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I have never played a JRPG in my life. Ever. Not a single one. I'm not counting games like Dark Souls, because those are just action RPGs made by Japs, I'm talking about full-on JRPGs with everything that normally entails. Whatever that may be, since I am quite clueless on this topic.
What would be the best one to start with, out of the recently-released ones? Yakuza 0? Final Fantasy XVI? Shenmue III? Fursona 5?
Important: I do not play games where you're forced to play as a female (or """female"""), so those are not even worth considering. Also no Dragon's Dogma, I've already tried it and it's just an inferior Dark Souls.
Important 2: I didn't think this needed to be mentioned, but the game needs to have voice-acting in English.
I have never played a JRPG in my life. Ever. Not a single one. I'm not counting games like Dark Souls, because those are just action RPGs made by Japs, I'm talking about full-on JRPGs with everything that normally entails. Whatever that may be, since I am quite clueless on this topic.
I have never played a JRPG in my life. Ever. Not a single one. I'm not counting games like Dark Souls, because those are just action RPGs made by Japs, I'm talking about full-on JRPGs with everything that normally entails. Whatever that may be, since I am quite clueless on this topic.
Well, this boy's first jRPG was Final Fantasy III (aka VI) on original Super Nintendo hardware. It was good enough so that I don't automatically disdain all jRPGs today like many codexers seem to do. On the other hand, I play jRPGs once in a blue moon so while I like the genre, I don't love it.
I have never played a JRPG in my life. Ever. Not a single one. I'm not counting games like Dark Souls, because those are just action RPGs made by Japs, I'm talking about full-on JRPGs with everything that normally entails. Whatever that may be, since I am quite clueless on this topic.
I'm just gonna toss a recommendation for Radiant Historia out there. It's a good way to step into the genre without feeling completely lost if you're honed in on western rpgs. Has a great and unique battle system that isn't just thumbing through menus, and a very cool protagonist too. You play an agent of the state, basically a glowie. You're an employed adult male who is both reliable and smart, basically a spotted unicorn in the genre, and you get involved in political intrigue that quickly expands to an action thriller having you race against time (literally). It won't instantly repulse you at any rate, so it's worth a shot.
A Pokemon or a Final Fantasy, since those have the mass appeal and are most likely to retain someone's interest. They're not the mechanically deepest and perhaps the most interesting to a hardcore RPG nerd, but they are the safest bet at an enjoyable experience.
In Pokemon, you play as a teenager who becomes a Pokemon trainer, being given a starter Pokemon and then catching more Pokemon (up to 6 cane be in your party at a time), and then levelling up those Pokemon and evolving them into new forms. The objective is to travel around the region and acquire 8 Gym Badges by defeating the 8 Gym Leaders. Once you have all 8 badges, you can then challenge the Elite Four, and then finally the champion, the strongest trainer in that region's Pokemon league. If you beat the champion, you in turn become the new champion and the credits roll. There are a few more things you can do in the postgame but that's pretty much it. Also, there is usually a subplot about fighting some villainous organization.
For Pokemon games, I would recommend either Emerald for Gameboy Advance, Platinum for DS, or Heartgold/Soulsiver for DS. These games are widely agreed to be the peak of Pokemon in terms of adventure gameplay and aesthetics. There is also Pokemon Black & White 1, which is hailed for its story and also has good aesthetics, though it is agreed that game is where the adventure gameplay of the franchise began to disappear. Unfortunately none of these games can be bought from the Nintendo Online store, and are very expensive to buy used online. There are new remakes of Emerald (Omeage Ruby & Sapphire) and Platinum (Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl) that might be easier to acquire, but they are braindead easy, are aesthetic downgrades, and introduce a host of other issues, so I would hesitate to recommend them. I recommend that you avoid the latest two Pokemon games that you can easily buy legally, Sword & Shield and Scarlet and Violet, as they are despsied and considered to be bad games that coast along the cultural inertia of the franchise. Pokemon was intended to be played on handheld while in your lazy boy chair, so you lose a lot if you try to play emulated it sitting at a desk staring at a little gameboy or DS emulation window. If you don't have a gameboy or a DS, then I'd consider playing Final Fantasy instead.
For Final Fantasy, I would pick any Final Fantasy numbered 6 through 10. They had the highest production values for their time and aren't frustrating. They revolutionized the JRPG genre as we know it and set the expectations of the genre in terms of characters, plot structure, presentation, music, etc. You collect a band of quirky heroes and go on a journey to fight evil empires or megacoroporations, and then fight some god monster at the end. They are each 20 to 40 hours long. Pick whichever one appeals to you the most.
Final Fantasy 7 is set in a Diselpunk world, and is about fighting megacorporations, giant mecha, and bioengineered supersoldiers. Was the game that made the franchise a breakout hit in the West and defined the AAA game.
Final Fantasy 8 is set in a futuristic sci fi world and is about young men in black leather jackets wielding gunblades, acting as knights and fighting against witches. Also, high school.
Final Fantasy 9 traditional fantasy aesthetics, the best looking PS1 Final Fantasy. IMO this game has the most gripping plot of any Final Fantasy game, up until a few hours into disc 3 (out of 4).
Final Fantasy 10 starts off with futuristic sci fi aesthetics, and then quickly turns into an adventure through a Southeast Asian/Pacific island fantasy world. Has decent voice acting.
