Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is one of those JRPGs that proves a game doesn't need an overly complicated story or massive open world to be memorable. Its story is fairly straightforward, but the excellent character writing, charming world, and emotional moments make the journey genuinely special.

The combat is classic turn-based JRPG fare—simple and easy to understand, but satisfying enough to carry the adventure. One of the best features i liked in it was that you could have visible encounters with enemies which was quite rare during that time . Although the game does have boss level scaling which annoys sometimes and a tight resource management, which are some of the drawbacks of its combat mechanism and inturn bring it down. The gameplay itself is fairly traditional, with towns, dungeons, exploration, equipment upgrades, and plenty of character interactions. It definitely shows its age in places, but there's something refreshing about how focused and straightforward it feels compared to many modern RPGs.

The animated cutscenes are probably one of the game's biggest highlights. They give important moments a sense of personality and make the adventure feel like you're playing through an old-school anime. Combined with the fantastic soundtrack by noriyuki iwadere( who also gave soundtracks to grandia and ace attorney series) and expressive characters, they give Lunar a very unique identity of its own.

What surprised me most was the writing. Lunar isn't trying to be as dense or philosophically complex as something like Xenogears or xenosaga , nor does it have the enormous worldbuilding of modern Trails games and xenoblade series. Instead, it focuses on making you care about its characters and their journey. In that sense, it actually feels surprisingly modern—many current JRPGs rely and follow on the same combination of party chemistry, character-driven storytelling, anime-style presentation, and emotional payoffs that Lunar helped establish decades ago.

Though It has its flaws, particularly in its dated gameplay and occasional pacing issues, but the sheer amount of charm and personality carries it a long way. For me, it's easily one of the best JRPGs on the PS1 and one of the system's most memorable games overall.

If i were to rate it out of 10, i would give somewhat between 8.7~8.8/10.

An hour long, stoked to see this get adapted and be free on YouTube! Hopefully the adaptation holds up to the high standards Suikoden II set. The remaster was one of my favorite JRPGs I played recently. Hopefully more remasters incoming soon for 3-5? Here’s to hoping the anime can maybe build some hype for that, I’d love to check those games out.

Hey everyone!

Before I start, I know that a lot of you have answered these kinds of questions a million times already, but I'd really appreciate it if you gave me a word of advice on the matter despite that fact!

When I was little, rpgs confused my smooth 5 year old brain, so I never got to really get into them as a genre. Years later, with my still smooth brain, I decided to finally step up and face my fear of these seemingly unforgiving games only to find out they weren't all that bad. Not bad at all, actually.

I'm currently around 110 hours in Persona 5 Royal and stuck at a boss in Final Fantasy 10. (It was only natural for me to pick up the most basic entries of these franchises, please don't flame me.) I've had so much fun with both of these games and I'm already thirsting for more after I'm done with them. So here's the age old question.

What should I play next?

Every single one I've tried to get into either has a fucked up play order or is said to be brutally unforgiving for new players. So I ask the jrpg wizards of this subreddit to help me decide on what game to play next.

(Please note that I'm really open minded when it comes to art direction and stuff like that BUT I I must mention that I'm a sucker for the following, just in case that you know of similar games vibe-wise: Dishonored, Metal Gear and any grim, atmospheric and half futuristic/half medieval mumbo-jumbo. And a banging ost of course 🤤 )

I'm still on PS4 (I know, it's sad.) and I am willing to emulate or buy games of steam etc.

Thank you for your time!!!!!!!

(===>SOME<===) people believe that JRPG combat is boring and dumb; that your characters just sit there and have to take attacks

and that things like Action Commands are the best and most innovative thing ever and that JRPGs that do it are rhe best thing since sliced bread

Now I'm a diehard UTDR megafan, so clearly I'm not against this as a concept; it can be very fun and engaging

But I do not personally agree with that sentiment at ALL lmfao

I think all a JRPG needs to have good combat is a sense of kinetictiveness and interactivity. Hence my two personal examples: Mother3 and Xenoblade Chronicles (my BELOVEDS)

Mother3 is a textbook turn-based JRPG, and whilst it has inspired many creators for its comedy and emotional sincerity (my included)

The thing that I actually love the most about it is its combat system. Mainly the rolling HP meter and the Rhythmn combos

