Never Played a JRPG - Which One?

[MandA60VISE]

I'm an avid JRPG fan and I didn't enjoy Persona 5 very much. I well agree though that it is a good starting point for newcomers to the genre. Not going to tell you to spend money and time on a niche game on the PS2 that only I love. If you find Persona 5 too easy or want more afterwards you can always try Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Atlus made both games and Persona is a spin-off title of Shin Megami Tensei so they have similarities. Other suggestions:

-.hack//G.U. Last Recode, it's a trilogy collection of a multi media franchise. It's not required to but there's a companion anime, .hack//Roots, that should be watched beforehand.

-Dark Cloud 1 and 2, action oriented dungeon crawlers with town building mechanics.

-Wild Arms 3, wild west meets sci-fi, haven't played this one yet but I've played the first two which were good.

-Romancing SaGa 2, 3, or SaGa Frontier, not the best place to start since they tend to be non-linear and to get the full experience they require eight play throughs.

-Trials of Mana and Legend of Mana, Trials is a well done remake while Legend is a remaster. Both are phenomenal old-school JRPGs.

 

There's not many PS4 JRPGs and everything I suggested was SNES, PS1, or PS2 originally. However, those systems were a gold mine for the JRPG genre.

[Elvick_]

World of Final Fantasy is a good one. Neat turn based battle system, plat isn’t that difficult or time consuming either. 

[HuntingFever]

Atelier Ryza 1 is another good one, though the Endgame trophies can be a pain to get.

[LordFrieza8920]

I may be late, however, I do have quite a few recommendations. 
There can be some factors towards whether you prefer "certain" aspects such as Turn-based, classics or even, as you already played, modern styles. One I would recommend is expanding your palette within the FF series. Any game is good to start at, but if you are not so sure, then I would say FF 10 as it is a good blend of the classic and modern approaches to the series. From there, you can decide to venture out to the classical (anything before 10) or modern era (after 10). 

I would also recommend the Nier Series. Definitive stories, and it will have you much to think about, both in terms of the game itself and on your perspective of life. *insert winking emoji here* You do not have to play the recent Nier game to play Nier Automata and vice versa. Additionally, trying out the past Persona games and its counterpart series, Shin Megami Tensei, are also good branches to play. (Another recommendation I feel tempted to speak about is Kingdom Hearts, although, if you do not mind the disney aspects, then you can also invest time to researching that series)

Lastly, there also exists good, yet sometimes underrated, JRPGs out there. The only ones that come up to my mind are the Star Ocean series, Atelier games and more. Overall, it is up to you and what you like that determines what to play next. I hope you have a good starting journey into this wonderful gaming genre, 

 

[Edunstar84]

I would recommend Tales of Berseria and Dragon Quest 11. Both are pretty long JRPGs and require some grinding, but I enjoyed them thoroughly. Persona 5 Royal as well.

 

EDIT: Going over my list, I have found some more recommended games: Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (action JRPG), Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (definitely need a guide for this fun, has sim mechanics and a great battle system), and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (if you like Studio Ghibli art, I'm sure you'll enjoy this game).

Edited January 2, 2022 by Edunstar84

[iriihutoR84]

I'd honestly recommend something shorter and simpler. Both Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5 are super long games and the latter is not a good representation of what the genre is in general. I don't mean it as a bad thing but P5 is a bit slice of life anime with dungeons in between. The dungeons are very JRPG though.  I'd dig out the PS3/Vita/PSP and buy something like Suikoden from the PS1 selection. Good, less than 20 hours long and with a traditional story structure and gameplay. The original Final Fantasy 7 (PS4 version should be fine here) works too.

 

Final Fantasy XV is "fine" as a game but it is not a good representation of what a JRPG is either. 

Edited January 2, 2022 by iriihutoR84

[WyndigoSpirit]

I think both Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy 15 are good places to start. Both for different reasons.

 

FF15 is an easy action RPG, has good characters and a good balance between action and story-telling. However, FF15 is not a finished game and requires so much supplemental material/DLC to make sense of the story and story is kind of an important part of the RPG experience. It's not a deep experience, but I loved the atmosphere and exploring the open world. If you are super new, the battle-system might feel better than a turn-based game.

