Most Accessible JRPG Franchises and Tips for a Genre Beginner?

[PhantomFear94]

So hey. I play and enjoy a lot of genres. After gaming for 13 years, I am a bit of an encyclopedia when it comes to most genres and franchises. When games came out, who by, difficulty etc., just the way my brain works. 

 

However, as I grew up I was (and still am) predominately Xbox, so the whole JRPG thing passed me by. Since getting a PS4 in 2017, the abundance of PS JRPG's has made me intrigued. They seem to be challenging, with an assumption on my behalf that going in that one should approach them in a certain way. I have little knowledge of the key franchises and their reputations! 

 

With this understanding, and to someone with virtually no JRPG experience, are there any franchises you veterans recommend? Maybe ones more accessible and less demanding of considerable JRPG knowledge?

 

Please, please understand that I know for JRPG fans this thread is likely going to make you want to eat your own face with my lack of knowledge, but any assistance would be recommended ?

 

Info that may help:

1) My experience is super limited. NieR: Automata is one of my favourite games, but my friend said that I shouldn't consider it to be a TRUE JRPG, and more a game with JRPG elements. I don't know whether Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts are considered a part of the JRPG family, but I actively enjoyed both.

 

2) I appreciate JRPG is a bit of an umbrella term, so apologies for generalizations. I don't know the proportion of real-time / turn-based. I typically prefer real time but am pretty open.
 

3) Game on my radar (PS4): Ni No Kuni II, Lost Sphear, Shining Resonance: Refrain. 

 

4) Games on my radar (PS3): Drakengard/Dragoon series (primarily due to my love of NieR: Automata), Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch 

 

5) Reasonable platinums would be preferable (i.e. sub 80 hours and not too difficult), but not mandatory if the game is THAT good. 

Edited November 6, 2018 by phantomfear9494

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

I mean, technically Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars is a JRPG, and that's probably my favourite turn based RPG ever.

 

Things available on PS4: I recently started Valkyria Chronicles 4 and I like that one a lot. It's turn based but you move each character like it's a third person shooter.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Agent 47

[dermarx]

Well, if you think about JRPGs, the first thought could be any Final Fantasy. 15 was not that bad imo, also there is 12, 10 and 9. And 14, but that is online. Also there is Final Fantasy 13 on the PS3.

 

Also a JRPG I enjoyed is the 'Hyperdimension Neptunia'-series. Also a good game with a lot of jokes about the console war between Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft  The first one (PS3) has a little bit a strange fighting system but it gets better after that. Maybe you should check out 'Megadimesion Neptunia VII'

 

Trails of Cold Steel (no typo) 1 & 2 is also amazing. It is now available on PS3 and will be remastered on PS4 early 2019. It is a great story and very easy to play.

Edited November 6, 2018 by dermarx

[AlchemistWer]

Hi there, I think games like Ni no kuni II or the new Dragon Quest XI can be a nice chance to try with jrpg. Of course you can find a lot of amazing games nowadays, other game I highly recommend is Persona 5, a turn-base jrpg with a lot of dialogue and stuff to do! Other game that could like you is Valkyria Chronicles, it's a strategy game with great story and characters. Personally I like more turn-base jrpg but if you want more action rpg or like you said "real-time" maybe a Tales of game could be a good candidate but please, don't play Tales of Zestiria... Maybe Berseria is a nice choice to you.

 

Usually JRPG are not hard games, of course some games are hard to play and plat like Star Ocean Till the end of time or Star Ocean 4, but usually the rest need a lot of your time, level up, find better equipement, a lot of dialogue AND guides, yeah forget about that strange "pride" of no play games with guides, JRPG in general has a lot of elements and guides are necessary (trophy guide, walkthroug, etc). After if you want go more deep games like: Neptunia series, Senran kagura, Atelier, Utawarerumono, trails of cold steel and more are very good games to give a chance. Also if you want try with some visual novels! Steins;Gate is an amazing vn and a lot of people know it even without play too much jrpg and love it.

Edited November 6, 2018 by AlchemistWer

[triplejmzu8]

Well, I guess Ni No Kuni 2 actually is a great start for JRPG beginners as it features most of the important elements any JRPG has while being very easy and offering lots of side content. However, lots of people didn't like that game which I can't understand at all (easy plat as well).

It's also very recommendable to play some classics on PS4, like Final Fantasy 9, 10 and 12, as well as Resonance of Fate.

