Turn-Based JRPGs!!!

Anyone else a fan (or former fan) of turn-based JRPGs?

As I'm still in the limbo between console generations I'm continuing my exploration of retro games by steering away from the PC for now and rediscovering my immense enjoyment of turn-based JRPGs.

It started with me digging out some Final Fantasy games for my recent gaming live-stream, and eventually led to me being fully immersed once again in quite possibly my favorite JRPG of all time, Shadow Hearts. I'm over halfway through the game and loving it, even with the dated jaggy polygons. I also just got my copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in the mail today, the first PS2 installment of the 3rd biggest RPG franchise in Japan (trailing only behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest).

I've never played through a Megami Tensei game before, but gave an hour or so to Nocturne tonight and was very interested. I've heard the game is thick with philosophical/religious exploration, much of which was controversial when it first released. Spiritual themes run strong through Shadow Hearts as well. It's interesting to see how JRPGs treat spiritual/religious themes compared to western developed games like The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age.

But really what I'm loving most is what defines the genre. The TURNS!!!

Yes, action RPGs like Diablo clones and Elder Scrolls etc. have more constant player choices being made. But I find those types of RPGs to be either about quick thinking/reacting or immersion into the game world. On the other hand, turn-based RPGs involve deep and careful thinking. And JRPGs specifically add a sense of the cinema to combat, beginning in the PS1/PS2 era, as the camera sweeps around the action while heroes and enemies carry out their dramatic attack/spell animations.

True, these animations CAN become boring, but if done well, and if the types of attacks used change frequently enough, they remain interesting and fun to watch, as I am experiencing with Shadow Hearts. Other good JRPGs solve the potential "slowness" of this type of combat by making the animations eye-catching yet brief. (I've found this to be true of Dragon Quest 8 and so far in "Nocturne".)

Any fans of the genre have some favorites? When was the last time you played a JRPG and how did the experience hold up for you?

I'm not a real big fan of turn base rpg but I'm currently working on a Kingdom Hearts project that is requiring me to get 100% on every game and because of this project i am currently playing kingdom hearts re coded (my least favorite of the series) and in this game the Hercules world is turn based so that is my current expire ce with turn based jrpg

I don't have a whole lot of experience here yet. I did just get Final Fantasy origins for the PS2. I will say my first impressions are favorable. Coming right out of Skyrim, it is a different experience but still good. I do kinda like the time you have to decide what to do. So many times in Skyrim you get attacked and just hack away and then realize....crap, I forgot to use my super cool magic to do this or that, or you forget to switch to your potion to increase whatever or poison that critical bow shot! Anyway, looking forward to spending some more time in this classic game!

Oh and wow does it load FAST! Man I hate waiting 5 minutes for a stupid door to open in Skyrim! I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep on the couch during a late night gaming session waiting for that stupid thing to load! (while I'm on my soapbox.....) That is the major downfall of the current gen "consoles" if you can call them that!! We soooo need to get back to the days of carts and instant on! Great, I can watch redbox and youtube, who freaking cares!!!!! I wanted to play a game!!! Anyway..............

This is a totally redundant question, but I'm still asking to still my curiosity: What is JRPG? I know RPG, even MMO RPG, but J???

ComiKate wrote:This is a totally redundant question, but I'm still asking to still my curiosity: What is JRPG? I know RPG, even MMO RPG, but J???

I believe the J stands for Japanese

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Xenosaga game on the PS2, aside from that though I haven't had much exposure to JRPGs.

I do love me some Metal Gear games though, and I think they share lots of traits in common with JRPGs (aside from the turn based vs real time).

CreatorsPixels wrote:I don't have a whole lot of experience here yet.  I did just get Final Fantasy origins for the PS2.  I will say my first impressions are favorable.  Coming right out of Skyrim, it is a different experience but still good.  I do kinda like the time you have to decide what to do.  So many times in Skyrim you get attacked and just hack away and then realize....crap, I forgot to use my super cool magic to do this or that, or you forget to switch to your potion to increase whatever or poison that critical bow shot! Anyway, looking forward to spending some more time in this classic game!

Oh and wow does it load FAST!  Man I hate waiting 5 minutes for a stupid door to open in Skyrim!  I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep on the couch during a late night gaming session waiting for that stupid thing to load!  (while I'm on my soapbox.....) That is the major downfall of the current gen "consoles" if you can call them that!!  We soooo need to get back to the days of carts and instant on!  Great, I can watch redbox and youtube, who freaking cares!!!!!  I wanted to play a game!!!  Anyway..............

How far in are you? And did you find a PS2 version, or are you just playing it on a PS2. Mine is a PS1 game (square case, not rectangular like PS2) that I play in my PS2.

Of the 2D FF era I'm feeling a little more drawn to FF6(3 in America) right now, because of the Active Time battle system. (Time keeps passing during combat even as you are making tactical decisions. When hero or enemy turn bars fill up they take their action.) I hated it when the ames first came out, and turned that option off. But now after so many years of action RPGs I have a just a little more desire for something to keep me "on my toes" during play. Especially in these early FF games where the tactics weren't terribly complex.

+1 Geek cred on the load time issue. I've heard some commentators suggest hopefully that the current console generation may finally bring an end to load times. Maybe not in all games right away, but by the middle of the conosle gen's lifespan. Wich would be GREAT! Discs brought gaming many good things! Load times are not among therm... And the Elder Scrolls games are the worst offenders, especially once you have all the DLC installed! Yikes!!

