Newer JRPGs

[goregasm]

So I have had a bit of a passing interest recently in newer JRPGs, nothing in particular, but I am lost here, I gave up on them after FF8, just walked away until I recently picked up Tactics Ogre remake on steam, it's been all western style, classic or new.

Also grabbed Dragons Dogma, excellent.

I grew up mostly on console, so played a fair amount of them from Nintendo through genesis, sega CD, ps1.

Dragon Warrior, Vagrant Story, Suikoden, Lunar, Vandal Hears, Tactics Ogre, Persona 2 etc, I personally think the best era for them was ps1, but giant standouts do occur previously or on other consoles, ogre battle 64, Shining Series, some Snes games.

I guess I am asking are any of the newer ones in that same..feeling for lack of a better term than the bygone era I am referring to?

I'm fairly interested in Octopath Traveler, is it worth the investment?

Also missed out on some big ones growing up, Chrono Trigger namely, are any of those types of re-released games worth it?

Anything newer you would recommend?

 

[Damned Registrations]

Also missed out on some big ones growing up, Chrono Trigger namely, are any of those types of re-released games worth it?

Generally speaking, not really. They tend to be made for mobile and have fucked up filters and such, you'd be better off just emulating them if you're interested. Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 might be the exception; there's a fan translation out there for the originals but I'm not sure how well it compares. They tend to struggle with anything that's not a dialogue box or item/spell description, because developers put the text for things like status effects or minigames in random places in the code, or worse yet use images instead of text.

From your list... Valkyrie Profile seems conspicuously absent. I'd recommend that if you've never tried it. SaGa Frontier as well for that matter, both solid PS1 era RPGs. Maybe BoF 3.

As far as modern releases... I'd recommend Crystal Project and Monster Sanctuary for some really solid, exploration focused jrpgs with some cool twists of their own. Decent difficulty on both as well if you choose. If you want a more traditional comfy chill vibe, Ara Fell and Rise of the Third Power are both games aping the SNES era stuff pretty well. Not a lot of challenge there, but it gets the atmosphere right in a way something like Octopath does not.

If you're into tactics games, Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is a servicable copy of Final Fantasy Tactics, which, for the love of god, you should play if you liked Tactics Ogre. I'd also recommend Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children as a much more complex take on the genre.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Anything newer you would recommend?

• The Trails games are similar to FF8 and Suikoden in their story emphasis, large numbers of party members, and focus on geopolitical conflict. The Trails of Cold Steel games have the most fun combat and character building of the series.
• Utawarerumono and Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4 are more SRPGs. Utawarerumono's combat is rather basic while VC has great level design. If you enjoyed VC1 and 4 then consider checking out Sakura Wars, made by the same dev team and uses the same battle system, and SW5 has good levels too.

 

[AdamReith]

I'd definitely recommend Wandering Sword to any jrpg fan. It's a fresh setting with a set of interesting mechanics that still delivers everything you'd expect from a decent jrpg.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

So I have had a bit of a passing interest recently in newer JRPGs, nothing in particular, but I am lost here, I gave up on them after FF8, just walked away until I recently picked up Tactics Ogre remake on steam, it's been all western style, classic or new.

Also grabbed Dragons Dogma, excellent.
...

Since you seem to be referring to Japanese-developed RPGs rather than JRPGs, aside from Dragon's Dogma you should also try Demon's Souls (2009) and Dark Souls (2011) in the Action RPG subgenre, although they're somewhat more physically demanding and less stat dependent than Dragon's Dogma. If you enjoy Demon's/Dark Souls, you could later try DS II, Bloodborne, DS III, Elden Ring, or various Souls-likes by other developers.

NieR: Automata (2017) is also worthwhile, though not really an RPG. Consider also Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019), a metroidvania with substantial RPG elements. Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (2020) is Korean-developed, but happens to be the best squad-based tactics game of the last several years, if not ever.

 

[goregasm]

I'm actually playing Elden Ring currently and enjoying it. About 20 hours in. I like the more open ended approach over DS, though I have spent some time with them as well, I very much enjoyed them, but the frustration levels were too much for me. I didn't have the patience to "get it" but admire the tone and setting quite a bit.

Playing Elden Ring has sort of reignited my nostalgia vibes from the 90s and 2000s. Elden Ring is actually the catalyst for why I was asking.

I will check out Trouble shooter and Bloodstained, Wandering Sword and all of the others.

Gotta ask though, just because I'm not up on the classifications if they changed, but games like Lunar, Phantasy Star, basically nearly everything from the 16 and 32 bit era that I grew up with, are they not JRPGs?

I understand I didn't make the most exhaustive list of what I have played and had a few tactical games up there, but essentially a throwback to that era is what I was looking for, be it a tactical game ala Shining Force, FFT, Vanguard Bandits, or Tactics Ogre or a more story driven game like Star Ocean, Vay or Lunar?

I know it's a wide swath, just been out of the loop on the genre or region devolped games, and wondering if any games stuck out as "cant miss" since the end of the 90s.

I appreciate all of the suggestions.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Gotta ask though, just because I'm not up on the classifications if they changed, but games like Lunar, Phantasy Star, basically nearly everything from the 16 and 32 bit era that I grew up with, are they not JRPGs?

