A to Z JRPG Platinum Challenge

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

I currently have a trophy showcase/checklist going on, but I wanted to create a fun, interesting and somewhat different challenge for myself. I really enjoy JRPGs, and I've played a pretty decent variety of them, in my opinion. Many people are familiar with the mainstream titles: the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona games.. but there's just so many out there that are overlooked due to being AA, niche, only on older hardware/limited accessibility, downright weird, or just were regarded by critics and/or gamers as "meh". I decided to give those a go, because A] I'm a sucker for trying out games even if the reviews aren't that stellar, and B] between my backlog and PS Now, I have some serious catching up to do.

 

I made some rules such as:

1. Games must be started and completed in order. However, the next game in the list can be started after the one before it. A must start before B, but B can be started after A. HOWEVER, B cannot be platinumed before A. Other games can be played in the meantime as well, however they cannot substitute for this list. This is to prevent monotony, burning out from grinds, etc. Play/Plat in any order, not gonna drive myself crazy!
2. If a platinum is deemed unobtainable due to glitches, bugs, or If the game experience is absolutely awful, then a substitute for that particular letter must be picked. A letter cannot be skipped! I think this rule is a bit lenient because at the end of the day this is about having fun and clearing backlog, not being a nazi about completion percentages.
3. Games will start at 0%. 
4. No Time Limit

 

Upon much deliberation and some input by fellow gamers, the list I finalized is as follows:

 

A :  Ar Nosurge: Ode To An Unborn Star    4/23/2021

B :  Battle Chasers: Nightwar   5/2/2021

C :  Crystar  5/21/2021

D :  Death end re;Quest  7/15/2021

E :  Exist Archive  7/26/2021

F :  Fate/Extella Link  7/18/2021
G :  Granblue Fantasy Versus (I'm aware this is a fighting game, but picked it mainly due to its rpg mode)
H :  .hack//G.U Last Recode
I :   I Am Setsuna
J : Community Vote Winner 
K :  Katana Kami: A Way Of The Samurai Story
L :  Langrisser I and II
M :  Megadimension Neptunia VII
N :  Nights Of Azure
O :  Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
P :  Pier Solar and the Great Architects
Q :  Omega Quintet (Obviously doesn't start with a Q, had to get creative here)
R :  Romancing SaGa 3
S :  Shining Resonance Refrain
T :  The Caligula Effect: Overdose
U :  Utawarerumono: Prelude To The Fallen
V :  Valkyria Chronicles Remaster
W :  Wild Arms 3
X :  Xuan Yuan Sword VII
Y :  YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (wanted to avoid Ys, already have progress in Origins and VIII)
Z :  Zone Of The Enders: THE 2ND RUNNER M∀RS (this one is eh, skirting the lines of JRPG barely but not much selection at this point)

 

 

If you have played any of these and have some helpful tips feel free to let me know! Or if you wanna check in now and then on my self inflicted misery, by all means!

 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by MyNameIs_Rainman
Added completion for Letter E

[Dr_Mayus]

Cool idea I am for any things to do with Platting the Alphabet.

 

Can I make a small suggestion? Not sure how sold you are on your E selection...but Earthlock is really good and I try to recommend as much as possible

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

30 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

Cool idea I am for any things to do with Platting the Alphabet.

 

Can I make a small suggestion? Not sure how sold you are on your E selection...but Earthlock is really good and I try to recommend as much as possible

Hm I never heard of EarthLock before. I appreciate the suggestion and will have to check it out, but for now the selection is pretty set in stone as I already have all these games in my library. These have added up over the years of impulse buys from digital sales and cheap pick ups at local stores so I'm really trying to put a dent in this backlog before it ends up being games my kid will play for me ?

[Dr_Mayus]

3 minutes ago, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

Hm I never heard of EarthLock before. I appreciate the suggestion and will have to check it out, but for now the selection is pretty set in stone as I already have all these games in my library. These have added up over the years of impulse buys from digital sales and cheap pick ups at local stores so I'm really trying to put a dent in this backlog before it ends up being games my kid will play for me ?

lol, fair enough.

 

Earthlock is something I bought for my Alpha Plat Rain and turned out to be a fun throwback to the PS1 JRPGs. Give it a chance if you find it on sale.

[DEI2EK]

I've heard nothing but awful things about YIIK so uh, have fun with that.

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

14 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

lol, fair enough.

 

Earthlock is something I bought for my Alpha Plat Rain and turned out to be a fun throwback to the PS1 JRPGs. Give it a chance if you find it on sale.