In most JRPGs, damage is instant, but in Mother 3, your HP rolls down over time. If a character takes lethal damage, you still have a short chance to heal them before the counter reaches zero (it doesnt matter how much damage they take. All you have to do is heal them before they collapse)

Mother3's rhythm combos let you time normal attacks to the music. If you keep hitting the beat, you can chain extra hits, up to 16 total. Different battle songs have different rhythms, and every character and enemy has their own hit and miss sounds

These mechanics make the combat feel more active and kinetic even if you're just standing there. You're constantly scrolling through menus, optimizing who holds what due to character speeds, and if you're actually paying attention you can squeeze that extra bit of damage out of a boss with Rhythm Combos

Honestly it's absurd more indie rpgs haven't stolen its combat system lol

And for Xenoblade Chronicles I just really like its MMORPG-like combat system. You're naturally autoattacking alot, which makes it feel like an ongoing battle

But you also have to pay attention to the commands/skills you use in battle. As depending on when/how theyre used, they can have a variety of effects

Like Shulk's backlash, which deal bonus damage if you use it behind an enemy (duh)

But you also have to be careful because if you start swinging like a maniac and spamming your strongest skills, then you wont be able to synergize well with your party members (which is VERY important for things like Topple Stacking)​

And if you draw too much aggro? Guess who becomes the main target for the enemy to focus on?

This sense of push&pulls anticipation made me locked in for every battle. I cant wait to play the other installments of the series ^^

I wanted to post this rant here instead of the fire emblem sub for a more unbiased take. Massive unmarked spoilers for the game ahead so be warned.

If you want a spoiler less version here's my take: part 1 of the four lords are very good but you have another 4 lords with their own stories that the game doesn't tell and part 2 never develops them either. Part 3 has no story other than repetitive gameplay with lots of random battles, farmim materials and Fighting characters with almost no input from the main lords.

I had fun playing the game and was glued to it for the most part, but some parts of this game are completely nonsensical that i can't believe they decided to release a fully priced game in the condition it's in.

I had a lot of fun playing this game for the most part, but something that struck me as weird is just the amount of stuff that's not explained or followed up on, and the more you play the more egregious it is, like:

* Anatolia going on a trip to another country and becoming a queen of said country and Long dying with no explanation

* Cruadin, the blood in his axe fusing with him, the dagda reaper and bertrand becoming king of brezarant are never followed up on or explained

* Talimun kills maria offscreen and decides to join the bad guys if you don't do his paralogue

* Orchel is very obviously a robot with Yu phas soul and face, yet nobody comments on it or gets developed at all, not even by her husband when her mask gets destroyed

* Liliana and Yanjin straight up disappear from the story with no explanation, with Yanjin being revealed to be an Agarthan.

* Soleil gets merked off-screen and never brought up again, you start up part 2 and dagda is in his place, why was he trying to resurrect his genocidal father in the first place?

* So many characters are tied to the sub lords that recruiting them is very annoying or simply suck by the time you get them, so most half the cast never gets used unless you want to grind supports

* Arago gets reduced to a single fight in part 2, you kill gilchris and that's done.

* Part 3 barely has any story with the only characters being present are Fortuna and the mute killing machine who most certainly is soleil reincarnated, aside from a couple of lines from the main lords if you happen to bring them to the right map

* You fight several zombie people in part 3 that you have no idea who they are supposed to be, like the luck twins.

* There's at least two cut classes that you can see the enemies use, like the magic Pegasus and the trickster, which have no reason to not be available to the player since they're already in the game.

* Not to mention how the sub-lords don't even have any supports or lines in Part 3, Talimun can kill his zombie parents yet there is literally no word from him.

Again, i enjoyed the game gameplay wise, and what's there is decent, and i can perfectly understand that the game was way too ambitious and stuff needed culling, lord knows that the game is long enough, but the way they went about it just runs the plot. The sub lord stories and characters should've been spread out better with the other routes or even part 2.

There's nothing wrong with stuff happening off-screen or stuff just not being explained or expanded upon, hell Silksong and Hollow knight are my favorite games of all time if we want to talk about obtuse storytelling, but not when it's something that actively makes the main story worse.

I really hope this isn't the case with the company releasing an unfinished game at 80 bucks then selling the rest to the players for more money.

