Are JRPG's this lousy?

T

Token-not-found

It Wandered In From the Wastes
Are most JRPG's lousy? If you are not into anime i mean.

I have very little experience with this genre, the last one i played (Phantasy Star 4) was supposed to be top of the notch as far as JRPG's go- great characters, setting, story , quests - best game on that system.

I started playing the game expecting great witty writing and found this:

Go from stupid little generic town to stupid generic town, kill monster do it again.

But i don't really care for combat (as tedious as the random encounters are in these games).

For me choices, writing, characters, story , quest design and stuff like that matter.

Phantasy star 4 dialogue (i mean monologue anime scenes) : Vio you are evil bad man but i need help finding the great dark zio and his army of monster . Third person: oh you soo expensive i don't have enough money , why you want me to pay to go with you? You pay and we go fight monster!

Meet a NPC: you are cat king of sewer you tell me where is Vio. Not so fast - i need you to tell me how did maker of monster come here?

I was promised (by different game reviewers) deep characters with evolving personalities - instead i got : Xin or some such and his friends. At first he had no personality what so ever, later his personality deeply evolved into one of a peasant with a bad dad and a love crush on a local girl. Soo deep.

I was also promised witty awesome writing and instead got souless generic cliche drivel.

So next i plan to play some of the Lunar games and maybe some final fantasy (haven't played any FF title).

Should i expect the same thing ?All i got from PS4 was unbearing souless monologue and a ridiculous story coupled with tedious random encounters.

So can a person who is not into anime or that new rainbow pony crap enjoy JRPG's . The characters and stories seem very puerile to me: like they are made for little children.

Seems to me that these games can only appeal to people with anime fetishes , kids or asians.

Of course the main protagonist is not Xio and is a woman and the factual reality of the game is different- but i used that for facility's sake and to convey what i mean with humor.
 
Thing is, I don't consider JRPGs 'Role Playing Games'.
Rather they are action-adventure games with stat building element that usually auto level-up.

I do honestly wonder where ever the idea came from that JRPGs involve actual role playing as choice and consequence seem to be pretty much absent as are non combat oriented skills and situations where you can use them.

As for your question, I think you won't really find any JRPGs with Western ideas of role playing and that they stick to the formula you describe.

Now I like the Phantasy Star setting (Japanese sci-fi/fantasy) but I would not describe it as a very complex game series.
 
Like Dutch Ghost said, JRPGs are different to WRPGs, and judging them under the same parameters is just doing it wrong. Also, NEVER trust anime nerds opinions, EVER.

If you want to avoid Anime cliches on the story I recomend Playing the Shin Megami Tensei games (The Persona sub-series has some cliches but most of the time they get deconstructed, specially in the older ones). On the other hand If you dislike combat centric games with Random Encounters, just avoid JRPGs.
 
Dutchman and Walpknut do you know anything about the following:

Castle Fantasia 1,2 ; Sakura wars; Tears to Tiara; Aveyond; Final Fantasy 7 ; Final Fantasy legend 2; Star ocean 2 ; Lunar ?

I've made a list of all the worthwhile CRPG's i need to play until i reach the present day games, and based on reviews those are all the JRPG's i included.

I keep reading grand reviews about final fantasy. Could you describe it shortly?

Dialogue choices variety, characters, plot , quests etc.
 
Token-not-found said:
I keep reading grand reviews about final fantasy. Could you describe it shortly?
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Uh, which? You do know they're going on like, near 20 games now right, including a few turn-based strategy games and a couple others. Also one JRPG I'd recommend quite a bit is Lost Odyssey, it's on 360 and I think PS3 possibly? Also the Shin Megami Tensei games are great, including the Persona series.
 
Thanks for the recommendation ,but i won't play any JRPG released after 1996 with the exception of those in the list.

Castle Fantasia 1,2 ; Sakura wars; Tears to Tiara; Aveyond; Final Fantasy 7 ; Final Fantasy legend 2; Star ocean 2 ; Lunar ?

If anyone has anything to say about those games please do, i don't want recommendations because i'm rather obsessive-compulsive about my "lists" and if i include one there -60 hours of my life just so i can complete it so i can cross it off :))

That being said- i read the reviews for that game some time ago and decided not to include it.
 
Final Fantasy 7 is pretty overrated, and the point where the series became more and more Animu. Still is good, but don't believe half the hype.

Also you are leaving out of the list the best series of JRPGs (Shin Megami Tensei).
 
Walpknut said:
Final Fantasy 7 is pretty overrated, and the point where the series became more and more Animu. Still is good, but don't believe half the hype.
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Despite FF7 being a shitheap with mountains of undeserved hype, some of the later games are probably my favorites. FFX was pretty good despite people going all retard over a couple of scenes, FFX-2 was entertaining despite some oddness, FFXII was good even though it feels like the main character should be one of the other PCs. Also yeah, if you're gonna keep FF7 and not try Lost Odyssey or the SMT games, what the fuck.
 