If theres one thing I know, if theres a sale and rpgs are on it then I'm there. Clearly thats how this list grew to be what it is lol but I'll take a look and see if I can grab it

1 minute ago, DEI2EK said:

I've heard nothing but awful things about YIIK so uh, have fun with that.

By the time I get it to it, maybe the rules will have been bent and broken ? , but for now I have to remain steadfast!

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

Had a bit of a vote between various games and the winner for the Letter J is...Time and Eternity!

 

How that won against some other titles like Disgaea 5, DQ Heroes and SaGa Scarlet Grace, IDK, but it did so the people have spoken!

[Yuber6969]

Some great games on this list!

 

The Caligua Effect: Overdose is one of my favourite games. If you can get past the absolutely awful graphics, it's a very good game.

 

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is a hack and slash.

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

18 minutes ago, yuber1234 said:

Some great games on this list!

 

The Caligua Effect: Overdose is one of my favourite games. If you can get past the absolutely awful graphics, it's a very good game.

 

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is a hack and slash.

As you can see on the list of games..graphics isn't the strong suit for most of these lol I'm more partial to engaging, unique stories and just something thats different.

 

And you know what...you're right lol IDK how I completely overlooked that. Well, I went through a bit of planning and stuff for this as well as making posts for my gamer instagram, so I'm in too deep to change it ? Let's just pretend that we didn't see that..

 

 

[DEI2EK]

For O's you don't have many options

 

There's Okage: Shadow King, Odin Sphere or Operation Abyss/Babel

[Dr_Mayus]

On 2021-04-03 at 8:27 AM, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

Had a bit of a vote between various games and the winner for the Letter J is...Time and Eternity!

 

How that won against some other titles like Disgaea 5, DQ Heroes and SaGa Scarlet Grace, IDK, but it did so the people have spoken!

I played that way back in the day as all I wanted to do was play a JRPG and there was very few on the PS3 at the time

[starcrunch061]

Good luck! In regards to the ones I've played:

 

A - Ar Nosurge sucks. I don't know what else to say. I would say switch out with Ar Tonelico: Qoga if you want the same theme, but there it is.

 

E - Exist Archive can be annoying. Try to share job classes as soon as you can.

 

I - Another drag of a game. I Am Setsuna is pretty short, but expect one hell of a pointless grind at the end.

 

M - Get those cards out of the way when you can, and don't be afraid to reload saves. The rest is cake.

 

P - Get ready to bust your thumbs! Pier Solar's slippery game is no joke, but don't give up. With practice, you'll get it. The dpad is better than the analog stick, and remember to anticipate turns, and move in rhythm!

 

W - The most important thing in this game is to remember that you can fight the superboss in the period where there are no enemy encounters. I can't tell you how useful this tip is. The 100-floor dungeon is absolute hell, but if there are no encounters (and this occurs as a story event in the game), it makes it SO MUCH EASIER.

 

Again, best of luck to you!

 

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

25 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

I played that way back in the day as all I wanted to do was play a JRPG and there was very few on the PS3 at the time

 

yeah the PS3 had a drought for a while but there's so many i never got the chance to play

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

41 minutes ago, DEI2EK said:

For O's you don't have many options

 

There's Okage: Shadow King, Odin Sphere or Operation Abyss/Babel

I platted Odin Sphere so I'll have to come up with a new one, I still might do Onechanbara and then do an additional O, but not sure yet which one. My only issue with more time consuming Vita RPGs is I rather it not be done on a handheld, so a PSTV would be ideal but they are ludicrous amounts of money now

 

[Lianco]

No Final Fantasy for F or Yakuza for Y, f.

[Dr_Mayus]

15 minutes ago, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

 

yeah the PS3 had a drought for a while but there's so many i never got the chance to play

That is why I have Last Rebellion on my profile ?

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

19 minutes ago, Lianco said:

No Final Fantasy for F or Yakuza for Y, f.

 

I tried not to put bigger name, more mainstream titles on here. I couldve easily filled this up with final fantasy, dragon quest, Ys or Yakuza, Trails of cold steel, Atelier, etc etc but I thought it would be a bit more interesting and unique to pick lesser known, more niche games.

18 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

That is why I have Last Rebellion on my profile ?

 

Ah you are a cultured one such as myself ? you know I feel like the actual premise of the story had a lot of potential, but they absolutely F'ed up every possible management of it lol not to mention I did enjoy the loading screen Artwork.

58 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

Good luck! In regards to the ones I've played:

 

A - Ar Nosurge sucks. I don't know what else to say. I would say switch out with Ar Tonelico: Qoga if you want the same theme, but there it is.

 

E - Exist Archive can be annoying. Try to share job classes as soon as you can.

