Worthwhile JRPGs and other eastern games

[Blah64]

The Last Remnant is about the only JRPG on the PC, and it wasn't one of my favorites.

My favorites that I have actually played:
-Tales of Symphonia
-Xenoblade Chronicles
-Chronotrigger

Some I haven't played but have heard are good:
-The World Ends With you
-Suikoden series
-Megami Tensei series

[Battle Programmer Spike]

Oh yeah, if you got a DS there are a LOT of jrpgs available:
Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3 & 4, Dragon Quest 4, 5, 6 and 9, Tales of Innocence, Radiant Historia, Avalon Code, Disgaea, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Gensou Suikoden Tierkreis, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Her's Saga: Laevatein Tactics, Kingdom Hearts 368/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts Re-Coded, Luminous Arc I & II, The World Ends with You, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume and a large etc...

[Kodeen]

There are quite a few Genesis/Megadrive JRPG's on Steam and GG (GG actually has them on sale at the moment). I couldn't tell you how good they are since I was an SNES man, but the Phantasy Star and Shining Force series are supposed to be pretty good.

[Ayam]

That Ys game, as I heard, had excellent gameplay with a suck ass story. The combat's fast-pased compared to most JRPGs out there

The pace and awareness required in the copious boss fights is the most fun I've had in an ARPG yet. Excellent release, I'm glad I bought into the quick wave of hype I heard and grabbed it.

[Voon]

Seeing as you've got a DS... Pokémon Black/White. No, I'm not joking. They're seriously good, well-made games and the fourth generation (ie Black/White/etc) is easily the best in terms of mechanics. It doesn't have the super-deep plot, rich characters or emotional journeys that other JRPGs may have (though chances are you'll grow a real attachment to your team) but as a game it's really good and a really solid experience. It may not be exactly what you're looking for in a JRPG experience but it's a good thing to keep in the list.

If you've a PS1/PS3/PS1 emulator, Final Fantasy 9. The only FF I've ever gotten into, wonderfully magical and rich atmosphere with plenty of memorable greatness. Stands out quite a lot from the rest of the post-FF7 Fantasies.

Black/White is quite good, I agree. But don't forget HeartGold/SoulSilver, which is a fantastic nostalgia burst/addition to the series (delete where appropriate). The game has the best interface ever concieved in the series and a ton of post-game content as well. The Safari Zone's back, too.

And +1 for FF9. It's sad it didn't get a PC port like the other two. Brilliant game.

You've made a powerful enemy today.

Now, now. I wasn't serious with that one, you know

[Flint]

But don't forget HeartGold/SoulSilver, which is a fantastic nostalgia burst/addition to the series (delete where appropriate).

Well, I kinda intentionally didn't mention it - the second generation has always been the weakest of the mainline pokémon games for me and as much as I tried, I couldn't get into the remakes either.

[Moraven]

Tactical/Strategy/Turn-based RPGs:

Luminous Arc 1&2
Final Fantasy Tactics 1&2
Tactics Ogre 1&2
Ogre Battle 1&2
Disgaea series
Stella Deus
Front Mission 3 (have not tried 4 yet)
Rondo of Swords
Fire Emblem
Growlanser series
Dragonforce
Shining Force series
Kartia
Vandal Hearts
Vanguard Bandits

non categorized

Legend of Legaia
Xenogears
Vagrant Story
Shin Megami Tensei metaseries (most/all games involve devils and devil recruiting)
Grandia 1&2
Lunar series (some bad installments tho)
Suikoden series
Breath of Fire series
Alundra 1&2
Dragon Quest series
Azure Dreams
Jade Cocoon
Wild Arms series
Sting Entertainment's games
Thousand Arms
Tales Of series
Atelier Series
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Dark Cloud 1&2
Rogue Galaxy (space pirates!)
Skies of Arcadia (sky pirates!)

And some more forgetting, plus don't want to make this list go on. Played above at some point. Now if only actually beat more than 10% of them...

[squirrel]

I agree that Playstation 2 marked the golden age of JRPGs, and many of them are excellent. There are countless of fine pieces of art: Xenosaga, Final Fantasy 12 (i know many may not agree with this), Yakuza (more of action oriented, but anyway), and so on. And hey, since there are emulations for the platform too, so I would say this is a good forum to discuss those, unless the admin doesn't welcome discussion of emu., but again, PS2 is no longer supported so why bother?