In a further update, as we prepare for a trip to the in-laws in early October I bought Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey for my Nintendo DS. Just started it, so no thoughts yet except that the presentation and art style looks great! That's something else I appreciate about JRPGs. (At least the ones with little to no silly characters.) They have an entirely different visual design to them that makes for a nice change of pace after playing tons of western-made fantasy RPGs.

I've enjoyed some great JRPGs - of course my first and most memorable was Chronotrigger. I know that's what a lot of people will say, but it really was something special. I have some very fond memories of playing that on my friend's super nintendo in college, during the fall with the autumn air blowing in through the windows.

I also liked Breath of Fire (SNES), Suikoden II (PS one), and Final Fantasy 7 and 9. I did like Xenogears universe too (PSone), but it really frustrated me for some reason and I didn't finish it. I'm still hoping I can find another JRPG (or RPG) to match the experience of Chronotrigger and/or final fantasy 9, but I don't know if anything can stand up to nostalgia (hah ha).

Battlemech37 wrote:I've enjoyed some great JRPGs - of course my first and most memorable was Chronotrigger. I know that's what a lot of people will say, but it really was something special. I have some very fond memories of playing that on my friend's super nintendo in college, during the fall with the autumn air blowing in through the windows.

I also liked Breath of Fire (SNES), Suikoden II (PS one), and Final Fantasy 7 and 9. I did like Xenogears universe too (PSone), but it really frustrated me for some reason and I didn't finish it. I'm still hoping I can find another JRPG (or RPG) to match the experience of Chronotrigger and/or final fantasy 9, but I don't know if anything can stand up to nostalgia (hah ha).

I really enjoyed Breath of Fire 1&2! Couldn't get into 3. I can't remember now if I finished Xenogears or not. I'm pretty sure i did and remember enjoying it!

I think you said elsewhere that you have a 360. have you played Blue Dragon? I haven't, but I understand it was made by the creator of Final Fantasy and is turn-based.

Oh yeah! Blue Dragon - that one is still in my xbox 360 collection. Don't know why I didn't mention this one, as it was really the only classic-styled RPG on the 360 that I played. It had some pretty neat little story-elements in it for sure, and I'd definitely recommend folks playing it if they have a 360 and are into the genre. Interesting characters, nice art style, and a lot of gameplay and story development. Honestly though, I think I forgot about it because when I think of 360, I always think of all the Halo games (of which I enjoyed quite a lot too), Mass Effect and Skyrim.

Battlemech37 wrote:Oh yeah! Blue Dragon - that one is still in my xbox 360 collection. Don't know why I didn't mention this one, as it was really the only classic-styled RPG on the 360 that I played. It had some pretty neat little story-elements in it for sure, and I'd definitely recommend folks playing it if they have a 360 and are into the genre. Interesting characters, nice art style, and a lot of gameplay and story development. Honestly though, I think I forgot about it because when I think of 360, I always think of all the Halo games (of which I enjoyed quite a lot too), Mass Effect and Skyrim.

Another turn-based 360 RPG I enjoyed was Lost Odyssey, although I wasn't able to finish it because I accidentally saved before a boss fight I wasn't ready for and couldn't back out to level-grind. (This was before I used multiple save slots as a practice.)

I'm going to throw this out there: Jade Cocoon. It had a great Pokemon-inspired battle system as well as a great story.

I hate to be a negative nancy, but gosh I sure hate JRPGS.

I've tried so hard to like them, I really have. There's something about the whole style of Art including JRPG, Anime, Manga, etc. etc. that just drives me absolutely crazy.

The last JRPG I played was FFVIII...it was $3 on Steam. I played it on the PS1 when it was new, and loved it, but every time you summon a Guardian it takes just enough time to nod off doing the animation.
I wanted to like FFIX so much, but I got about half way through it when my son (who was quite young back then) ruined the next disc. I just didn't have the drive to go back in and work it again. Later, when my son got into Legend of the Dragoon, he ruined his own disc, and we had to search high and low to find a replacement for him.

However, Inindo was one of my favorite JRPGs. I was never able to beat it, I'd get to a place where I had no idea where to go next... and pre-wiki, no idea how to find out if anyone else had ever done so... and eventually I just walked away.

I guess you could say that between losing disks and frustrating directions, I lost interest in JRPGs.

As to Skyrim... since someone brought it up, my favorite part is also my least favorite part. Enchanting+Alchemy=destruction. Dragon? Meh, a couple arrows will kill it. Or, how about magic regen on your armor, and never worrying about running out? Which is cool, but also makes the game kind of pointless.
(at least they did cap it, I remember a previous game where you could jump across the map with a high enough acrobatics)

rossmcclure4 wrote:I hate to be a negative nancy, but gosh I sure hate JRPGS.  

Oh, c'mon. Everybody secretly LOVES to be a negative nancy!

I get it though. They are definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I also hate most anime, which means there are also a ton of JRPGs I can't quite muscle through.

Wouldn't it rock if American studios started making "JRPGs" with all the cool tactics but without the anime weirdness!!

mikel.withers wrote:The last JRPG I played was FFVIII...it was $3 on Steam. I played it on the PS1 when it was new, and loved it, but every time you summon a Guardian it takes just enough time to nod off doing the animation.

I get that with most other FF summoning, but 8 had a mechanic where you could hammer on a button repeatedly during the animation to power up the monster's attack, so that kept me plenty involved.