 

Persona5R is a stylish, beautiful game with a turn-based battle system. The story is well told and there's tons to do and discover. Which can be over-whelming at times and you can easily spend an hour playing the game and never actually fighting a battle.  So you kinda have to be in that mindset to sit and enjoy the story. Starting the game also takes some time before you get to the meat of things. It tells a great story though and I had a ton of fun being a little shit in dialogue options and customizing my main character's skills.

 

Both games have an easy Platinum, though if you play Persona5R blind, you might need a second playthru. Which is a big ask for a 100+ hour game.

 

If I may make a recommendation, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory is kind of a Persona-lite type of game. It tells a decent story, lets you customize a team and is less demanding of your time(outside of Trophies). Persona is a better game, but I still had fun with this one. The Platinum, however, is a grindy pain, but it's not difficult. (I am recommending the second game over the first Cyber Sleuth, because Hacker's Memory has a better translation and, in my opinion, a better story. Both are practically the same game in terms of mechanics.)

Edited January 2, 2022 by WyndigoSpirit

[ChiefMichigan]

Since you already have Persona 5 Royal, play it. It is extremely long, but it's worth it. It's one of my all-time favorites. If you care about getting the platinum, that shouldn't be bad. Most people rate the platinum difficulty quite low, especially if you're playing on Easy (what I picked) or Safety.

[exsentry]

On 1/1/2022 at 9:51 AM, kkulifay said:

In 2022, I’m making it a goal to platinum my first JRPG. Bear in mind, I’ve never even casually played one before. I’m a little intimidated, especially for turn-based ones, but still open minded.  I own Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition and Persona 5 Royal. What game out there would be a recommendation for someone who is curious to get their feet wet in this genre?

 

Persona 5 is an excellent game, but if you're not used to this type of game it can be quite jarring for your first JRPG. It's very time consuming, requires quite a bit of reading and will require a guide.

 

I'm going to steer you away from the pack here and actually recommend Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the Witch. Story is touching and easy to follow, fantastic music and art design, simple combat system and the breeding familiar function is quite enjoyable. Also, with any JRPG you have to expect some ridiculous post-game grinding and this one is tolerable. Also, it can be played on Easy and can be completed in one playthrough.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by pathtoninja

[Viper]

I'm not a big JRPG guy, but I like to dabble every now and then. 

 

I don't know if NieR: Automata counts as a JRPG, but I got the Plat in it a couple months ago and absolutely loved every minute of that game, one of the freshest experiences I've had a in a long time. It's mostly your typical western style open world 3rd person action based combat game, but as you go it has ways of seamlessly transitioning into a 2D platformer and into a top down bullet hell mech shooter, and it's never forced or unwanted....you actually look forward to these moments. And the music....MY GOD the music in this game sets the stage for every scene, and you're going to find yourself just humming along to it without realizing. The story also unfolds between 3 major playthroughs...but unlike 99% of your games that make you replay them, this ones gives you a different story and a different character to play as each time...so there's no burn out. 

 

Another one that's been mentioned but I'll add to is Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It's KINDA like Pokemon, in a sense that you have these little animal like creatures you need to catch and they can fight for you and evolve and you level them up, but not quite in such a kiddy way as Pokemon. The story can be a tear jerker, and the combat is closed arena style so it's a lot of fun. A nit grindy towards the end, but it's not too bad. 

I can also recommend Dragon Quest XI...though I never finished it. I really enjoyed what I played, but I lost interest once we see what they decided to do with Act 3, I REALLY didn't like that route, and I went from being excited to play it every day, to not caring much anymore. I also had an insane grind left for trophies that I just couldn't be bothered with, but that was on me for not working on them grindier ones better. 

 

I still need to play Persona 5, been waiting on the Royal Ultimate Edition to go a lot lower than it has. Final Fantasy XV I just can't recommend. It was my first and only FF game and I really didn't care for it ay all. The combat was fun and the cut scenes were pretty awesome, but everything else was just bad. The voice acting sounds like a terrible anime dub, the game felt it was trying to be open world, but then they half assed a lot of things you come to expect of an open world these days. I have FFVIIR to play eventually, that'll be me giving the series a second chance. 

