I’ve been thinking about Parasite Eve lately, and it’s amazing how unique it still feels even by today’s standards.
The combination of turn-based RPG mechanics, real-time movement, survival horror elements, and a modern-day setting is something we rarely see. Aya Brea is also one of Square’s most memorable protagonists, in my opinion.
Considering how many iconic JRPG franchises Square created, I’ve always wondered why Parasite Eve never became one of its flagship series. Was it the niche concept, the licensing issues, the direction of the sequels, or simply bad timing?
If Square announced a faithful remake tomorrow, I’d be there on day one.
What do you think kept Parasite Eve from becoming one of Square’s biggest JRPG franchises?

I bought the game closer to its premiere (a few years ago), but I still had 3DS-era Fire Emblem to get through first. I've finally done a full playthrough just now, and I had a great time. While I think it doesn't reach the highest highs of Fire Emblem, it's definitely a very enjoyable experience. I've seen some comments on-line that the sequel is a huge improvement, so I am very hyped to play it eventually. Considering that this was made on indie budget via crowd-funding, I think the end result is excellent.

Things I've loved:

-There are a lot of characters to choose from for your party, all of them come with detailed backstories and a lot of interactions with others. I think their designs are great and clearly a lot of love was put here.

-I liked the story a lot, it was nothing groundbreaking, but after suffering through Fire Emblem Fates, it was refreshing to experience something coherent. I also liked how the story tries to include all characters from the beginning to the end by giving them a line every now and then, as Fire Emblem tends to abandon its non-core cast.

-The wound system was well thought-out: there is no permadeath in this game, but if a character loses in combat, they get a permanent penalty to stats. It might not matter sometimes, or it might be a serious set back in other cases. I think it's a good balance: you will not completely loose a character, but you still cannot use them as sacrificial pawns.

-I really like how upgrading units works in this game (2 forced promotions/evolutions, you don't need to decide and min-max when the promotion happens). Split promotion paths and different skills for each path also allow some good choice.

-The diversity of environments/biomes was really cool, and I am glad that the game mostly avoids gimmick-based maps, although it throws a few at you.

-The autosave at the begining of each turn is also a very nice touch: you can completely ban yourself from using it, or you can undo one latest turn if it went horribly for you.

-There is a lot of customization available for difficulty (such as EXP or stat modifiers). I didn't use it at all, but it was nice to see for people who like such thing.

Things that could be improved:

-There were some noticeable glitches. Nothing game breaking, but stuff like my character being automatically moved 1 square ahead or getting stuck would (rarely) occur.

-There is a special 'boss-like' enemy mid-game which glitched out on me and refused to counter-attack, leading to a very easy battle.

-I think there were too many characters, a few of them I've never gotten a chance to use in battle or see interact with others at all. I think this could be fixed by making some of these 'optionally recruitable/missable', as in older Fire Emblem games (where you had to accomplish some goal to recruit). Aside from 2, all of them auto-join you at the beggining of new chapter.

-While I liked that the weapons do not have any durability attached, and I think that upgrade system was a good idea, I don't like how limited you are in this game. I wish there was a way to 'shuffle around' your upgrades, so that you would have more flexibility, instead of being forced to stick to one 'type' (Power, Crit, Accuracy or balance of all 3)

-I would have liked to see a bit more varied goals for maps, although tbh most Fire Emblems also suffer from this

Overall, I can safely recommend this game both to Fire Emblem veterans, but also to people who are interested in turn-based strategy games and never tried to play FE earlier. If Dark Deity 2 is as much of an improvement as people online say, I know I'm in for a treat.

I haven’t actually started G.O.D.: Mezameyo to Yobu Koe ga Kikoe yet, but I recently bought the Super Famicom version and was looking through its staff list. One name immediately caught my attention: Shōji Kōkami (鴻上尚史).

I kept thinking, “Why does that name sound so familiar?” Then I looked him up and realized that he was the same Kōkami whose books I had already read and enjoyed. The picture shows my copy of G.O.D. alongside three of his books:

Cool Japan!?: Japan as Seen by Foreigners
This World Is Far Wider Than You Think
“The Air” and “Society”

I had bought and read those books before realizing that he had ever been involved in a video game let alone a Super Famicom RPG.