Be warned that the Final Fantasy franchise is notorious for having awful ports and so-called "remasters". The art of the PS1 games were designed with the intention that they would be viewed on CRT televisions, and the PC ports do not provide them (and have other issues), so you should play them emulated with CRT shaders applied (an easy recommendation is CRT-Royale). For 9, you have the option of playing the PC port with the Moguri mod installed, which gives you high resolution backgrounds and expands the screens. For Final Fantasy 10, you should either play the PS2 or PS3 versions. Please avoid the so-called PS4 "remaster" or the PC rerelease, as they remade the characters and botched the transfer of the character's facials animations from the old models to the new ones. It's not the end of the world if you just buy the Steam ports, though.
There are other good Final Fantasy games, but I would hesitate to recommend them to a first timer today.
The classic 1-6 Final Fantasy games suffer from a lot of "you opened a chest and encountered a rare monster that one shots your entire party! Now you have to redo the entire last 2 hours since your last save!". That felt awful on the SNES. You really need to playing on emulator and use save states to get a good experience, but the PS1 Final Fantasies (and 10 have better visuals and aren't as frustrating so I wouldn't recommend playing 1-6 over those PS1 (and 10) games first. FF13 has gorgeous aesthetics, but has gameplay issues, and also players didn't like that the cast hates each other for the first 30 hours of the game. 12 has good cutscene direction and voice acting by theater actors, but the combat is not engaging, the game is very long, and the story can be very dry. 11 is an Everquest clone, 14 is a 400+ hour long visual novel with a disappointing payoff. 15 feels more like an Ubisoft open world game than any JRPG.
Finally, there are three popular SRPGs, a subgenre of JRPG where you move characters around a battlefield and some objective based gameplay instead of just killing mobs. These games are much more lenient compared to other SRPGs, which can be quite frustrating to play. Fire Emblem Awakening was the breakout hit of the franchise in the West, in which you and a plucky band of heroes fight against an evil dragon and his zombie army. Fire Emblem Fates is more about kingdom vs kingdom but also has you fight dragons towards the end. Valkyria Chronicles became popular when it was one of the first JRPGs ported to PC. It is set during a fantasy WW1, and has you play as trench soldiers and tanks fighting against other soldiers, tanks, magical swordmaidens, and super tanks. The PC version of Valkyria Chronicles 1 is good so no need to emulate. If you enjoyed VC1 and would like more, than check out Valkyria Chronicles 4, which is also on PC and that PC port good too (VC2 and VC3 are very different games and not like VC1).
I have never played a JRPG in my life. Ever. Not a single one. I'm not counting games like Dark Souls, because those are just action RPGs made by Japs, I'm talking about full-on JRPGs with everything that normally entails. Whatever that may be, since I am quite clueless on this topic.
What would be the best one to start with, out of the recently-released ones? Yakuza 0? Final Fantasy XVI? Shenmue III? Fursona 5?
Important: I do not play games where you're forced to play as a female (or """female"""), so those are not even worth considering. Also no Dragon's Dogma, I've already tried it and it's just an inferior Dark Souls.
For a game actually in the JRPG subgenre, I would suggest Final Fantasy VI (originally called FF3 in the United States), but you've stated that you don't want to "play as a female" and this entry in the series features an ensemble cast where the two most important protagonists are women. The next best alternatives would be Final Fantasy IV (originally called FF2 in the United States) and Final Fantasy IX (which harked back to the pre-Playstation games in the series, especially IV).
For Japanese-developed RPGs not in the JRPG subgenre, there's always Dragon's Dogma (which is not a Souls-game, so can't be "an inferior Dark Souls"), any of a number of Wizardry-likes such as Stranger in Sword City, the original Final Fantasy (something of a combination of Wizardy-like, Ultima-like, and direct derivative of D&D), NieR: Automata (arguably a combination of JRPG and action RPG), and Elden Ring (combination of action RPG, specifically Souls-like, with Open World RPG).
Final Fantasy 5, 6, 7, 9. Pick one. Though with a gun to my head I'd say 7. Save 8 and 10 for if you get into the series as while good (X) or even great (VIII), they have significant quirks.
Don't bother with any other game in the series unless you really get curious. Save yourself from objective DECLINE.
Pokemon is great but the combat may trigger with it simplicity, even though it is well-executed, meaningful simplicity demanding at least some level of strategy and interesting choices.
Do NOT play Chrono Trigger like another poster recommended. If you give a single shit about gameplay you will never touch JRPGs again. It's mindless sellout garbage.
Final Fantasy is the best bet for sure. Fun stories, beautiful highly detailed mostly non-animu art, deep enough RPG systems to satisfy, music by what is likely the best composer to ever grace video games, and just enough secondary gameplay elements (puzzle elements, exploration, side quests, mini-games, resource management) to keep a gameplayfag engaged outside of combat.
The only real catch is combat difficulty is easy, though some more than others (FFV = hardest. FF7 = Easiest). There's three options here:
1. Grin and bear it. The games are great despite this fact. the gameplay is overall FUN and well executed, and hey, almost all RPGs have difficulty issues.
2. Do not grind (much). You'll be tempted because there's fun RPG systems to play with, but be wary as certain mostly optional encounters will still pose a challenge even if you do grind.
3. Difficulty Romhacks. Perhaps best saved for replays but they complete/fulfill the games, for me.