[willythom88]

So I personally loved FFXV and I haven't played much of Persona 5.  I like Persona 4 quite a bit but I'm having a harder time getting into the fifth.  Royale might resolve that but IDK.

 

Long story short, I love FFXV and the platinum is very manageable.  Now if you are looking for some others, I can speak to a few.  Another recommendation would be to try one without trophies first, to see if you even like them.  If you have a PS3, I'd recommend Suikoden II or Xenogears.  I haven't finished either yet but I love them.  Grandia is also really good.

 

Now, for trophies, I'd recommend Final Fantasy VII (the original is pretty good, I thought remake was weak in the story department) Final Fantasy IX (possibly the hardest platinums of the single player final fantasy titles imo) Kemco titles, specifically Antiqua Lost, I am Setsuna and Lost Sphear.

 

Dragon Quest XI is one of my favorite games of all time, so I'd highly recommend that.

Edited January 3, 2022 by willythom88

[Champ147]

I'm a huge JRPG gamer myself and would highly recommend the Tales of series. If you go this route, I'd personally recommend starting with the likes of Xillia or maybe Graces F if you have access to a PS3. If not, like many of us now days, that leaves Zestiria, Berseria, and Arise. Of these, I'd start with Berseria then Arise. Only go to Zestiria once you know the general Tales of formula. I say this because of a very overly complicated weapon/skill system in Zestiria. Tales of Arise did just win RPG of the year to, which is nice. Tales of runs a very fast paced real time battle system that is this series bread and butter. With the exception of Tales of Arise (and going back to just the HD world) every Tales of game was purposely given lower graphics than all of the other games I'll mention just to ensure that the battle system can run a smooth 60 FPS. That's how fast and insane some of these battles can get and shows how much they pride on their excellent real time battles. Tales of Arise still runs 60 FPS battles but with the new engine they using coupled with rise in their studios abilities, they didn't have to sacrifice as much visually. 

 

Then there are the ones that have been getting lots of attention lately like Final Fantasy and Persona. For Final Fantasy, that's a series that I think is trying to rediscover itself. It was forever a straight up turn based game, now it's a real time combat system with the last couple releases. Depending on what you prefer will likely determine your take on the FF series as a whole. But the main thing with that series is the story, characters, and visuals. Combat was always just at par IMO. And this I think shows seeing how a series can suddenly jump so drastically in battle systems and not really falter much. 

 

Persona is a really deep RPG series with great story and some of the best character development. It runs a turn based battle system. There may be some advantage to playing these in order however, but not necessary to get through them.  

 

Dark Souls series is another good one to try. These aren't the easiest games as I'm sure you heard but they are good action RPG's. 

 

There are a bunch of other really good smaller titles out there to which I don't think anyone has really mentioned much. I'll just touch on a few of them but they all good in their own respected ways. 

--Tokyo Xanadu: Plays a lot like Persona but I think has a better battle system, I personally prefer this over Persona. 

--Blue Reflection: A magical girls turn based RPG. The magic girls genre has kinda died out over recent years but this ones gives it some good justice. It also just had a sequel released called Blue Reflection: Second Light. I haven't tried the sequel yet but I will. 

--Death End Request: This is one of those games where you make decisions that actually matter. Like you decide on a wrong outcome, you may find yourself in a game over very quickly resulting in you literally having to reload an earlier save. It's a take on a finding a "dead end" but instead resulting in death and having to start over, hence the request. So the name really says it all. Very interesting story as well. This one also has an extremely unique battle system that actually lets you choose the battle system itself. But you could be in a turn based battle that can turn into a fighting game like battle to a shooter and so on. Not just talking turn based or real time, but full on genre changes outside of RPG's. 

--Crystar: Another one with a different perspective not typically seen where you turn tears/sadness into power. This one can really pull at the heart strings to. Real time combat system here

--Crosscode: Ok, this one is a smaller indie game but I ended up putting in over 100 hours cause I loved the hell outta it. It a top down action RPG like old school Zelda but with very fast combat and some of the most tricky puzzles I've seen in a game. Lots of side quests and multiple endings all put the cherry on top. They do make the battles rather hard in this one (though you can lower difficulty) and that was half the fun. Not many good fast top down RPG's out there. 