Once I made the connection, it suddenly made much more sense that G.O.D. is so often compared to EarthBound/MOTHER 2. Both are unusual contemporary RPGs built around the distinctive voice of a well-known Japanese writer from outside the game industry. Instead of a typical medieval fantasy setting, G.O.D. appears to involve modern Japan, young protagonists, aliens, psychic or supernatural elements, strange humor, and social commentary.

Kōkami also seems like an especially interesting person to build this kind of RPG around. In the books I’ve read, he often examines and satirizes Japanese society. He writes critically about ideas such as 空気を読む (reading the air), social conformity, the pressure to behave correctly, and the power that 世間 (society) has over an individual. He can be funny and accessible, but there is usually a more serious criticism underneath the humor. He also has traveled and worked outside Japan so I think he has a more broader worldview than the typical Japanese.

That makes me wonder whether G.O.D. is not simply an EarthBound imitation, but Kōkami’s own response to the idea of a modern-day RPG shaped by a writer’s worldview.

Itoi’s personality is inseparable from MOTHER, and perhaps Kōkami serves a similar role here. However, based on the books I’ve read, I would expect Kōkami’s version to be more openly satirical, socially critical, and possibly more cynical about Japan and the expectations placed on ordinary people.

Of course, I haven’t started the game yet, so I don’t know how strongly those themes actually appear. But recognizing his name has made me much MORE excited to play it. I’m now especially interested in the dialogue, NPCs, humor, and whether I’ll be able to recognize the same voice that I encountered in his nonfiction.

Has anyone here played G.O.D. in Japanese or English? How noticeable is Kōkami’s writing and social criticism throughout the game? And do you think the comparison with EarthBound is fair, or does G.O.D. eventually develop a very different identity?

Hello hello!
As the title suggest I'm here for recommendations.
So, I am currently replaying my favourite Persona game (Persona 3 Reload). And before anyone gets mad I never Played any of the previous versions of P3, Only played P3R, P4G and P5R. I genuinely love the combat in the Persona games, like I love the combat in Digimon Story Time Stranger and Cyber Sleuth. My "problem" with those RPGs is the monster collection part, not that I don't like it, it can be fun, but that puts a lot of the strategy in the preparation before the battles which is not always what I'm looking for.

So I am wondering if there is a game with a similar or identical combat system, without the monster collecting. Just having a few party members to pick from, manage their equipment and that's it.

Because I absolutely adore Persona's combat system, finding the weaknesses and resistances of each enemy, the optimal order to attack and play accordingly, but I want something like that without the monster collecting part, and all that comes with it. I don't even know if such game exists

Steam if games aren't exclusive
PS5 and Switch if exclusives

Hello guys, after getting a ton of good recommendation from this very sub a while ago, I decided to play Lost Odyssey and am currently having fun. I have one big question though that is confusing me: Isn't Kaim supposed to be Immortal? Why does he act as if he is scared of getting hurt? Why does he parry attacks? Why does he run from enemies?

I guess I am confused about what kind of immortality it is, we see him (and seth) survive a lava filled meteor at the beginning, but he can just be killed by random enemy n23? I do not know if this gets properly explained later, if it does just try not to fully spoil if possible, otherwise go ahead and tell me.

Thank you

Not just in knowledge but in wisdom as well. A smart protagonist not necessarily because they're into science or a big nerd, but also because of their quick wit and ability to think fast in situations. The kind who is actually smart in a way that is impressive and makes you surprised by their own deductions or plans.

From the pixel remasters plan on going into it soon after just finishing FF1. Damn Chaos and the refight of the fiends had such bloated HP and did a lot more damage I hope FF2 isn't like this.

So looking for all welcome'd advice for FF2 as I'm not sure what I'm getting into on the pixel remaster'd version.

Thank you.

Jrpgs are most of the time story-focused with a lot of big or small events/dialogues. Some scenes are obvious and infamous (like Aerith and Sephiroth in FFVII), some are debatable or optional or not presented as a cutscene, but also poignant and effectful (eg certain sidequests in Nier Automata)

Just off the top of your head, what is the single most profound/memorable moment in a jrpg for you? A moment, an interaction, a cutscene, that has you left shook to the core or just touched you with its sincerity and still think about from time to time.

Of course these have the potential to be very spoilery, so please use the spoiler tag where thought necessary.

