Most memorable game/JRPG you've played in last 5 years

[Lincolnberry]

I'm about to have some spare time on my hands for a few weeks and health willing I'm looking for suggestions. What have you played in the last 5 years that made an impression / you think about long after you finished?

Thanks!

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The Trails of Cold Steel saga was my favorite JRPG of the last decade. I especially loved the first two games story wise. Those two are one of the very few games I have replayed multiple times. The latter three games were more mixed story wise but were still very fun, especially in the combat and character building department. Superb English localization and voice dub, great aesthetics and great music.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 was also a pleasant surprise. Fun gameplay, unique levels, and an overall good story. Also great aesthetics. The ending also set up a future for the series to move away from the WW2 European war and move the timeline forward to an Underground Railroad smuggling operation in the United States, but sadly SEGA seems to be stupid (look at what they did to Sakura Wars) so that probably won't happen.

 

[Ravielsk]

I will have to go with Tales of Xillia. Its essentially the one and only game with environmentalist themes that actually works with them to forge a unique world and a unique conflict without being just a retarded finger waggling fest. Even though its blatantly unfinished.

 

[Lincolnberry]

I have only played Berseria and more recently Arise and while I liked things about both I wouldn't say I particularly loved either. I'll give Xilia a look, thanks!

I'm still on the first Trails game (FC). Think I'm towards the end but not sure. Need to pick it back up. Most battles feel a little too long which was part of why I put it down.

Curious also if any of these reward you spending your time to look around. I always enjoyed that but feels like it's becoming less common (along with hand placed loot) in more recent games. Trails again has the reputation for encouraging you to talk to everyone, that's in the same vein but not quite the same thing.

 

[Modron]

Astlibra Revision, Trails in the Sky 1-2, and DQ 11.

I haven't really played too many Japanese games (with exception to the Yakuza series) in the last 5 years to be honest: a Tales of games, The Vagrant, Tower Hunter, Stranger of Sword City, River City Saga Three Kingdoms, Ys 1 (still need to finish 2), Nier Automata-Replicant, and Dork Souls.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

I really recommend Tales of Vesperia or Graces over Xillia. Vesperia has better characters while Graces has the absolute best combat in the series. Xillia is a snoozer with boring levels, a bland story, and lame characters.

For surprise JRPGs of the last few years I'll say the Yakuza series. Like a Dragon was fantastic while Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 6 are great in the mainline series. I think you can jump in with either of those. I actually started with Yakuza 5 and I don't recommend it, it's way too slow and boring at the start, and Yakuza 0 is overrated fan-fiction tier retcons.

*edit* I also put 300 hours into Monster Hunter World, though it's not quite a JRPG it is a fantastic game, and there's always Elden Ring.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Here are some JRPG (type) games (off the top of my head) that I have enjoyed from the last 5 years. I favoured ones that may have flown under the radar so to speak.


Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising




Forget Me Not: My Organic Garden



Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom



Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

 

[musouking]

Sorry for no translations but Super Robot Wars A impressed me a lot. The soundtrack is awesome which is made of half 16-bit Gundam songs and half classic super robots openings and the best original Dark Knight.

 

[Ivan]

 

[Reinhardt]

trails in the sky, i guess, if i must chose one.

 

[Maxie]

atelier ayesha
atelier sophie 1
valkyria 4
ys origin
radiant historia
strange journey

 

[merser]

Rance Series, all games that are translated.
Radiant Historia
DohnaDohna (veeery lewd game, but it is very fun)
SMT4
Tales of Abyss (not really a masterpiece, but it is pretty memorable)
Persona 2 IS/EP
Atelier Series, Ryza 1 was the most memorable and fun for me personally, but Arland trilogy was best in terms of gameplay, story and overall.

 

[Derringer]

I liked the Persona 2 games a lot, past that I couldn't think of too many that were memorable to a good extent although I did like Grandia 1. Phantasy Star 2 is slow as fuck and Phantasy Star III is slow and stupid as fuck but I certainly remembered crawling through them. Sega's recent stuff has been decent. I still haven't tried out Alice Soft's newer games. Koudelka was fun, tedious but alright, kind of braindead combat wise once you know where to put your stats.