The only thing FFX had going for it was the combat System, the story is pretty bad, the characters are pretty Flat, specially the villians, it had some interesting ideas that weren't used properly or in nay interesting way. FFX-2 was entertaining because it threw all pretence out the window, it was a cheesy Magical Girl videogame and it knew it. Couldn't get past the first 5 hours of FF XII, the combat was so unenvolving, I felt liek the thing was playing itself and the main character was a mini Tidus. Also the license Board system was very dumb.

But that's just my opinion.

If you are gonna go for Final Fantasy, just play the Sixth one (or third one in the West).

Edit: Also, Blitzball has to be the most boring shit ever.
 
I always liked final fantasy 9 and 6 for some reason the best, i just like the lighter themes and style in jrpgs.
 
If you're going to go with Final Fantasy I'd suggest FFIX. It has a fun story and a good skill system. FFX had a good system but the plot was painful and there are way too many long linear corridors to run from one end to the other fighting random encounters in. FFVI (III US) is fun but the underlying system is somewhat primitive. If you don't like anime then FFVII is probably not a good choice, I enjoy it but it's writing is really nothing special and the materia system isn't the best.

What I played of Lunar 2 didn't really light my fire so I can't really recommend that. The only Star Ocean game I've played is Till the End of Time and I really enjoyed the 50 or so hours I've put into it but it's something like a 100-150 hour game, just note that it might be a serious time commitment. As for Phantasy Star, I've tried to play the first three on multiple occasions and always stop bored out of my skull after a few hours. The writing is flat and it has one of the least gratifying combat systems I've ever dealt with.

For JRPGs Chrono Trigger is always at the top of my list. It has an anime style to it but given that every game I've played/heard of on your list also does, it can't be too much of a concern. The writing is good, though humor is definitely a primary goal. More importantly pacing was actually a consideration when it was made so there are no random encounters, every encounter is hand placed. This is important because it keeps the game from dragging, which pretty much every other JRPG tends to do. It also has a good underlying system with every character having unique abilities and combo attacks with other characters.

I would also reccomend Super Mario RPG and yes, I realize that many people will balk at Mario being in the title. The plot revolves around humor and the writing is pretty good at accomplishing that goal, if you like the style (which I'm skeptical that you will). The gameplay is again a big star here and the combat is actually similar to Chrono Trigger on some fundamental levels. There aren't traditional random encounters, instead you can see enemies that you are going to have to fight in the dungeon and try to avoid them. Platforming also rears it's head here in a pleasant way and there are a few simple puzzles. Your mileage may vary on the plot but the gameplay is up there with Chrono Trigger for the traditional JRPG style.

Lufia 2 is another good option for the traditional JRPG route and one I'd recommend over all Final Fantasy games except FFIX and is about on par with FFVI.

I'd tend to recommend TRPGs over JRPGs in general as the combat is far more involved and interesting for me. Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre are both solid options on the PSX. I'd also recommend Front Mission 3 if you're looking for something other than fantasy.


I know you weren't looking for recommendations but if you're playing JRPGs for the first time, I have trouble recommending anything other than Chrono Trigger, even more so with the time period you've defined. If writing is your primary desire then I have to go with Shin Megami Tensei like everyone else, it's about the best you're going to get.
 
Ok , my JRPG list took some hits and this is it now:

Sakura wars; Final Fantasy 7 ; Star ocean 2 ; Lunar

Next one to go will prolly be Lunar.

Thanks for the responses.

And yes, i read about a few reviews on Shin Megami Tensei and decided it's not my kind of game.
 
Reviews most likely won't properly convey the kind of games you'll find in the SMT/Persona series. A lot of them are dirt cheap nowadays, seriously give one (Try Nocturne or Persona 3-4) a try.

Walpknut said:
Also, Blitzball has to be the most boring shit ever.
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Man, I will fist-fight you over this. I kept one save at the furthest point where you could still play Blitzball, when you had all the prospective players and stuff available. They could honestly release a stand-alone game on PSN/XBLA and I'd play the hell out of it. :lol:
 
Some are good and some are lousy. Just like every other genre.

Some of my favourites are:

Chrono Trigger
FF VI
FF VIII
FF X
Earthbound
Demon's Souls (not typical JRPG)
 
After the first Wizardry and Ultima games Western RPGs went one way and JRPGs went in their own direction. That way they are so different.
 
Persona 4 is my favourite JRPG ever, if only because you aren't trying to save the world but just tracking down an assassin.

Shin Megami Tensei is also fantastic, but very, very hard.

From TvTropes:
# Atlus Hard - These games have been known to make players cry.

* Example: In most RPG's, getting back attacked will only result in losing some HP before returning the favor. Here, you can (at higher difficulties, very likely) get killed off before you can get a turn.
* And, as one of their company spokespeople proudly admitted: We get off on your tears!
* In some games, revival items can miss. Revival items can miss.
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ThatOneBoss/Atlus
 
Wizardry is a dungeon crawler type of game, I believe. And Japan REALLY fucking loves dungeon crawlers.

So, what turned you off the Shin Megami Tensei series? Was it the overabundance of high schoolers?
 
Nothing like beating SMT 3 on the Chaos Demon Route on hard to make you develop character.
 
Walpknut said:
Nothing like beating SMT 3 on the Chaos Demon Route on hard to make you develop character.
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Nothing like fighting Matador for the first time to give you hypertension.
 
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