For me the moment I thought about first, was Olivers Mom death scene in Ni No Kuni. It gave so much gravitas and depth to the story and honestly was very shocking when it happened and how it was presented. It wasn't necessarily surprising (since there was always this ominous feeling contrastimg the whimsical), but it was extremely impactful and it's definitely the catalyst/emotional core for the whole story, even though the mother is only vaguely superficially characterized

I finally got around to playing the DQ3 remake and one thing I really loved about it was the combination of first person battles with little text blurbs for actions. For those who haven’t played it’s something like:

”Hero sliced at the slimes”

”Slime is distracted…”

”Hero takes a deep breath“

I thought it added a lot of characterization to the fights and really let me envision the actual combat sequences better. Plus, it gives some characters personalities that they wouldn’t otherwise have, like one of my party members is a jester and they’ll spend their turn making up a pun on a whim or praying for world peace, super charming.

I was wondering, are there any other JRPGs that do combat like this, maybe with even more in depth descriptions? I don’t mind old/outdated visuals.

If such an idea was already done in the genre before, then I apologize because it’s just that I was looking to see what classic fantasy literature could make for a good JRPG.

Like one story that sticks out to me is the Wizard of Oz since everyone knows about the how the movie adaptation was a classic fantasy story about a group of people who were out to find their purpose in life since the lion character wanted to be a great ruler, while the Tin Man character was looking to understand his existence since he was a machine.

My point basically is that I was trying to picture what a turn based game would be like in concepts if said JRPG took heavy inspiration from the aforementioned Wizard of Oz franchise because it could be interesting, but if such a game does exist, please let me know.

I have had this game for a long time but never actually sat down to play it. Sort of in between games right now while I wait for September and October to destroy my life with the release schedule and was thinking about playing it. Has anyone played it? Got any tips for someone starting out?

JRPGs have long featured anime cutscenes, usually playing during major moments during a game's story. In a lot of JRPGs these are a treat to watch due to how flashy they are, plus they offer a chance to see the characters and world in a different way. Nowadays they're not as common as they used to be, likely due to video game graphics having reached the point where it's possible to portray cinematic scenes in-engine. Still, games such as the Persona and Tales series keep this practice alive.

Which game/games do you think has/have the best anime cutscenes? By that I mean games that have more than just an anime intro and/or ending, ones that have multiple cutscenes that play throughout the game.

In my opinion the original Persona 3 has the best cutscenes. While they may not have animation as fluid as the anime cutscenes featured in some other JRPGs, the art direction is amazing. I love the use of colour and the storyboarding is excellent. The character designs aren't 1:1 with Shigenori Soejima's art but they're still very reminiscent of it and look great. The original Persona 3 has such a great atmosphere and I think the anime cutscenes did an excellent job in selling it. No shade towards the Persona 3 animated movie series or the cutscenes featured in Persona 3 Reload, those look great but they can't match the artistry of the original game's anime cutscenes. It's a shame we didn't get more cutscenes like that in future games in the series.

I'm currently developing my own Classic Final Fantasy inspired JRPG, currently working on the Game Design Document for it, but I need a second opinion on something before I start the full-scale production of it.

How would you feel if a JRPG didn't have stat leveling? You still have leveling, but it's for your job classes in terms of learning new abilities and perks, rather than watching a stat number go up. Enemies and bosses would still be balanced around this of course.

I'm asking this because it seems like from my experience playing lots of RPGs, turn-based and action-based, leveling stats seems to be a crutch rather than a necessity, and it often creates moments where enemy types and bosses feel more like trivial bumps rather than adversarial entities to be respected if you can just over level and defeat them, trivializing their core designs.

For example, you come across, let's say, a level 15 Wolf. Fairly standard and easily beatable if you know what you're doing, yet later on, you encounter a level 50 Wolf, and the only difference between the two is the stats. No new moves, no new abilities or perks, just stat differences and that's it. That seems very static and lazy to me.

So for my game, I want to try something different. Instead of stat-progression checks, I have an idea to make a game that evaluates strategic performance, where you pick and choose your own party as an imperfect tool set to think around during a variety of different enemy troops, but I'm not sure if it's something RPG fans will actually love because of the whole power-fantasy aspect RPGs tend to bring. I know Fear and Hunger does this, allowing early-game enemies to still be utilized in the late game, but that game got a ton of flack at launch for not including EXP and stat-leveling.