However, the perfect choice would be "Rogue Galaxy". A very underrated JRPG which was - in my opinion - the best of the PS2-era. It's also available on PS4 digitally.

 

You could also go for the Yakuza series, beginning with Yakuzwa Kiwami (featured in PS+ IGC in November) but even though it still has lots of JRPG elements, it's waaaaaaaaaaaay different and I guess lots of people would beat me for calling it a JRPG.

 

If you're on PS3, go play the Suikoden series. 1-4 are available digitally as "PSOne Classic" and they are just perfect.

Edited November 6, 2018 by triplejmzu8

[DarkSoleride]

I would recommend the following games.

 

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster either on PS4 or 3 but PS4 version would be the best way to play or get the Vita version if you prefer portability (just make sure to get it new since X-2 on the Vita is download only) 

 

Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age this game when it came out was a bit of a shocker kind of the marmite of FF games since it drastically changed the franchise it still however i would consider still a JRPG since the timer on the ATB system still gives you that turn-based feel.

 

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

This is more of a tactical JRPG you will have to plan your attacks kind of like on a chessboard its more or less like playing chess but with a military feel and a great story to go with it the game itself is like Final Fantasy Tactics but much more refined gameplay (my own opinion). 

 

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir

2D side scroller beautifully hand drawn characters with 8 different stories from what i remember with JRPG elements in terms of leveling up item grinding and story progression. But more of a bullet hell game still loads of fun and highly

recommend it.

 

Persona 4 Golden on Vita or Persona 5 on PS4 

You've probably heard of the franchise before when it comes to JRPG games Persona 4 Golden i can personally recommend (not played 5 but its been rated one of the best games of all time so can't be that bad  ) however story revolved around students in school that stumble over a mysterious things happening around the town people missing and weird occurrences happening. they go to investigate turns into like a dungeon crawler (third person) with a JRPG final fantasy style battle system for the well battles. Same applies to 5 more or less. 

 

Honourable mentions 

(PS4)

Monster Hunter World (MMO JRPG)

Lost Sphear

Tales of Zeristria  

Star Ocean 5 (Star Ocean 4 probably is better in my own opinion however i only played it on Xbox 360 and not the International version on PS3 /PS4) 

 

(Vita)

Persona 4 Golden 

Trails of Cold Steel 1&2 (Soon coming to PS4)

Tokyo Xanadu

Ys VIII (Also on PS4) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by DarkSoleride

[mako-heart]

11 minutes ago, DarkSoleride said:

 

Tokyo Xanadu

 

 

noooooo dont spend money on this poor butchered game

[dermarx]

27 minutes ago, DarkSoleride said:

Tales of Zeristria  Berseria

 

Fixed that 

Yeah, Tales of are also good games. Enjoyed Berseria a little bit more, since it is a little bit darker. But that is my preference.

Edited November 6, 2018 by dermarx

[DarkSoleride]

18 minutes ago, mako-heart said:

 

noooooo dont spend money on this poor butchered game

why not? Its got a really great story loaded with side content and interesting characters and decent gameplay.  

[Lightin_August]

If you haven't played it already on the Xbox then Dragon's Dogma is something you might enjoy. I played it on the 360 and I'll eventually replay it on the PS4. It's not a traditional Jrpg (kind of an action rpg hybrid) and the story is definitely not the main draw but the gameplay is. 

 

Persona 5 is a really great example of the genre probably the best Jrpg I've played since the PS2.

[ex10097]

Try playing Akiba's Trip Undead and Undressed, Conception 2 Children of the Seven Stars and Galgun Double Peace if you want to understand what games from Japan really are all about.?Become the High King of Undressing, father of the World's Biggest Family or the Gal*God capable of making girls Double Peace for Days! All capitals are trophy names. I kid you not.

 

Oh right also the Senran Kagura series and Valkyrie Drive Bhikunni if you want some BOUNCE!

Edited November 6, 2018 by ex10097

[Elvick_]

3 hours ago, triplejmzu8 said:

Well, I guess Ni No Kuni 2 actually is a great start for JRPG beginners as it features most of the important elements any JRPG has while being very easy and offering lots of side content. However, lots of people didn't like that game which I can't understand at all (easy plat as well).

It's also very recommendable to play some classics on PS4, like Final Fantasy 9, 10 and 12, as well as Resonance of Fate.

