[closed] Codex Best jRPGs Ever Poll

[rusty_shackleford]

There - 4
Are - 2
No - 2
Good - 1
JRPGs - 1

anachronox is pretty good

 

[Digimon]

Xenogears - 2
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth - 2
Treasure of the Rudras - 2
Terranigma - 2
Growlanser: Wayfayer of Time - 2

*Other games I would’ve added if the points were not so limited:

- Phantom Brave: We Meet Again
- Shiren the Wanderer: The Golden City of El Dorado
- Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra
- Ys series, especially: Origins, I + II, The Oath in Felghana
- Culdcept Revolt
- Vagrant Story
- Vandal Hearts Duology
- Etrian Odyssey series
- Monster Rancher 4

I could go on and on really but that would end up being an unwelcome digression.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Lufia 2 - 1
Final Fantasy Tactics - 3
Final Fantasy VI - 2
Dragon's Dogma - 3
Suikoden 2 - 1

 

[dacencora]

Definitely have not played enough JRPGs to really vote, but I do think that Dragon Quest 1 and 7 are among the best games I’ve ever played, and I really like every Megami Tensei game I’ve tried.
Of the ones I’ve played to the end I would vote:
Shin Megami Tensei IV - 1 point
Fire Emblem Three Houses - 3 points
Dragon Quest 1 - 5 points
Persona 4 - 1 point

 

[Kaivokz]

Shin Megami Tensei IV - 2 points
Fire Emblem Three Houses - 3 points
Dragon Quest 1 - 5 points
Persona 4 - 1 point

11 points instead of 10

 

[dacencora]

Shin Megami Tensei IV - 2 points
Fire Emblem Three Houses - 3 points
Dragon Quest 1 - 5 points
Persona 4 - 1 point

11 points instead of 10

Ha classic. You’re right. Fixed.

 

[Ysaye]

Can I vote as an over 20 years old and an under 15 year old? No? Oh well....well for a laugh:

Trails in the Sky: The 3rd (Three points) - this is an odd temporal point for me; the Trails series of games seem to me now much better than the original JRPGs of my youth like Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono-Trigger; they have much much better lore, more interesting character development, better turn based battle systems and equal if not better music, and all of them use the same design principles....except this one (and Trails in the Reverie, although that is not out in English yet). This one is a dungeon crawler with lots of references to games both in it's past and into it's future series, the story and some side stories are very dark, but also hilarious at points (although you have to roughly know the the lore built up previous to this game in many instances). People will not vote for the later games because they are maybe less original particularly with respect to the party characters, and I suspect Second Chapter will get the most votes of the trails games (and that the number of games will split the votes so that lesser games will end up above them) because that is where the pace in the series first picks up with the OG characters but if I am trying to represent what is really good in modern JRPGs I think I would have to go with this.

Suikoden 2 (Two Points) - And if I was going to pick an old style JRPG, I would go with this one, partially because it kind of isn't as much in the mold of Dragon Quest / Final Fantasy design principles. Some people say that this game has the best JRPG villain (although I still have "soft spots" for Kefka and Ghaleon) but the rambling tale, the mini-games, the lore generation and so forth in many senses make this the grandfather of the modern good JRPG. Best PS1 RPG for mine.

Fire Emblem 5: Thracia 776 (One Point) - There are lots of good strategy JRPGs; Tactics Ogre, Shining Force 2, Der Langrisser, Final Fantasy Tactics...but this one is for me is still the one that stands out. One of the key parts to this is that the story just matter-of-factly takes place half way through the overally Judgral story, with not a particularly happy resolution to matters. You are on the run for most of the game with limited equipment (and as per Fire Emblem normal stuff durability is a big factor), not really a great choice of units until later - part of me wonders whether this was the inspiration for Valkyria Chronicle to come along later? There is also a lack of equality that they have tried to ram down players throats in more recent games - some characters really do suck in this game, whilst others are just god-like. Also, there are no romance choices - everyone is going to marry who they are going to marry or be loners for the rest of their virtual lives, they have in built affinities with certain characters. If I was only allowed to hold onto one SNES game, this would be it.

Phantasy Star 4 (One point) - I am going with this because Sega had lots of good RPG series (Phantasy Star, Shining Force and the other Shining games, Skies of Arcadia etc.) but if I am choosing a flag bearer then I will go with this (and plus I know others will pick it so it has a chance of making it up there, whereas Phantasy Star 1 which I probably like better has no hope). The Phantasy Star setting is a lot more original than a lot of other RPGs, the characters in four are reasonably interesting, graphics are good for their time, the plot is okay and the music is great. I feel my 1 point here could go to some many other things but...this is where it will stay.

Dark Souls (Three points) - A lot of people complain that the Japanese don't innovate like Western games do...but then you get the whole line of From Software games and you have to wonder whether people are just crafting a thing to suit an argument (I mean the whole - but is a game made in Japan not a JRPG!) Their recent games feels to me like an action-based single player evolution of Wizardry, with lots of customization, options and that original Wizardry bungee rope feel about going to dungeons. The dungeon designs are so good in Dark Souls and the exploration feels at times really tense, the atmosphere and the drip fed lore is just awesome, without getting in the way of the actual game. Even to a degree this feels like a good game that has had an excuse for the gameplay added after the fact, but in masterful way. So anyway - if Ultima Underworld is going to make an appearance in the Western list then this has to make an appearance in the JRPG list....