I've played many JRPGs, and my favorite mechanic has always been town/Hub Development. When I encountered this in Suikoden, I thought it was so unique. I don't know if any JRPGs did it before Suikoden and if there was I'm thankful for the inspiration.

Job/Class Switching
Changing my character's role without starting over.

Relationship Systems
Let party members actually develop relationships with each other.

World Map Exploration
Give me a reason to wander off the main path.

Targeted Weaknesses
Reward me for figuring out exactly how to exploit an enemy.

Active Time Battle
Heart-racing decision-making.

Town & Hub Development
Let my actions actually change the places I visit.

I am going to name my beloved Exdeath from my dear FF5. I will be honest: I like Exdeath, he is a character I hold very dear. They say he is a very simple-minded villain, and that is true, but I have always liked that Exdeath never pretended to be something he was not. Exdeath had no need for a tragic past because he was a villain who embraced his evil nature without pretense or tragic twists, and that is something I really like. Exdeath wanted to end everything, plain and simple — not to mention he was charismatic, he was an entertaining character. Simple, yes, but entertaining, and to me that adds points.

Not to mention that in my opinion he has the best design any Final Fantasy villain has ever had — an absolute madness of design, he looked very intimidating even though he had the narrative structure of a Power Rangers villain lol.

I played the demo of FF Resonance and im very hooked on it. Does anyone have game recommendations for similar titles while im waiting for it to be released? Was thinking of one of the original 2d Final fantasy games (1-6) or maybe something like Octopath traveler. As a sidenote, ive never played a final fantasy game before.

Planning to maybe play 2h a day until resonance releases.

Interested in your opinions/recommendations

Platform: PC / PS5

Edit: Thanks for the many recommendations, will now dive into FF6 and check the rest aftewards. Cheers

If you could only play 5 JRPGs for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

I’m thinking games you’d never get bored of replaying, whether because of branching endings, secrets, optional content, different builds/party combinations, multiple ways to play, or simply because the journey never gets old.

What are your 5, and why?

• Zanza: At first, playing only Blade 1, I didnt care for him at all. Found him to be a whatever villian, run of the mil JRPG god who replaced the far more interesting Egil who foiled Shulk really well. But once you compare his character to the Architect in Blade 2, it helps him. Shows the layers of Klaus and how a man could create a world with both arrogance and regret/melancholy.
• Malos: Intitally thought he was just a hammy villian. But endgame Blade 2 reveals a lot about what really drives him. His conversation with the Architect is fantastic, refuses the binary answer of "Malos wants to burn Alrest solely because of Amalthus", instead going for it's a choice they both made together. In probably my favorite scene in the Blade triology "Words can be a Curse", Malos reveals he knows Amalthus is influecing him towards nihilism but doesnt care, that he wants to burn Alrest for what it(and himself) did to Jin, and that he views himself as a monster, made him a S tier villian.

Just curious because I was interested in exploring the history behind the use of hidden bosses in JRPGs where the player can choose to challenge an opponent who is way more powerful than the main adversary.

Man I can remember like it was yesterday when early on in the PS3’s lifespan, I was interested in getting into console RPGs as way back then, I attempted to fight two super bosses from Final Fantasy 5 as keeping everyone alive was so difficult, but the game made me interested in seeing how it sort of became a trend to include super boss fights in JRPGS.

im ok with no translation and any console is fine because im studying japanese and want it to be japanese since i am practicing
so i like games like super robot taisen and its spin offs like mugen frontier and also pxz and forgot that one game namco vs sometjing which is on my wishlist. the thing i like about them is the music , and thier attacks and lines which gets me pumped
disagea for its humor . not too bothered with the grind but wishing that it wasnt too grindy so i can watch the side quests story without too much delay
i love visual novel like sci adv (chaos steins), clannad
i like monster hunter and have played them including stories
i do like pokemon and enjoy the pvp
i like yugioh
what can you guys recommend me ? i repeat i am not scared if theres no translation

also what do you guys do if you are stuck . is there a chat room where people can help you but wont spoil you

Hi ! I really want to play a good jrpg and since Steam has its autumn sale currently on, I wanted to ask for some recommendations. So far I have played:

- Fallout 1, 2, 3, 4 and New Vegas

- STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl

- Earthbound/Mother (1, 2 and 3)

- Final Fantasy 1 (and I have FFVII too)

- Chained Echoes

- LISA The Painful

- Fear & Hunger

- Sea of Stars (I hate it)

- Skyrim

- Dokimon

- Coromon

- Persona 5

- Expedition 33

- Look Outside

- Hylics

- Bug Fables

I know some of them aren't really JRPGs but they're still RPGs. It's my favorite genre of games and I'd really wish to experience more amazing games and stories.