Do you agree with this idea, or do you prefer stat-leveling regardless of how much it can trivialize enemy encounters?

[Any platform is fine]

Hello, there’s obviously a ton of game recommendation posts but I’m specifically looking for games which a veteran with good taste would recommend, either hidden gems or games I might not have touched, just the absolute best of the best. I’ll include details about my preferences but feel free to respond to the broader topic too.

Megami Tensei is my favorite series, meaning I don’t love every game individually but I always love the way the series works, especially the cyberpunk/apocalyptic futurism stuff is fantastic and they obviously have the best gameplay in the genre (if you disagree, give me the best!) I love the first person dungeon crawlers too (I’ve played EO).

I do love FF7-9 because they have such a solid structure and actually interesting locations rather than the generic town-dungeons of many games, plus their design and side quests just feels incredibly intentional. Also like Dragon Quest a good amount.

Recently played SaGa Frontier, I’m a big fan of its intentional design as well and I think a lot of things about the SaGa series so far. (Intentional design is the most important thing, much less common these days. IYKYK)

Also Suikoden 2! Outstanding game.

Thank you :)

In no particular order:

• Very pretty (loved the pixel art).
• Confer feature was much appreciated: player assist and added characterization all in one.
• This is the first time I encountered this kind of combat system and I found it a lot of fun.
• The whole "towns are part of the open world" mechanism was unique but resulted in many towns that were pretty much indistinguishable from each other, unfortunately.
• That, ah, sure is a lot of backtracking, huh.
• Colorful cast, but I'm more used to JRPGs with more character growth, I guess.
• At some point, I was like, "Man, Atrushan sure is bleeding party members, isn't he? ... Ooof, there goes another one."
• ...My bullet points might make it sound like I'm leaning negative towards this game, and I'm really not (or at least, not too much). It's an old JRPG, and brings with it some of the flaws that come with games of that era. I'd say it's a solid, decent game with some unexpected QoL, but I wish I got more attached to the characters.

Most people would probably say random encounters or similars. For me I'd say is recovering all HP/MP upon levelling up. On the more recent DQ remakes is an option, and you bet that is the one thing I turned off right away.

The games are not too tough and something like that takes away a lot from the experience when you can tackle every dungeon, spam your strongest moves and then get one level just before the boss to be at full power. No reason to ever use items outside of the early game because of it.

This thought suddenly came to me while playing Suikoden 2. In this game, there are a couple of runes which have powerful effects but are risky to use. Some examples are as follows:

• Double-Edged Rune (apparently called Double Strike Rune in the original version): The character does 2x damage to enemies, but also takes 2x damage from enemies.
• Warrior Rune: The character's physical defense is reduced by 50%, and then added to physical attack.
• Wizard Rune: The counterpart of Warrior Rune, but uses MDF and MA.

I am sure there are similar things in other JRPGs I have played such as Bloody Equipment from Star Ocean The Second Story R. Personally, I rarely use them.

What about you? Do you like playing with these high-risk & high-reward items/weapons/accessories?

EDIT: From the comments, it seems that a fair number of players adopt an risk-averse playstyle, just like myself.

If you watched a video about a game, and your opinion/Perspective on the game changed
Do you feel that your experience/understanding of the game was incomplete and you missed something?

This is what stopped me from watching retrospective videos
I think that the opinion i made on the story and the experience overall when i finished the game, shouldn't be changed, it should be the same until i replay the game and change it myself

But when i talk to someone about said game, i don't cling to my opinion, i'll agree if he said something that made sense

I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition for the second time on Switch 2.

My first playthrough took around 65 hours. This time, instead of using New Game Plus, I started over from scratch and tried to experience as much of the game as possible, including most of the side quests and optional content.

My total playtime is now over 150 hours. I only have one or two quests left, along with a few final Colony 6 reconstruction tasks.

When I finished the game for the first time, I actually applauded during the ending credits.

I did not know much about Monolith Soft at the time, so I was genuinely surprised that the original Xenoblade Chronicles was the first game in the series. The scale and ambition of the game felt far beyond what I expected from a first entry.

The strongest feeling I had after finishing it was not simply that it was fun, but that it was satisfying.

It was absolutely fun, but what stayed with me more was the sense that I had completed a long and meaningful journey.

One of the most impressive things about Xenoblade Chronicles is the scale of its world, both in terms of space and time.