So sorry Elminage Gothic, heaps of quality falcom games, Wizardry clones, Kings Field and many more over the years......

 

[Palomides]

This was a pretty difficult decision to make, there are so many RPGs I'd like to have nominated...
For whatever reason, these are the 5 I enjoy and can always turn back to:

1. Suikoden 2, 2 points
2. Azure Dreams, 2 points
3. Tactics Ogre, 2 points
4. Lufia 2, 2 points
5. Final Fantasy Tactics, 2 points

 

[Reinhardt]

There - 4
Are - 2
No - 2
Good - 1
JRPGs - 1

Only great.

 

[GhostCow]

Persona 5 - 4
Persona 4 -2
SMT V - 2
SMT Nocturne - 2

 

[mushaden]

Chrono Trigger - 3
Grandia 2 - 1
Xenogears - 2
Suikoden - 2
Final Fantasy 9 - 2

 

[e-mailio estevez]

SMT: Nocturne- 2
Dragon Quest III- 2
Shadow Hearts: Covenant- 2
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth- 2
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (if it counts)- 2

 

[cruel]

Dark Souls - 3 points
Nier: Automata - 2p
Persona 4 - 3p
Xenoblade Chronicles - 2p

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

 

[KDcross]

Strange Journey - 3
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth - 3
Earthbound - 2
Gungnir - 2

 

[Silverfish]

Shadow Hearts (The first one. Covenant did my man Albert dirty.) - 5
Dark Souls - 3
Final Fantasy X-2 (I will never understand people who don't like Japanese Charlie's Angels) - 2
Xenosaga: Dur Wille zur Macht - Is there a way to give negative ratings?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Shining Force Sega CD - 4
phantasy star 4 - 3
Phantasy star 2 - 1
Lunar the silver star - 1
Final Fantasy 1-2: Dawn of Souls - 1



Honorable mention
Final Fantasy II (snes usa) - 0 i liked the combat music. It is probably actually 4 or 5 or 6... fuck if i know.

 

[The_Mask]

Dark Souls - 5

Bloodborne - 3

Dark Souls 3 - 1

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale - 1

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Final Fantasy II (snes usa) - 1 i liked the combat music. It is probably actually 4 or 5 or 6... fuck if i know.

The game called Final Fantasy II in the United States was actually Final Fantasy IV; since it took Squaresoft three years from the 1987 Japanese release for the original Final Fantasy to be published in the US by Nintendo in 1990, Squaresoft decided the following year to forgo releasing the next two games in the US but instead to skip to the SNES with Final Fantasy IV named as though it were the second game in the series.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I also recall they dumbed down that game thinking the usa players needed an easier version because we were wee babies when it came to rpgs (or japanese rpgs)

Tbh, it seems a lot of japanese rpgs barely hit usa shores (and definitely not translated at the time... even today you barely get voice actors to go with english subtitles).

 

[Morenatsu.]

emerald dragon - 5
shining force - 5

KEMONOKODEX

 

[Thac0]

I also recall they dumbed down that game thinking the usa players needed an easier version because we were wee babies when it came to rpgs (or japanese rpgs)

Tbh, it seems a lot of japanese rpgs barely hit usa shores (and definitely not translated at the time... even today you barely get voice actors to go with english subtitles).

To a terrible degree. FF2 American version is one of the easiest JRPGs of all time, absolutely braindead tier.

Now it all makes sense why you are all so scared of loli characters, you are a bunch of FF playing normalfaggots.

I have played my fair share of your usual hipster classic, and while I love some of them a lot, at the end of the day the reason that FF and DQ are normie classics is that they are really fucking good. Even in the JRPG golden age from SNES to PS2 a top tier DQ or FF crunches out a lot of obscure stuff.

Could have given some votes to Romancing SaGa 2 and SMT IV Apocalypse, but the normalfag games mean more to me.

 

[Utfärd]

Shin Megami Tensei - 5
Kyūyaku Megami Tensei - 5

 

[flyingjohn]

Now it all makes sense why you are all so scared of loli characters, you are a bunch of FF playing normalfaggots.

I have played my fair share of your usual hipster classic, and while I love some of them a lot, at the end of the day the reason that FF and DQ are normie classics is that they are really fucking good. Even in the JRPG golden age from SNES to FF2 a top tier DQ or FF crunches out a lot of obscure stuff.

Could have given some votes to Romancing SaGa 2 and SMT IV Apocalypse, but the normalfag games mean more to me.

Do not respond to a person who rates nocturne posts as decline.
You will only find suffering and loli pictures.

 

[samuraigaiden]

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - 3
Earthbound - 2
Final Fantasy 6 - 2
Final Fantasy Tactics - 2
Dragon Quest 8 - 1

I have to say, making this list has made me realize that none of the JRPGs I have played in the last 15 years have been even remotely as satisfying as the old ones

 

[Thac0]

I have to say, making this list has made me realize that none of the JRPGs I have played in the last 15 years have been even remotely as satisfying as the old ones

The PS3 and its consequences have been a disaster for the JRPG genre.

Only remotely modern JRPGs that show up here in lists are the few late PS4 titles like Persona 5, Yakuza LAD, 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim. Maybe some stuff from the Switch aswell.
The seventh generation was awfull for JRPGs, due to inflated production costs pushing small studios out of the market and onto the handhelds, and Square Enix suddenly contracting brainworms.