My Top 10 JRPGs

Probably my favorite gaming genre is JRPG, which probably has one of the hardest games, one of the most in-depth, best soundtracks and of course visually great (During their golden era atleast). Genre is very different from western type of RPG games such as Witcher, Fallout and Dungeon Siege Series.

With the rise of Online gaming, we have morphed into MMORPG genre quite much, with this i think lot of the key components die a lot, such as great storyline and combat system especially, Final fantasy didn’t deliver much in this front too much with FF15 and FF11. But nonetheless i will be listing my Top 10 JRPG’s that i played from my course of multiple platforms like PC, Gamecube, Playstation and Xbox .

10. The Last Remnant:

While The Last Remnant doesn’t have greatest storyline, it compensates a lot with its very unique battle system, which probably hasn’t been used ever before, not that i recall atleast. The Unreal Engine 3.0 didn’t probably work too well on Xbox360 and PlayStation 3, but once the PC version came, many of these issues were fixed. I wish there was more PC-ports of these games. The game is relatively cheap on steam at the moment "$9.99 USD", based on its price its pretty great buy.

-Release Date: November 20, 2008 (console version)
-Release Date: March 24, 2009 ( PC version)

9. Crisis Core (FF7 Spinoff):

Crisis Core had really good storyline and made lot of things clear for those who played Final Fantasy 7, i think the relationship between Zack and Aerith was extremely sad story, but i guess it kinda has good ending sort of <Not Spoiling anything>. The Combat and graphics were really high quality compared what we had previously on PSP, it really used its full limit and by doing that it became great product. While the game wasn’t extremely long or anything, it still had lot to play like side missions (Which Frankly got really boring after while). I think its still probably best game you can buy for PSP, its a decent title for a spin-off.

-Release Date: March 25, 2008 (PSP only)

8. Lost Odyssey :

I feel this game was something quite special compared to rest of JRPG’s, Lost Odyssey had lot of western influences to it in my mind, especially characters looked very western to me. I didn’t like the voice acting, it was bit cringe but i believe Japanese version didn’t have these problem, they hardly really do. The game was really hard, thats something i remember. getting experience from creeps in this game was non-existent, only levels were pretty much awarded from boss battles. The complexity of battle system wasn’t anything too superior, but overall i feel this game was pretty decent.

Release Date: February 12, 2008 (xbox 360 only)

7. Star Ocean Last Hope :

Currently latest title of Star Ocean series, which is somewhat known and respected franchise among JRPG fans. While i was really disgusted by Voice acting in this game and some stereotype garbage. It still had really great graphics for its time and battle system to this day is very superb and never had something that fun probably. But the game has decency to be really generic and main storyline is actually very short (I’m not sure how in-depth the side mission stuff is since i never got into that, since they were kinda hidden). Alien race was main enemy is kinda cliche and lame though. The PS3 version even had 1 extra character, so it might be overall better experience on that console.

Release Date: February 9, 2010 (PS3, xbox 360)

6. Legend Of Dragoon :

I Should be probably sent to jail due not being able to complete Legend of Dragoon (Yet, whelp). This is one of the prime PS1 titles for JRPG’s and i remember picking it up from a shady looking second hand store for like 15€ or something like that. Legend Of Dragoon had very great storyline where some of the characters even died (Won’t spoil, which of course), but the game was really long and actually pretty hard too, since you had to combo lot of shit in this game. Graphics and CGI animations were pretty great standard during its release (around same time FF9 got out), lot of people have wanted to see sequel or remaster for this game and so would i. I probably going to play this game through once i take my PS3 out of the dust, since this is one of the prime games, you should play in this genre.

Release Date: June 14, 2000 (Playstation 1 only)

5. Final Fantasy VII :

A game that blew me away then and is just as much fun now. Called "The game that sold the Playstation" and I can see why. It's fun and entertaining, with hours and hours of gameplay and more if you like exploring and levelling up to be mega hard come the boss fights. Plus lots of the coolest characters and definately coolest bad guy. Once you can explore the world it's truly epic, with side quests. With FFXII and Persona4, this is a stand out game, it's just epic, as simple as that, and even though it seems ancient now and dated its still a game i come back too. With Suikoden and Grandia II its the cream of RPG

Release Date: Jun 1, 1997 (Playstation)
Release Date: 14 AUG 2012 (PC, available for $11.99 USD)

4. Tales Of Symphonia :

My first Tales game i ever played. That being Tales Of Symphonia, this game had really great graphical style for Gamecube, very interesting and well designed characters. One of the games to challenge Final Fantasy about how much you can sink time to play these titles. You literally had option to play the game again with harder difficulty or 2x experience boost or other cool stuff. There were lot of side missions, such as obtaining titles and costumes, along with side dungeons that were really hard compared to the final boss in the game. I probably played this game through 2.5x times. Combat system was superb, voice acting wasn’t that bad, also it had pretty decent OST.

Release Date: July 13, 2004 (Gamecube only)

3. Final Fantasy IX :

The first Final Fantasy and JRPG game i ever played, this has probably lot to do why its ranked so high. This game has probably strongest Original Soundtrack out of all Final Fantasies. Final Fantasy 9 was probably one game that didn’t use so futuristic setup like Seven, Eight and Ten did, for that i applaud it quite much. I Feel all of the cities, dungeons and bosses were really unique in this game and it probably had one of the best combat systems too (you actually play this with 2 players). The best part was that everyone were designated to be a class, Vivi was the black mage, zidane was the fighter and Eika/Garnet were the Summoners. I really liked this part of the game, where everyone had clear role what they could do, kinda like in Final Fantasy 6. Also the card game in Final Fantasy 9 was much better than it was on eight.

Release Date: November 14, 2000 (Playstation 1 only)

2. Final Fantasy X :

Easily one of the best in the series, FFX adds character voices for the first time in the series which, along with captivating cut-scenes, makes this a great game to play anytime of the day. Along with the addition of the blitzball mini-game, FFX changed the way you use summons, fight, and even how you level up. This game comes with all of this, packed into one of the greatest story-lines to date. The extra dungeons, mini-games, and unlockable end weapons gives you hours of endless gameplay. My personal time before i quit playing for good was 113:46

The team who created this installment of the FF series truly put their hearts and souls into making this game. A definite must have for any fans of the FF series.

Release Date: December 18, 2001 (Playstation 2)

1.Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King :

This game currently holds the title for the ultimate and maybe even the pinnacle of your Dragon warrior (sorry can't help myself) experience. There is no better DQ game in the world today, due to the smashing heart break of DQX and the fun but somewhat just short of the mark DQ9 I recommend playing this game last because...you will be left saddene by the fact that you have no where else to go. A true masterpiece....in ever possible way, Perfectly made, structured.....everything! You know how you play several games and switch them in and out as your mood strikes you? This is the ONLY game EVER that once I stuck it in I never took it out until the end. I never wanted to play anything else but this for weeks. There is a lot of battles but that's what the Holy Water is for to keep those pesky monsters away when your really just trying to find something. It's got everything you couldever want in there...like Ragu: "It's in there!"

Release Date: November 15, 2005 (PS2 only).

So what do you guys think?! please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below