The world does not feel large simply because the maps are big. The idea that people live on the bodies of two enormous titans makes exploration feel like more than just traveling across different areas.

As I moved from one region to another, I naturally found myself imagining where I was on the Bionis. Each location felt like an actual part of the world rather than just another game level.

The story also has a huge sense of history.

At first, the immediate events and Shulk’s desire for revenge seem like the main focus. As the story progresses, however, those events become connected to the history and origins of the entire world.

What begins as a personal journey gradually expands into something much larger.

However, the reason I found the game so satisfying was not simply that its world was large or that its lore was complicated.

What impressed me more was how well the game separates what the player needs to understand from what does not need to be explained in detail.

The history, structure, and origins of the world are clearly well thought out, but the game does not stop every few minutes to explain every detail or expect the player to memorize a huge amount of lore.

At the same time, it does not leave the player completely confused or require them to read a mountain of optional documents just to understand the main story.

It gives you the information you need when you need it, while keeping the focus on the characters, their emotions, and the choices they make.

Because of this, the story never became overwhelming for me, even when its scale became much larger near the end.

The world itself is enormous, but the emotional core of the story remains easy to follow.

You understand what Shulk and his friends have lost, what they are trying to protect, what choices they are facing, and what kind of future they want to create.

The scale of the setting does not bury the characters. Instead, it makes their decisions feel even more meaningful.

During my second playthrough, I also paid much more attention to the side quests, the relationships between NPCs, and the smaller stories in each area.

There are definitely parts of the game that feel old by modern standards. Many of the side quests are repetitive, the character animations can look stiff, and the combat does not always have the same visual impact or responsiveness as more recent games.

Still, I kept wondering what made me want to spend more than 150 hours in this world and complete the game twice.

There are many games that look different from one another. Like most people, I usually choose games that fit my tastes and seem likely to be enjoyable.
But for me, being fun is not always enough.

I also want a game to give me the feeling that it offers something different from the games I have already played. I want it to feel fresh and worth experiencing.
Xenoblade Chronicles was originally released 16 years ago, yet the way it designs and presents its world, characters, and story still felt fresh to me today.

Its world is huge, its characters and cultures are varied, and its setting is filled with details.

However, it never dumps all of that complexity onto the player.

You can understand the main story simply by following the main path. At the same time, players who spend more time exploring and completing side content can gain a deeper understanding of the people and places within the world.

The game does a good job of separating what is necessary to understand the story from what is there for players who want to explore further.

The main message I took away from the ending was that we should continue living our own lives and moving toward our goals, even when the future is uncertain.

The game deals with gods, fate, and the origins of the world, but its final message is not that some all-powerful being will solve everything.

It is about people living their own lives, moving forward together, and choosing their own future.
Another message that stayed with me was the rejection of absolute authority.

The game does not present a world controlled by someone who knows everything, decides every future, and guides everyone as an ideal.

Instead, it values a world where people are free to make their own choices, even if those choices are imperfect and the future remains uncertain.

Xenoblade Chronicles contains enormous landscapes, ancient history, and major secrets about the nature of its world.

But it does not constantly show off its lore or force the player to understand every detail.
It shows you what you need to see, and when the important moments arrive, it brings the focus back to the characters and the choices they make.

That is why, after finishing the game, I did not simply feel that I had seen a huge world.
I felt that I had followed and understood the journey of the people living within it.
That is probably why I was willing to spend more than 150 hours with a game that clearly shows its age, start over from the beginning, and watch the ending for a second time.

Now I am looking forward to playing the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

I watched playthroughs of the Sky games as well as the Crossbell Duology and also played and beat Cold Steel 1 on the PS4 back in 2020, started up and got deep into Cold Steel 2, and then I dropped that game and took a break from the series for years.

Now this year I want to properly play through all of the games I have which are the Sky Trilogy, the Crossbell Duology, all 4 Cold Steel games, and Reverie. I started up Zero a while ago as my portable game because I have it on switch, and it's REALLY helped me get through tonight's overnight stay at the hospital my mom's had (she was super dehydrated and had low magnesium and potassium as well). I also started up Sky First Chapter as my game to play while at home, and man, I am already engrossed into the world of Zemuria.

Seeing two different regions simultaneously is a pretty cool experience ngl. And it's nice to actually play these two arcs now instead of just watching them lol

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