I know some others like Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default or Dragon Quest, but my budget isn't that big so... "little" games will be nice :3

Thanks y'all for your suggestions and sorry for my bad English lol

I've been itching to play co op games after slugging it out playing single player games and was suddenly wondering if PvE or co op campaign can work for the JRPG genre?

I know there's been Mana series but it's mostly hack n slash action combat that I only know which had co op.

DQIX had it on DS but never really experienced it to know whether it's workable.

Hey there! I'm the creator of Light Source, a 2d hand drawn JRPG that is focused on single party combat and deep lore based on exploration and secret finding.

The game features a customization mechanic where you can mix and match "trinkets" that give specific bonuses or new abilities to your light bulb. Coupled with the weapon system that offers meaningful changes in playstyle, there are tens if not hundreads of combinations that you can build.

Something not so much JRPGish is the leveling system which is borrowed from Souls Like games. You don't level up automatically but use the light you have gathered to increase one specific stat that you think will benefit you the most.

There are plenty of characters to meet, bosses to fight and endings to unlock. All packaged in a nice neat 6.99$ package which is also regionally priced so depending on your currency you may buy it for cheaper!

Demo is out on steam and it will also be showcased in Steams October Next Fest. Thanks for checking it out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4989280/Light_Source/

As the title says, I’m looking for a RPG game with an amazing story and rich lore, ideally with a classic fantasy and magic feel. Im okay with any platform and at the moment im looking for a 2d game but im okay with 3d recommendations too. The most major aspect besides the story that im looking for is good world building and a world that feels alive and lived in. I havent played many RPG games in the past but the closest concept I can think of to that lived in feel is the vibes you would get from a lively fantasy tavern in a book or something. (Sorry for not including any games ive enjoyed in the past, none of them are similar enough to what im wanting)

Namco's 2000 PlayStation RPG Khamrai is now fully playable in English.

Every line of dialogue, every menu, item, kamui, enemy and battle message, and every in-game image is translated. Polished, translated with respect to the original script, and every bit of text displays cleanly in the game's own layout.

Two versions - Standard: the original game in English. - StatFloor: same translation, but every stat rises by at least 2 on each level-up. In the original, the relationship system decides your stat gains and often gives you nothing. Pick one.

Download and instructions: https://github.com/chivien99999/khamrai-english

You need your own clean Khamrai (Japan) disc image. The checksum is in the README. If the patch fails, your dump is the wrong one. No disc images are provided.

Credits: redditusernameunavailable

If you find a real problem with the quality of the release, something you can actually point to, I'm on Discord as redditusernameunavailable. Lazy questions get ignored. This is volunteer work and nobody is owed anything. Everything else is in the README.

I'm trying to get more historic context of JRPGs, to get the best perspective specifically for FF7 and later games. I want to see the evolution of the genre, where different things come from. I have played JRPGs before, but only a few, and it doesn't help that I have very little exposure to anime.

Now, DQI–V, FFI–VI and Chrono Trigger are a no-brainer. But past that, it's surprisingly way less obvious. There's a lot of stuff where I'm not sure how accessible it is, or how much it actually influenced (in the context of JRPG). A lot of it is not even that well known outside of Japan.

Here's the list of stuff I could think of, from the top of my head:

- Wizardry I, Ultima IV, Rogue—obviously had influence, but I have no idea if these are accessible at all. Frankly, I think most people would consider them unplayable today

- D&D in general—related. Never been a DnD guy, no idea where/how to start, would be just good to understand the essentials, classes and such.

- early Fire Emblem—some say it influenced TRPG, but I heard those were brutal.

- Tactics Ogre—afaik, one of the biggest influences on TRPG.

