What do you think would be a good game to start jrpg’s if you haven’t played one or not much? I always think Persona 5 is probably a good starting point, but there are a few problems. The person i would recommend it is probably to young for a game rated for 16 year old people in my country. And the socialising aspect is probably not very typical for most jrpg’s. Is probably a retro game better with a good story. I just don’t know it, so i would like to know your opinion.
Dragon Quest XI
I think a solid and comfortable opening would be Final Fantasy X. Don’t need to know any other games in the series, they’re all independent of each other.
Great turn-based combat in FFX and an all time favourite for me, but it is a bit dated by modern standards. FFXII is what I would recommend.
A bit dated, maybe, but the remaster version is fine to play
I think Persona’s a pretty safe bet. Come for the socialising, character drama and flashy gimmicks; stay for the mechanics and optimisation strategies. Plus, if you give a kid a game they’re not old enough for where the characters use hidden powers to overturn society, it’ll become their personality for a while.
For a more family-friendly game, I’d suggest basically ANY Mario RPG. It’s casual and fun, but it’s still a JRPG.
If you’re dead set on an archetypal JRPG, then Octopath Traveler is as good as you can get while still having the comforts of modern gaming.
I cut my teeth during the snes era and highly recommend Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6, but if you’re looking for just a taste of the genre then the best short jrpg I’d recommend for someone on the young side is Terra Memoria. I finished it 100% in 15 hours. You don’t need a guide because there’s an NPC that will tell you if you missed anything and send you right to it. It’s light-hearted and the combat was just complex enough for the 15 hours without getting boring.
Didn’t know Terra Memoria. Looks a bit like a mixed genre game, with camp building and turn based gameplay. Looks cute and if it’s that short, i maybe give it a try.
The comp building is pretty optional. I hope you enjoy it!
I was mostly into JRPGs back in the PS1 days so I’m out of touch but Chrono Cross was my favorite.
Probably one of the newer Dragon Quest games (DQ11, for example).
They’re watered down enough to be more palatable than starting off at something like Final Fantasy 1, but they’re not so watered down that they’ve become entirely an action rpg.
Even though I never finished it, DQ11 had turn based combat and the gameplay generally felt more or less the same as other games I later tried playing such as Grandia, Ys Seven, and so on. It felt just as “JRPG” as the rest.
I was drawn in via Suikoden II.