 

There are plenty more and I could go on, but these are some to think about. There are tons of various JRPG's out there and with varying different battle systems. I think the best first step would be to figure out which battle system you prefer. You have everything from Tactical, Strategy, Real Time battles, turn based battles, and action RPG's out there. So instead of figuring out "what game should I play", I start by figuring out what battle system sounds like the most fun to you. Some games may have great stories and characters and everything, but if you don't like the battle system, that won't make for a very fun game in the end, especially when you'll be spending so much time in said battles.  Hope this helps and have fun

[Thedah]

The Ys series is a great Action JRPG. Ys VIII on the PS4 is a good starting point. The gameplay is super fast paced and rewarding and story is interesting as well.

[Eraezr]

Turn-based

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Persona 5

Child of Light (yes, I know I'm cheating. No you still ought to play it)

 

Action

Scarlet Nexus

Tales of Berseria followed by Tales of Arise

Judgement

 

Strategy

Valkyria Chronicles 4

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

 

Hybrid

Sakura Wars

Lightning Returns

Edited January 3, 2022 by Eraezr

[yohanez888]

Try Atelier series it's really fun

[kkulifay]

On 1/1/2022 at 11:25 AM, Cassylvania said:

Also going to have to echo Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI.

 

The only issue with starting those is I wonder if any other JRPG would pale in comparison.

Not trying to be negative at all with what I’m about to say. I was watching gameplay footage of Dragon Quest XI and it looks really boring to me tbh. 
 

Now, I could just be blaming Ubisoft for the ADHD combat-based vortex that I got warped into in 2021 (if you see my trophy list you’d see why). I definitely need to adjust my mindset going into turn-based JRPG games which is why I’ve been so reluctant to venture into this realm. I bet I speak for many others. 
 

The Persona 5 Royal, Nier, and Tales of Arise (action JRPG) piqued my interests so far and seem like good gateway games. I think I need to ease into it slowly before starting with a game that feels like a chess battle. No offense at all to the many who have responded with the experience and passion towards this genre. Just sharing my initial reactions. I’m really happy that I posted this because I’ve been curious about this topic for a couple years. 

[DesmaBR]

2 minutes ago, kkulifay said:

Not trying to be negative at all with what I’m about to say. I was watching gameplay footage of Dragon Quest XI and it looks really boring to me tbh. 
 

Now, I could just be blaming Ubisoft for the ADHD combat-based vortex that I got warped into in 2021 (if you see my trophy list you’d see why). I definitely need to adjust my mindset going into turn-based JRPG games which is why I’ve been so reluctant to venture into this realm. I bet I speak for many others. 
 

The Persona 5 Royal, Nier, and Tales of Arise (action JRPG) piqued my interests so far and seem like good gateway games. I think I need to ease into it slowly before starting with a game that feels like a chess battle. No offense at all to the many who have responded with the experience and passion towards this genre. Just sharing my initial reactions. I’m really happy that I posted this because I’ve been curious about this topic for a couple years. 

 

yeah, people are a bit too passionate here.

Don't overthink it, just play whatever looks fun and you'd have easy access to it.

[EDGES]

from what I've played, I recommend FF7R, play the PS5 version if possible, and Persona 5, not Royal, but standard version, it's complicated why, but as somebody who got the Platinum in both version, I 100% recommend the standard PS4 version over Royal

both FF7R and P5 are easy to play, no need to feel intimidated, FF7R on Easy or Normal difficulties will give you no problems, I would not play it on classic mode, P5 I recommend the Easy/Normal difficulties, don't try the Safe difficulty, it's too much of a handholding mode, best modes IMO are Normal for FF7R and Easy for P5

Edited January 3, 2022 by RedTitan_RedKing

[Champ147]

9 hours ago, kkulifay said:

The Persona 5 Royal, Nier, and Tales of Arise (action JRPG) piqued my interests so far and seem like good gateway games. I think I need to ease into it slowly before starting with a game that feels like a chess battle. No offense at all to the many who have responded with the experience and passion towards this genre. Just sharing my initial reactions. I’m really happy that I posted this because I’ve been curious about this topic for a couple years. 