Yes, those sort of games defined by an emphasis on narrative centering around predetermined characters, with relatively simplistic combat and exploration, are the definition of the JRPG subgenre. On the Codex, however, it's more common for people to use the acronym JRPG to refer not to a subgenre of RPGs but instead to all Japanese-developed RPGs, including Action RPGs, Wizardry-likes, and anything else.

 

[Yuber]

The only JRPG I have enjoyed in the last 10 years was Dragon Quest 11...
Everything else was just mediocre at best sadly.
I keep replaying the old SNES,PS1,PS2 etc JRPGs over and over again I enjoy them so much more than "modern" JRPGs.

 

[scytheavatar]

Yeah Dragon Quest 11 is clearly the best as far as "modern" JRPG goes that capture the old school feeling. Persona 5 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon are the peak as far as modern JRPGs goes and you should at least consider them on sale.

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

I would look into the SNES and PS2 for JRPGs. I highly recommend the entire Xeno series of games, alongside Baiten Kaitos, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Wild Arms, Thousand Arms, Escaform, and PoPoLoCrois Monogatari. There's more out there, both translated and untranslated, but these are some ones off the top of my head.

 

[REhorror]

Hear good things about RGG Gaiden and Persona 5 Tactica.

Not have times to try it yet.

Octo 2 is also good, as well as Live a Live remake and Triangle Strategy. And Wandering Sword for Chinese RPG.

 

[kaisergeddon]

The newest JRPG I can recommend is Metal Max 2 Reloaded. If you want the best example of a post-post apocalyptic sandbox JRPG experience with dozens of quests and hidden secrets where you can collect and modify tanks, cars, and armored vehicles from the before times while smoozing up to some ladies and simping for them with your extra money from gambling, you got that and so much more to look forward to. I personally think it's a modern classic that's hugely overlooked.

 

[Arthandas]

Some recommendations from someone who thinks 99% of jrpgs are shit:
* Dragon Quest 11 - Old school perfection, you'll feel like a kid again. Extremely tough if you enable all draconian quests (optional handicaps).
* Persona 4 and 5 - Atlus is the king of modern jrpgs, everyone knows what Persona is.
* Trails of Cold Steel - Imagine Persona but social interactions are worse but the combat is better. Bonus points for easy to mod difficulty level - you can make the game tough as nails and take advantage of everything the combat system has to offer.
* Crystal Project - Classic turn based combat with modern QoL touches. Extremely good exploration with 3D platforming. Very customizable difficulty, you can make the game as easy or as hard as you want. Don't sleep on this.
* FF7 Remake - Does it even need an introduction? Very different from the original and despite what some people are saying I think it's a good thing because it doesn't invalidate the original and you can enjoy both titles as two different games.
* Fear & Hunger 1 and 2 - Extremely dark survival jrpg. Simple but lethal combat, focus on exploration and uncovering the secrets.
* Saga Scarlet Grace - A combat focused Saga game with unique turn based mechanics.

I'm hearing good things about Chained Echoes, Octopath Traveler, Wandering Sword, Star Ocean the Second Story R, Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion and Live a Live but I'm yet to try any of them.

 

[I eat frozen vegetables]

The newest JRPG I can recommend is Metal Max 2 Reloaded. If you want the best example of a post-post apocalyptic sandbox JRPG experience with dozens of quests and hidden secrets where you can collect and modify tanks, cars, and armored vehicles from the before times while smoozing up to some ladies and simping for them with your extra money from gambling, you got that and so much more to look forward to. I personally think it's a modern classic that's hugely overlooked.

I highly recommend the entire series in general. Metal Dreamers is doing God's work by translating all of the games, and I hope they start working on the 4th game for the 3DS.

 

[kaisergeddon]

I highly recommend the entire series in general. Metal Dreamers is doing God's work by translating all of the games, and I hope they start working on the 4th game for the 3DS.

They've been working on it for awhile now, yeah. No ETA, but they appear to be making good progress with a full working dump of the game and all the DLC that was assumed lost/corrupted.

 

[felipepepe]

Some recommendations from someone who thinks 99% of jrpgs are shit:
* Dragon Quest 11 - Old school perfection, you'll feel like a kid again. Extremely tough if you enable all draconian quests (optional handicaps).
* Persona 4 and 5 - Atlus is the king of modern jrpgs, everyone knows what Persona is.
* Trails of Cold Steel - Imagine Persona but social interactions are worse but the combat is better. Bonus points for easy to mod difficulty level - you can make the game tough as nails and take advantage of everything the combat system has to offer.
* Crystal Project - Classic turn based combat with modern QoL touches. Extremely good exploration with 3D platforming. Very customizable difficulty, you can make the game as easy or as hard as you want. Don't sleep on this.
* FF7 Remake - Does it even need an introduction? Very different from the original and despite what some people are saying I think it's a good thing because it doesn't invalidate the original and you can enjoy both titles as two different games.
* Fear & Hunger 1 and 2 - Extremely dark survival jrpg. Simple but lethal combat, focus on exploration and uncovering the secrets.
* Saga Scarlet Grace - A combat focused Saga game with unique turn based mechanics.

I'm hearing good things about Chained Echoes, Octopath Traveler, Wandering Sword, Star Ocean the Second Story R, Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion and Live a Live but I'm yet to try any of them.

Yup, all you need is here. Would just add Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it's a really fascinating JRPG.

 

[Arthandas]

Would just add Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it's a really fascinating JRPG.

Totally, I'm just so accustomed to classic Yakuzas I still can't think of Like a Dragon as a jrpg xD