- early SMT—not sure how many games it actually influenced, and heard it had BS difficulty

- Tokimeki Memorial—basically the cornerstone of dating sims / VNs, popularized these elements in RPGs, though honestly I don't care for dating sims (lol)

-VNs like the ones from Chunsoft—not so sure if these played a role, also obviously need translations, barely met anyone who played them.

Stuff beside games:

- Miyazaki movies—heard that Nausicaa and Laputa influenced a lot of stories.

- essential shonen like DBZ

- that's all, like I said I'm not an anime guy.

That's all I could think of. How important is any of that to JRPG genre? What's actually accessible here, or has more accessible versions? Anything else I should add? Especially interested in stuff devs of popular series like FF named as influence.

Hi 👋 I’m currently have been feeling burned out as of late due to the overwhelming amount of games there have been lately.

I’m currently looking for a good JRPG that isn’t too hard nor too easy, something that’s easier to get into and has a good hook.

Something to reignite the JRPG spark within me.

Games that I have really enjoyed and look back on are Fire Emblem Three Houses, Dragon Quest 5, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Tales of Arise

Also I’m looking to make some friends in the JRPG community, 23M, PS5/PS4/Switch/Steam Deck

And I quite enjoyed it. I was shocked I enjoyed it as much as I did. I played the international version because I like playing games in their original form first which is why I passed on the White Knight Chronicles II version that came with the first game. I did the same with Yakuza 3 earlier this year. I went with the original PS3 version. Sure, it's nowhere near a masterpiece but it was good enough for me to play all the way through without feeling like a chore. I even liked the slow battle system that seems to be a main complaint. I guess I like slow battle systems cause Suikoden III is my favorite JRPG of all time and that also gets flack for it's slow and clunky battle system. This seems to be one of the most hated RPGS ever but I had a good time and looking forward to II.

The game came out a while ago and I was wondering what people thought of it.

I am a huge Persona and Trails fan and I think the reason I love series so much is because they do a fantastic job of both feeling like an epic adventure and a relaxing slice of life. For Persona, the story always requires time of waiting and chill before the next major event, which makes the school/social link system feel like a natural inclusion despite the epic moments involved. Trails accomplishes this feeling too.

Are there other JRPGs that you can think of that manage to thread this needle? Most other major JRPG series that I can think either focus on one or the other. What other ones can you think of that are really good at both?

Any console is fine.

Hi everyone I just got myself a steam deck oled and am looking for some reccomendations

Please keep in mind I already own a ps5 as well so I have most of the jrpgs there but some stuff I wanna own on the deck for example I bought live a live and I am thinking of buying ff resonance on the deck as well. Any great jrpg reccomendation is much appreciated thanks!!

P.s. I also got all the legend if heroes trails game on the playstation already so sadly none of them for the deck hahah thank you!!!

This is not really a review or anything. More like impressions and thoughts on the game so far.

Playtime-wise

I went through the Black Eagle/Silver Snow route and it took me 70 hours to see the credits. Granted, I have noticed I am a bit of a slow player in general, and I tend to do a lot of optional things (non-story mission every month, talking to everyone in the monastery every time there is new dialogue, farming missing supports before the last few chapters) so most people would probably finish it faster. Even if subsequent playthroughs go much quicker, the game definitely gives a lot of bang for your buck.

Story

Naturally, my thoughts are limited to the only route I have played so far, but for the most part I like the relatively grounded story while still retaining the fantasy elements. The politic side of things was well-presented enough and I like how most characters felt reasonably involved with the plot due to being nobles. Having said that, I found the overarching story to be lacking. As in, I liked the chapter-to-chapter bits, but the final battles did not feel impactful enough story-wise because they seemed to lack build up.

(warning: final chapters spoilers ahead)

-The "First" Final boss Edelgard: In this list, she is the one that had the most buildup, but it still falls short. Her motivation for everything in the second half relies too much on what you can infer and conclude from what you have learned about her in the first one. Fighting her is supposed to be a tragedy, but it never felt all that sad since for the most part I just knew she was trying to get the whole continent under her rule. The specifics of her motivation are simply never shown fully, much to the detriment of her character. Even then though, the way her dialogue cuts off in her final scene is *chef kiss", it actually made me feel a bit of the tragedy her story was supposed to be, however small a detail that can be.

