. We never play the "prince" archetype straight anymore. Westerners appreciate a common man origin for their heroes, with powers granted mostly by hard work, training, and effort. Westerners won't make such a big deal about lineage, "fighting spirit," etc.

 

[Chibz]

SUPER SNIP

The best example of customization in an FF game would actually be FF2. It HAS no classes/jobs, and what your characters are good at depend exclusively on what you have them use.

It's an overall fantastic series.

It's just a shame that FF games moved away from epic stories & fantastic characters of the early titles around the time the series moved to PS1...

Why so many care about the art style (Would TF2 be any better with different graphics)

I care less about art style than I do about character design. Angsty androgynous teens annoy me for example.

 

[The Madman]

Spoilered for the sake of not spamming up this topic.

Spoiler: Reply to TheEvilCheese, which by the name would make for a great band name.

1. Finish Chrono Trigger. (I got part way through a couple of times but when I finally completed it I was like 'How have I not done this before?')

It's on the to-do list, though I'll have to pick up another copy since I'd only been borrowing the previous and haven't talked to that guy in years.

2. Fire Emblem is always worth a try if you liked advance wars. (Fire emblem (GBA) is my favourite)

I'll look into it, I absolutely adore Advance Wars and would love something similar.

4. Generally have a look at the less popular stuff, for an interesting battle system something like 'The World Ends With You' might be a good choice, but it is angsty-teenager-with-silly-hair-character-driven-story. (Lots of story... LOTS OF TEXT) The characters do show more than one dimension though, as the story progresses. It's one of those love-or-hate games. I love it.

Looked at that game awhile back and it simply doesn't appeal to me. Thank you for the suggestions however, I'll have to take a look into this Fire Emblem series. I've heard the name before but never payed any attention, but the thought of a fantasy-ish Advance Wars is a tempting one.

Spoiler: Reply to Chibz, which sounds suspiciously like a sour candy treat you could buy at the corner store

Well, I see you didn't play Secret of Mana which is available on the Wii. Final Fantasy 4 on the virtual console too. Might as well pick up FF1, as long as you understand that it might not have aged well.

Secrets of Mana I might look into, but I've honestly no urge to replay any of the other Final Fantasy games. I dabbled with them a fair bit years ago and only 6 really managed to stand out to me. The others were quickly forgotten. Maybe one day, but I've little real drive to delve into the whole Final Fantasy series again.

I'd also recommend Phantom Brave: We Meet Again. It's a fantastic Tactical JRPG, and some Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love wouldn't be a bad bet too.

Sorry, but looking up youtube videos of both of those I couldn't sit through trailers of either. It's shallow of me, but when during the trailer an underage looking cartoon girl popped up saying she wanted to be my friend but she had to believe in me first I just snapped it off. The other trailer had a similar breaking point for me as well... I'm just not a huge fan of anime, especially when it seems so 'in your face'.

Genesis? Phantasy Star. Definitely Phantasy Star games.

I'll take a look, though trying to get a copy of a specific genesis game is a bit of a pain and so truthfully it's not likely to happen anytime soon. Still, food for thought!

Oooh, you've got a DS. Final Fantasy 3, Dragon Quest 9. I'm fond of the Pokemon games (THEY COUNT), and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. But your milage may vary.

When I was in Japan awhile back posters and ads for Dragon Quest were absolutely everywhere and truthfully it didn't look too bad, though I've no bloody clue what the series is about. Still, I didn't even realize it was for the DS, I'll see if a buddy of mine owns the game and if so I'll see if I can't borrow it.

And no I don't own a PS2, I've never owned a Playstation console. Not out of any dislike, if I were to buy a modern console I'd almost certainly go for the PS3 over the 360. I've just never seen the need, my PC has always kept me more than satisfied as far as games go and my Wii works well enough for friendly get-together.

If anyone else has any suggestions feel free to share em. Definitely going to look into the Fire Emblem series, it actually looks kinda charming from the trailer I watched on youtube, despite the protagonists stereotypically blue hair. Still such a minor cheesy detail wasn't enough to turn me away from Advance Wars so it'd be stupid to let it stop me now. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is without doubt on my 'to buy' list now. Older DS games also tend to be not hard to find and dirt cheap too, which is fantastic considering how poor I am these days.

Is it really a 'jrpg' though? I mean I don't typically consider games like Heroes of Might & Magic nor King's Bounty 'western' or 'computer' rpg despite a few elements which carry over, and I've certainly never heard anyone call Advance Wars a jrpg.

Whatever the case that's one game I'll be picking up, so yay! Thanks for the suggestion. I'd never really payed any attention to the name before and had no idea it was like this or I'd have probably picked it up earlier.

 

[Chibz]

SNIP

Double checking something. Yep. All four phantasy star games are available on Virtual Console.

As for Phantom Brave, believe me. It gets pretty dark at times and has a lot of examples of Kicking the Dog. In fact...

Spoiler

The "Another Marona" is the same story, if the male lead (Ash) isn't actually around. It ... Well, leads to the logical conclusion which involves "breaking the cutie"

Yes, yes, I know the world it's in looks incredibly sweet/adorable. Trust me. The world's really not that good. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrapsaccharineWorld
Believe it or not, but it's a serious drama. Marona is... excessively optimistic but would you rather she be an angsty teen?