 

I - Another drag of a game. I Am Setsuna is pretty short, but expect one hell of a pointless grind at the end.

 

M - Get those cards out of the way when you can, and don't be afraid to reload saves. The rest is cake.

 

P - Get ready to bust your thumbs! Pier Solar's slippery game is no joke, but don't give up. With practice, you'll get it. The dpad is better than the analog stick, and remember to anticipate turns, and move in rhythm!

 

W - The most important thing in this game is to remember that you can fight the superboss in the period where there are no enemy encounters. I can't tell you how useful this tip is. The 100-floor dungeon is absolute hell, but if there are no encounters (and this occurs as a story event in the game), it makes it SO MUCH EASIER.

 

Again, best of luck to you!

 

 

Thanks for the tips! I was confused at what you were talking about and then I went and looked up Pier Solar and saw videos of the sliding..so are you constantly moving and you just have to time the directional movement? 

 

I'm actually kind of enjoying ar nosurge lol although i have to say it single handedly has the most ridiculous crafting/synthesis animation Ive ever seen

[Dr_Mayus]

26 minutes ago, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

 

 

Ah you are a cultured one such as myself  you know I feel like the actual premise of the story had a lot of potential, but they absolutely F'ed up every possible management of it lol not to mention I did enjoy the loading screen Artwork.

 

Don't remember the story, just the completely broken battle system that forced me to look at a guide for every single battle.

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

19 minutes ago, Dr_Mayus said:

Don't remember the story, just the completely broken battle system that forced me to look at a guide for every single battle.

Oh the weird like attack patterns that needed to be input on every enemy so you could break the exp system and combo system? yeah i remember that lol then you are just disturbingly overpowered 

[Lianco]

1 hour ago, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

 

I tried not to put bigger name, more mainstream titles on here. I couldve easily filled this up with final fantasy, dragon quest, Ys or Yakuza, Trails of cold steel, Atelier, etc etc but I thought it would be a bit more interesting and unique to pick lesser known, more niche games.

 

 

Aye that's true. I was just having a little joke but you're right, I haven't heard of a lot of these! Nice work!

[starcrunch061]

21 hours ago, MyNameIs_Rainman said:

Thanks for the tips! I was confused at what you were talking about and then I went and looked up Pier Solar and saw videos of the sliding..so are you constantly moving and you just have to time the directional movement? 

 

Yep. I don't think the game is as hard as the plat rarity might suggest, but it's a LOT harder than it looks online. And the fact that you have to go there AND come back (although you get a checkpoint in the middle) means you're under pressure for multiple minutes at a time.

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

33 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said:

 

Yep. I don't think the game is as hard as the plat rarity might suggest, but it's a LOT harder than it looks online. And the fact that you have to go there AND come back (although you get a checkpoint in the middle) means you're under pressure for multiple minutes at a time.

ill make sure to stock up on the red bull when I get to the letter P then lol it looks like a good game so I'm definitely interested, and didn't even hear about it until I was coming up with the list, so hopefully my fingers don't fail me lol

 

I'll be going much harder on this list once I finish my 200th platinum, which I hope to make it be Legend Of Mana Remaster as that was a gem that I loved when I was younger

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

Progress:

 

A: Ar Nosurge - 6%

B: Brigandine SWAP -> Battle Chasers: Nightwar - 1%

C: Crystar - 5%

 

Was bit bummed because I started off and when I played Brigandine I was really enjoying it, but then for whatever reason the game starting crashing on me and my saves were corrupted. This list is already gonna take some time, so I'm not gonna kill myself even more over it! If a game is giving me crashing issues and all that, then I'm not gonna push it, not worth the headaches when I'm doing this challenge to have some fun and finish some older games. Don't care for my completion % enough to stress over it.

 

Not how I envisioned starting off my challenge, so to keep things rolling along smoothly (hopefully), I decided to swap it for a different B title, Battle Chasers: Nightwar. The game has a nice Kingdoms Of Amalur aesthetic to it as far as style and graphics, but has some JRPG vibes. 

[cckerberos]

You might want to consider Zanki Zero for your Z slot.

[MyNameIs_Rainman]

7 minutes ago, cckerberos said:

You might want to consider Zanki Zero for your Z slot.

 

I did consider it, but 1) I don't own it, and 2) I looked at some gameplay and IDK I didnt get enough interest from it to warrant grabbing it. Everything on my list so far I currently own or have access to via PS Now, I've already spent a fair deal on some games this year for some CE's or limited editions, and doing some house hunting lately so I'm trying to avoid more game purchases unless its like a must buy game I've been dying for years to have.