However, the perfect choice would be "Rogue Galaxy". A very underrated JRPG which was - in my opinion - the best of the PS2-era. It's also available on PS4 digitally.

 

You could also go for the Yakuza series, beginning with Yakuzwa Kiwami (featured in PS+ IGC in November) but even though it still has lots of JRPG elements, it's waaaaaaaaaaaay different and I guess lots of people would beat me for calling it a JRPG.

 

If you're on PS3, go play the Suikoden series. 1-4 are available digitally as "PSOne Classic" and they are just perfect.

As a person who didn't like Ni no Kuni 2, it's because the characters are the most bland characters you'll ever find in the most bland story of all time. It's a waste. But yes, it is a very accessible game overall.

I would not say Resonance of Fate is accessible though.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Elvick_

[Xel]

I'd suggest you start with games that have classical JRPG gameplay, namely: Final Fantasy 6-10, Persona series, Dragon Quest XI then you can delve into A-JRPG sub-genre with games like Nier Automata, Odin Sphere, Kingdom Hearts series and many others. 

[angelgrievous]

I would jump in with Dragon Quest XI for a true JRPG experience.  It's not too hard, too grindy, or too complicated.  It has fantastic production value, and it's just a really good game.  It is long however, but that should be expected with the genre.  

 

If you want to experience classic style JRPGs with modern QOL stuff then I would suggest Cosmic Star Heroine.  It's a great throwback to classic JRPGs like Phantasy Star and Lunar.

 

You also mentioned Lost Sphere and while I haven't played that title, I played the devs first game which is I Am Setsuna.  I really liked this game despite it being a bit simplistic, which I would argue is perfect for a beginner.  Pretty cookie cutter JRPG but perfect for someone without any frame of reference.  

 

Good luck, have fun.

[Crispy_Oglop]

Dragon Quest XI is probably the most accessible JRPG i've ever played. It's also excellent.

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Crispy_Oglop

[Asvinia]

Tales of Xillia - The Tales of franchise is great, I only recommend Xillia over others because it's a fairly easy one with all the core JRPG mechanics and tropes, and unlike Symphonia, it's not going to require multiple playthroughs ending in a 100+ hour plat. I'd also recommend Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS or PS2.

 

Dragon Quest [?] - I don't have a huge amount of experience with Dragon Quest games as I've only played a couple on the DS, but they appear to be solid JRPGs without much of a learning curve.

 

If you don't mind the older games, Grandia I & II  are good games and Final Fantasy 8, 9, 10 and 10-2 still hold up well, especially 10. I would add 7 to the list but the tank controls annoy me and the graphics burn my eyes on modern TVs so that one's up to you.

[Gommes_]

Please avoid Ni no Kuni II! This game is awful and basically has no story at all. The characters and the world are totally bland. That would be a wrong way to enter the genre. Ni No Kuni 1 however has better characters, better places to explore, a better presentation and a cute story. You could start with final fantasy 10 for the PS3 or PS4 too. The levelling system influenced countless other games, the story is good and the characters are well written. For many it's the best final fantasy game. The tales of... series would also be a good start and there are countless entries on multiple platforms. If you wanna earn trophies the variety of good games is not that big. JRPGS kinda peaked during the PS1 era.

[SnowxSakura]

Breath of Fire 3 and 4

 

 

[Eraezr]

The first Ni no Kuni is a good choice. I recommend playing it on easy mode (no trophy penalty iirc) because there's this big difficulty spike towards the game's final act. Other recommendations...

 

Playable on PS3

Final Fantasy VI

Eternal Sonata

Tales of Xillia

Valkyria Chronicles

Trails of Cold Steel

Trails of Cold Steel II

 

Playable on PS4

Tales of Berseria

Persona 5

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles 4

Bloodborne

Dragon Quest XI

Yakuza 0

 

[AndresLionheart]

Dragon Quest XI (turn based combat) is an amazing game to start with. Is the epitome of classic JRPG. It is a long game, though, but you can play at your own pace and later decide if you want the platinum, since nothing is missable.

 

Tales of Berseria (Action combat) has easy to understand systems that can be as deep as you are willing them to be. Since you can change the difficulty at any time you can decide how much effort you want to put it at your own leisure.

 

Start with those, we can talk more games later =p

[starcrunch061]

18 minutes ago, Gommes_ said:

Please avoid Ni no Kuni II!