Actually, checking out the trailer to it. Trailer seem that bad. However, it's gameplay is absolutely amazing.

Most of my favourite JRPGs are PS2 exclusives unfortunately.

 

[IWCAS]

If you don't like JRPG's Play Persona 4. You'll change your mind. If you DO like JRPG's and have never played an SMT title... Well go fucking get one. NOW

No.

I Have saw the art style for that game, And to me it appears animeish, I'm not otuching it with a ten foot pole.

Well you're shit outta luck then. Pretty much all JRPG's are anime-like... Because they're from Japan. It's not really something you're going to find a way around.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Mostly because the characters have this annoying tendency to be effeminate, 12, and annoying wankers, while your typical JRPG story is a string of nonsense tied together with "the healing power of love!" or something equally ridiculous, and all the while the game expects you to grind away in draining turn-based combat that drags on and on and on[footnote]Not that there is anything inherently wrong with turn-based combat mind you - I loved turn-based games like Fallout and Fallout 2 - but somehow every JRPG I've sat down with has managed to suck any of the fun possible out of the system and replace it with drudgery; grinding away at random encounters for hours because otherwise you'll lose to unfair random bullshit during a "story encounter" that you can only counter by having ridiculous levels of health or whatnot is just about the least entertaining thing I can think of to do in a video game.[/footnote].

Obviously there are exceptions, but for the most part I look at the genre and can't even begin to comprehend why anyone would even want to play those games, let alone profess to love them, as people do in fact profess. But then I find many Westerners obsessions with anime just as baffling, so it occurs to me that what I see as tiresome drudgery through anime nonsense would perhaps be appealing to that crowd of Japanophiles for whom the most banal products of Japanese pop-culture are "unmitigated masterpieces".

No, give me a quality Western RPG any day if it's a choice between that or "Angsty McSpikyhair saves the world through the power of friendship!" - there are Western roleplaying games that suck every bit as much as I think your typical JRPG does, but those tend to be awful for reasons that can't be applied almost universally to the Western RPG genre; the issues I have with JRPGs that prevent me enjoying them are just shy of being all-encompassing.

And thus I don't play JRPGs.

-snip-

The various Infinity engine games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape) weren't turn-based systems at all, from the player's perspective at least, and suggesting they were is grossly misleading. Yes, all the various actors on the screen are taking turns and obeying the whims of dice-rolling mechanics, they're based on D&D rules after all, but those are background details being handled by the CPU - the actual control of your adventuring party plays exactly like a Real-time Strategy game that simply lets you pause the action whenever you want to issue commands to your units (instead of making you pause and issue commands for every one of your team members in order before yanking control away from you while the monsters have their go).

In point of fact that's the same mechanic that's been present in pretty much all of Bioware's RPGs up to the present day: KOTOR, Mass Effect, Dragon Age - all of those are played in real-time but give players the ability to pause and assess the situation, and also issue commands that will then be executed when you resume. The original Fallout games, now those were turn-based in both the underlying mechanics and the presentation to the player - as soon as combat started all the actors on the screen actually took turns (though you still only controlled yourself) - if you're going to dredge up examples of Western RPGs with turn-based combat that no one seems to complain about then I'd use those instead, since that's actually true.

 

[Iwata]

If you don't like JRPG's Play Persona 4. You'll change your mind. If you DO like JRPG's and have never played an SMT title... Well go fucking get one. NOW

No.

I Have saw the art style for that game, And to me it appears animeish, I'm not otuching it with a ten foot pole.

Well you're shit outta luck then. Pretty much all JRPG's are anime-like... Because they're from Japan. It's not really something you're going to find a way around.

I'm by no means trying to be a smart ass, this is an honest question, but would you consider Demons' Souls to be a JRPG? I mean, it seems to fit the description, as in, it's an RPG, from Japan.

Also, I don't remember who said it and I'm too lazy to fall back and check, but Valkyria Chronicles is most definitely NOT a JRPG.

 

[Silvianoshei]

Preference is part of it, but I think for the most part I can understand where people are coming from.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Kingdom Hearts, pretty much all the FF's (except for X-2 and XIII, X was my fav closely followed by XII and VII), Chrono Cross/Trigger, the Persona games (ABSOLUTE FAVS), Fire Emblem, and Disgaea.

But in terms of character design, there is usually at least one character in every FF game that gets on my nerves. Usually it's not the main character, but it can be. I spent most of FFXII telling Vaan (verbally, no less) to shut the hell up. No really. I literally was annoyed by his personality to the point where I cracked and started talking to my PS2. Same with Hope from FFXIII (except x10000000000000 RRRRGGHHHHH SHUT THE HELL UP ARRRRGHHHH)

I really like tactics games (Frozen Synapse being my new favorite) so I don't mind the battle system, and I really enjoy JRPG's epic worlds, more than anything else. The stories can be eh, but as long as the world is epic, I don't really care. Also, Balthier was badass.