Persona 5 Royal is a turn based system. I'm guessing maybe you looked at Persona 5 Strikers which does run a real time action battle system. Strikers is more of a spin off title on this series but I hear it's still good. Strikers does play a lot like a Dynasty Warriors title but better IMO. Also, this game may need lots of grinding to proceed through it. 

I forgot about Neir but it's also a solid action RPG. I'd go with Neir Automata as a good start here. 

Tales of Arise is a brilliant game (personal bias showing) but it really is a good game. As I mentioned above, it did win RPG of the year in the West, which is a rare feat for any J game winning a major prize in the West. Unlike the other action RPG's here, the system they use is called a Linear Motion Battle System. Unlike most action RPG games where you can just go around and fight enemies throughout the world right on the map, Tales games goes into a separate battle screen, just like a turn based one does. However, it's here that the magic occurs where the battle system is like a cross between a fighting game and an action RPG and goes at a fast pace. An other side note, the Tales of series has probably the greatest NG+ system I've seen. 

 

Out of the list of other less notably known RPGs I mentioned above, and going off your interest in a real time system, I'd suggest...

Death End Request, Crosscode, or Tokyo Xanadu 

 

Edit: Depending on how you feel or how fast you want to get into it, you could also be looking into future titles. Of the action RPG, I'm looking into the likes of Elden Ring, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Soulstice, Project Eve

Edited January 3, 2022 by Champ147

[You]

On 1/2/2022 at 4:27 AM, Beyondthegrave07 said:

FF7 (original) has cheats if you struggle which don't affect trophies so it's very approachable for beginners. Many people are put off by the polygon graphics and can't stomach to finish it with it's rough textures and such so just bare that in mind. It hasn't aged well visually (most PS1 games haven't tbf).

 

That's such an interesting point, because after playing FF7 (the original) in 1998, that's the exact same reason I had when I couldn't get into other older RPGs like Tactics Ogre and things like FF5 and FF6 which were also on the original Playstation at the time.

[Beyondthegrave07]

5 hours ago, enaysoft said:

 

That's such an interesting point, because after playing FF7 (the original) in 1998, that's the exact same reason I had when I couldn't get into other older RPGs like Tactics Ogre and things like FF5 and FF6 which were also on the original Playstation at the time.

That's actually pretty funny. I'm one of those people who don't really care about graphics. Started off with FFX and worked my way backwards almost and the only ones I didn't enjoy were 1 and 2 and that's probably because it really lacked a story and character development. I still need to play 5 and 6 though. Played the rest.

[You]

17 minutes ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

That's actually pretty funny. I'm one of those people who don't really care about graphics. Started off with FFX and worked my way backwards almost and the only ones I didn't enjoy were 1 and 2 and that's probably because it really lacked a story and character development. I still need to play 5 and 6 though. Played the rest.

 

Man, and the like. It's not that old FF games are bad, I just remember playing FF5 and reading the text and the small 16x16 sprites were just standing there emotionless, and in combat nobody moves, they just walk forward a bit because it is their turn, and all enemies are just pictures. I just remember thinking, I am not feeling it, just a bit too old for me.

I dare say in another 20 years time somebody somewhere will be saying. omg I don't think I could play a PS4 RPG game because you can see the individual pixels, or the game isn't running at 240fps. Who knows how games will improve in the next 30 years and what will be considered old, considering how they've grown exponentially in my life time, from like 8 colours on a screen Pac Man

 

And this is coming from a guy who loved "The Bards Tale", a RPG which is 0% story and just a ton of dungeons and random battles, where you read what happens in battle, via pure text.

 

Weird really. I guess you just have to have been there. I can happily go back to FF7 despite the low poly looking gfx, because my nostalgia, and the music and emotions of my youth will always be there with me.

[Wedjwants]

Persona 5 Royal is the must play of the two. If you're looking for another, Dragon Quest XI gets a big thumbs up.

[geunc]

Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

[DaveMcDamage]

Check out a game called Battle Chasers. It could be just what you're looking for.