 

[Reality]

Troubleshooter: abandoned children -- a codex favorite but needs correct starting settings - I did hard+limit to growth on my playthrough but I think hard+limit from start to chapter 4 then cruel+limit after would be better.

Brigandine remake -- there were several "operation level" SRPGs in 1985-1993 (brigandine, dragon wars,, dark wizard.) these kind of games want to compete with Koei Three Kingdom games NOT fire emblem. All of them are somewhat disappointing filler that makes you want to upgrade to actual strategy like master of magic/age of wonders / Eador

But it's a nice history lesson and the 5 way FFA with choosable sides provides some novelty value... Just be prepared for it to turn into a dumb map painter with less fun (because fire emblem battles are too long for a map painter)

Grandia 1+2 remake - doesn't fix slowdown problems of audio clipping (certain Grandia 2 boss fights) everyone should see grandia's "timeline" battle system once, but not in its own series.

a 20 hour indy game is preferable to 40 hour grandia with its typical 90s jrpg low difficulty undermining the potential of really good system with terrible encounter design that prevents you from interacting with system because enemies are so weak. Grandia 1 has an truly wonderful atmosphere in disc 1, but disc 2 (and all Grandia 2) are dead bland. I don't think it's worth the price of admittance alone.

 

[flyingjohn]

Grandia 1+2 remake

Just a little addendum.
Grandia 1 is best experienced on the Saturn with the English patch. The psx version has unfinished difficulty mod that is hit and miss called redux.
Grandia 2 is best experienced on the Dreamcast. There is a difficulty mod for the pc version of Grandia 2 anniversary.
The remake that replaces the anniversary edition is garbage.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

SMT3
SMT4
Strange Journey
Persona 4 (it was the first JRPG I played so it was memorable for me)

 

[deuxhero]

I'd say Cyber Sleuth but that came out 7 years ago.

 

[Abu Antar]

In the past five years? Good examples have been given, and I agree with them. Some of my suggestions.

I still think about a sequel being made for Dungeon Encounters. Simple but fun game. I would love to see the idea expanded further. Dungeon Crawling distilled into its core essence.


If you have tried the Yakuza series, I think that you will like this.


If you have ever tried the SaGa series, you should try this. Very combat focused, though. I'm sad that we haven't gotten anything after this.


It doesn't have the best writing in the world, but I still think about this one, despite playing it this year. I will get a sequel day one. Fun exploration, good combat, amazing music, and great visuals.


For all the shit that I give Square Enix, they still manage to produce a few bangers every now and then.

 

[Lincolnberry]

I was more asking games people here have played in the last 5 year (ie, recently) - not so much came out recently though there could naturally be overlap.

I haven't tried Dungeon Encounters or Ishin yet, but I've beaten Yakuza 0-3 and I'm sure I'll like Ishin too. I've beaten Scarlet Grace (Urpina only so far) - generally big fan, hope we get another. Octopath 2 I ultimately didn't like much - the combat system seems so stripped down and basic compared to Bravely Default, which it is clearly related to.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Elttharion]

Ni No Kuni 2 because

Spoiler

you play as the president of the USA and the first thing you do once you are isekai'd is shoot someone.

On a more serious tone:

• Dragon Quest 11 because it is a very very good game and the 16bit mode was really well done and peak nostalgia.
• Yakuza 7 because it was cool to play a JRPG were the main characters are closer to my age instead of a bunch of teenagers.
• Nier Replicant mainly for nostalgia and because of the incredible OST and very good story.

 

[cruel]

Nier: Automata
Persona 4 Golden
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

 

[abnaxus]

Bastard!!
London seirei tanteidan
Rhapsody of zephyr
Sword World PC
Eldorado gate

 

[e-mailio estevez]

• Dragon Quest 11 because it is a very very good game and the 16bit mode was really well done and peak nostalgia.

I really wanted to play DQ11 this way as I'm a big fan of the older 2-D DQ games... but I ended up missing a lot of the modern UI additions too much to part with them. It bugged the shit out of me that I didnt have life/mana bars in the 16-bit mode for some reason.

 

[AdamReith]

Played some nice JRPGs over the last few years, first one that comes to mind is Shining in the Darkness.

Honourable mention for Grandia 2.

 

[Bloodeyes]

I don't think I'll get any points for originality here but with over 1300 hours on PS5 and at least that on PS4 its got to be Elden Ring.