 

What this guy said. Ni No Kuni is a simple enough JRPG with a charming story and great graphics, if monotonous quests. Ni No Kuni II is a slogfest from the beginning.

 

I would personally go with Dragon Quest XI. The system is particularly simple here, so long as you are not absolutely turned off by turned-based games.

[scemopagliaccioh]

Due to the games you posted I'm not sure if you would like turn based combat all that much.

Final Fantasy 10 was my first jrpg and what hooked me basically, however its battle system is turn based, and as such very different than 15. 10-2 has a trash story but imo the best battle system of any FFs, you could consider it a better version of 13,  generally though, if turn based doesn't suit you then I'll just go to action rpg, Japan focuses more on gameplay than  stuff you see in Mass Effect   where you roleplay  as a good or bad guy, so keep that in mind. My  suggestions would probably be to start with the souls series, with fast paced stuff like Bloodborne or Dark Souls 3, and from then, "slowing" down with other rpgs such as  the previous Souls entries, ff13 should then be a good middle ground  between action and turn based, and from then you can check if you can palate turn based combat with ff10.

[Dragon-Archon]

Some very good ones I'd recommend are Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana, Tales of Hearts R, Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, Okami HD, Trails of Cold Steel 1, and Trails of Cold Steel 2. Persona and Ys are standalone games, so you don't need to play the previous entries to understand what's going on. I'd avoid Ni No Kuni 1 and 2, but the majority of the people seem to like NNK1 for some reason. Kingdom Hearts is a good series too, though not a typical JRPG.

[Phoenix_argentea]

Well, I'll try to give a little advice. I know the Tales of series has long and grinding platinum trophies, and the Tales of Xillia (PS3) it's the shortest (~ 50 hours), but the combat system it's really fun (and I liked a lot spamming the linked arts like Demonic Chaos or Full Charge with Jude + Alvin). ?

Then, there is the Ys series with the VIII ~Lacrimosa of Dana~ (~70-80 hours) and Ys Origin (both on PS4 and Vita), which are hack 'n' slash (but Origin has a lot of grinding and multiple runs); well, there is also the Memories of Celceta (only on Vita), but I've never played it (I'm still waiting for a PS4 porting ?). The VIII has a very good story and soundtrack, I really appretiaced this one.

If you like the turn-based combat system there is the Atelier series, where you gather materials and craft items with alchemy. The last trilogy (Mysterious) is on PS4 (Sophie, Firis, Lydie & Suelle), while the others (Arland, Dusk) are on PS3, but they have in-game time limits (except one, maybe it should be Shallie?). You can try the Atelier Sophie in order to have an idea.

There is the Secret of Mana PS4 remake, which is a quite short platinum (~25-30 hours), but you have to download the patch before playing it, otherwise the game will crash a lot.

The Dark Cloud ("1" & 2) series is a porting of the PS2 games. The first entry is another short platinum (20-30 hours), while the second is one of my favourite games, but is very long (at least 90 hours): again it has an action combat in dungeons randomly generated (you'll never play the same map of a floor) where you can "evolve" the weapons (yes, there are a lot of weapons) and you can build towns with the Georama (which will change the future). And there is a lot of side activities due to the 396 medals (speedruns, golf, fishing), but also taking pictures in order to create new items (something similar to the recipes and the alchemy in the first Ni no Kuni... Well, both of them were made by Level 5 ?).

There is also the Neptunia series (reported by dermarx): I'm playing the Cyberdimension Neptunia and this one is a fun hack 'n' slash.

Last but not least, my favourite series: Kingdom Hearts, which has a lot of games, and every one is important for the main story (it's hard trying to understand the plot if you don't follow the order of the games). The first entry is very good (and you can have an idea of the combat system, which is in real time), but with the second the combat system has been greatly improved (and the platinum aren't really long, ~50-60 hours, except Re: Chain of Memories and Birth by Sleep, which require both a long grinding and usually 80 hours).

I hope you could find something useful and fun from this long list. ?

[Einigkeit]

In no particular order -

 

Turn-based:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I & II (out early next year)

Persona 5 (I prefer 4 but it's only on PS2/Vita)

Final Fantasy X Remaster

 

Action:

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Yakuza 0

Ys VIII

 

I'd have recommended NieR: Automata as it's one of the best games ever made, but you've already played it. I couldn't get into Kingdom Hearts, but maybe that's because I'm not a huge Disney fan.