PS3 on the other hand seems to lose that edge on JRPG, probably marks the decline of Japanese game industry.

And don't forget that even Japanese are not fond of port games to PC, there always exist some exception. I have a copy of Sakura Wars 4: Engage in Romance, Girls!. localized in Chinese. A good combination of AVG and STG.

[cosmicolor]

There are quite a few Genesis/Megadrive JRPG's on Steam and GG (GG actually has them on sale at the moment). I couldn't tell you how good they are since I was an SNES man, but the Phantasy Star and Shining Force series are supposed to be pretty good.

I've been playing Phantasy Star IV recently, not really far in yet but liking what I have played. Random encounter rate doesn't seem to be brutally high, the leading lady is somewhat likable and combat is, at least at the moment, fast-paced. Would recommend trying it, emulator or from Steam.

[Rauten]

A word of warning when playing the old Phantasy Star games: when shopping you can NOT compare the weapons/armours on display with those you have equipped.
Which means you have to constantly leave the shop, check equipment, take note of the stats, open the shop, check the stats on your desired item, check by memory if they're better or not, only you just can't be sure, what is a 4 or a 9? leave the shop again, go to equipment... The games are good, but that is, most likely, their biggest and most annoying flaw.

[icemann]

Since I consider asking of PC JRPGs to be a mostly silly question (since there is barely any not counting emulation) I'm going to recommend the console bests of (via emulation):

* .hack SIGN and GU series's (PS2). Huge time sink warning of Skyrim proportions if you choose to play them. Excellent games however.

* Secret of Mana (SNES).

* The Arc The Lad Series (PS1 & PS2)

* Alundra

There is a HELL of alot of further great JRPGs but that was just a quick few.

[Cooper]

No one's mentioned Spirit Engine yet?
http://www.thespiritengine.com/tse2-download.php

Go get, go play. Excellent use of the battle party / turn based combat format.

[qizarate]

No one's mentioned Spirit Engine yet?
http://www.thespiritengine.com/tse2-download.php

Go get, go play. Excellent use of the battle party / turn based combat format.

I did back on the first page, didn't get any love for it though. I still think it's a shame that it sold so badly that he decided to make it freeware, as it's well worth paying for. I thought the writing was fairly decent too, and i like how it changes depending on which three party members you pick at the start, lends it a lot of replayability.

On the subject of indie rpgs, the desolate hope was mentioned recently on RPS, and the last two games by the same developer, the desolate room and iffermoon were both received warmly. I haven't played them myself, but the screenshots look lovely, and i've been lead to believe that they're in the JRPG 'genre'.

[Bankrotas]

Is Devil May Cry not anime style enough?

[cosmicolor]

* .hack SIGN and GU series's (PS2). Huge time sink warning of Skyrim proportions if you choose to play them. Excellent games however.
.

I'm going to agree with GU but not with Sign, my experience with the first Sign game was enough to put me off of that series, whereas even the one GU .Hack I played was a huge improvement over it.

Is Devil May Cry not anime style enough?

Devil May Cry isn't an RPG though? Huh?

[qizarate]

I'm going to agree with GU but not with Sign, my experience with the first Sign game was enough to put me off of that series, whereas even the one GU .Hack I played was a huge improvement over it.



Devil May Cry isn't an RPG though? Huh?

If you'll take a gander at the thread title it says "Worthwhile JRPGs and other Eastern games"

[cosmicolor]

If you imagine my head slamming onto my keyboard you have a pretty accurate picture of how silly I feel right now.

[qizarate]

Hah, don't feel silly! I don't blame you at all for thinking along those lines, seeing as discussion so far has mainly revolved around RPGs.

[Bankrotas]

I would want to go off topic, but too drunk. Can we imagine non rpg japanese games including DMC and the like if there are?

[Battle Programmer Spike]

Recettear, Chantellise, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 1-3 (4 and 5 suck really really badly), Cave Story, and a large etc. There are a lot that aren't translated as well, like Ragnarok Battle Offline, the Touhou series, fighting doujins and others.