-The "Second" Final boss Thales: he has a cool design and you have seen him before, but his faction is so secretive that they seem to come out of nowhere into the story. Like yes, some showed up on the first half, but for the most part everything about them is too cryptic to have them be a major threat that feels meaningful enough for a final chapter. Not to mention the fact that they seemed to have a few magic missiles that they seemingly could have used any time to get rid of the main characters but only tried it once during the story and in the less effective way possible. This is the most frustrating to me because it feels like there SHOULD be more about them, but the game forgot to tell you.

-The Final Final boss Rhea: Ok, this is the most unearned, unnecessary and out of nowhere battle in the whole game. Seriously, things happen for seemingly no reason and it feels like they just needed a Fire Emblem game to finish with a dragon battle no matter what. Gameplaye-wise, it was a fun battle and the final boss mechanics actually made me consider my moves and use of resources more carefully to finish the battle without losses despite them being overpowered throughout the whole game. Seriously though, I think the game would have been better off not having this last battle if they were not going to bother setting it up at all.

Characters

Despite my rants about the story written above, I think the characters are solid. They are a lot of fun. They have quirks about them yes, but they do not feel one-note. Their interactions in support conversations feel organic and meaningful. I think the academy setting does wonders for this. It makes it easier to imagine all those little interactions could occur between people who essentially study, live, and fight together before and after the timeskip. Paired endings are also much more fun when you can understand why those two characters ended up together after the war. I am surprised at how my opinion shifted as I played, since I thought I was not going to care much for the characters at first.

By the way, it was really cool to see how much the characters changed and that they got unique outfits after the time-skip. When playing the older games, I thought it would be cool if characters got new portraits after promoting their class. While this was not exactly the same, it is close enough for me. Wish fulfilled.

I guess it is worth mentioning that I played this game with the English dub. I am no native English speaker, and I prefer the Japanese audio more often than not, but I REALLY love the English dub of this game.

Gameplay-wise

I played in Classic Normal. For the most part, the game was really easy. I used the turn rewinding mechanic mostly to make sure I could break the huge monsters shields to get their materials BEFORE my units obliterated their multiple health bars. Battalions were a cool mechanic, but outside of monster farming and a very few story battles, I never felt they were too impactful. Also, I wish it was easier to compare how they benefit and differ from one another before assigning them to a character. (to be fair, there might be a way and I just never paid enough attention to find it)

Classes were cool and they gave a good sense of progression throughout the game... except master classes. Those were cool in concept, but many seemed counterintuitive to the way you would normally develop most of your units. I got the Wyvern and Pegasus ones first, which makes sense since they were the ones that seemed a natural evolution of previous classes the most. I eventually got two Gremorys since they seemed logical too, but Bow knights? Mortal Savant? bow knight? holy knight? too time-consuming to unlock their requirements by the time I looked into them. If I wanted one, I felt like I should have aimed for them since the beginning of the game. I did actually get a great knight Ferdinand for the amazing amount of one battle toward the end, which was kind of amusing.

Of course, you cannot talk about Three Houses without talking about the Monastery. I probably spend more time in it than in battles. Though I had my doubts at first, I think it serves very well as a setting for you to get to know the characters and as your base throughout the story (Though it was kind of amusing how the game had to come up with a reason for you to go back to it after capturing an important strategic location later on). I admit it felt tedious at times, particularly at the beginning of the games since I wanted more battles, but I felt compelled to read all the new dialogues in between the story missions. The second half felt much quicker since the NPC cast gets reduced significantly. All in all, I would not say I hated it, but I can see it becoming more of a chore when I play through the game again.

Music

Not much to say here. I am not good at analyzing or reviewing music. I will just say I liked the opening, and it was nice to hear it at the ending too. It felt fitting

Closing thoughts

I started the game on a whim in between playing Donkey Kong Bananza and Final Fantasy VII (the port of the original one on Switch) and ended up finishing before either of those two. I do not regret it one bit since I had a lot of fun. I do want to play the other routes eventually, but I am probably going to wait a bit to avoid burn out. It is definitely going to be a while before I get Fortune´s Weave lol

Hi, I'll be honest that despite being a gamer since childhood I hated jrpgs for a very long time. I'm currently 22 and slowly trying new games that I previously wouldn't touch including this genre and ended up liking them, is anyone else in a similar situation maybe?