Hello everyone! I really want to get into the jrpg genre but I have no idea which game would be good for a beginner. I have played persona 5 and I really enjoyed it. Any recommendations would be really appreciated!
If you liked Persona 5 then don't sleep on Persona 4 Golden. And there's an upcoming remake of the excellent Persona 3, but they recently ported Persona 3 Portable to modern systems if you don't want to wait.
If you want something more traditional, I think Chrono Trigger holds up very well and is very accessible for new players compared to some of the other JRPGs of its era. If you want something traditional but a bit more modern, I think Final Fantasy 9,10, and 12 are all very easy to pick up and are on basically every system.
Surprised Pokemon hasn't been mentioned yet, they're light on story compared to more serious RPGs but they're designed to be fun (at least following the main story) and are mostly successful. I haven't played the latest generation but Sun and Moon was a good pair, my biggest complaint was an overly long intro.
I have played Undertale and it's definitely in my top 3 favourite games. I have to look more into Omori though. My main concern with it is that it looks pretty dark but maybe it's fun, I don't know.
It's fun alright, if you liked undertale you'll probably like OMORI too (heavily inspired by mother, same kind of humor, multiple routes and endings, amazing setting and characters), even though it's definitely darker
The original Final Fantasy 7. The gameplay is not difficult and straightforward, the story is still interesting, not too cookie cutter, compared to some SNES RPGs. It also has enough bells and whistles (e.g. cool limit breaks, summons) that might entice you to keep playing the game till the end.
I'd just pick a game you like the look of and jump in. Any game you are really enthusiastic about is as good an entrypoint to the genre as any. Chrono Trigger is of course a classic, and I really liked Triangle Strategy as well.
Final Fantasy VI, AKA Final Fantasy III, as it was called stateside when I first played it in the 90s (I bought it at Media Play, anyone remember that?).
Great cast of recruitable characters that isn't too large, in my opinion, and the Esper system is pretty great. Also, for me, one of the most impactful JRPG storylines of all time.
Have fun, whatever you choose! It's a great genre, but time consuming. If a game doesn't click for you within 15 or so hours, it may not be one for you.
Don't get into the Trails series. Not because it's not good, but because the grindfest is definitely better suited for when you have a few JRPGs under your belt. If you like Persona 5, I recommend looking around at ATLUS's other entries. There's the Digital Devil Saga, Soul Hackers, Devil Survivor, Raidou Kuzunoha, the other Persona series... I really liked Devil Survivor 2 growing up, it was light-hearted in comparison to everything else despite the eldritch gods plot.
These suggestions are all great. I would firstly pitch Earthbound, which is an offbeat example of the genre with its bizarro take on urban fantasy. The art and music are terrific and the whole experience is just really memorable and sweet.
I also want to pitch Final Fantasy 9 especially if you play on PC with the lovely Moguri Mod.
It's an accessible example of the genre with a great story and well written party members, and the mod updates the look of the game to GORGEOUS effect while also providing some handy quality of life options (e.g. switching on/off random enemy encounters).
I think we should stop saying "JRPG", but if you must, another vote for Chrono Trigger, though it will spoil you on games of that type: no grinding, no random encounters, good balance of playable characters, unique combat mechanics that to this day haven't really been explored (specifically, dual and tri-techs, special abilities that require certain combinations of party members and that utilize all of their abilities).
I guess there probably isn't a "perfect" first JRPG since people love particular things (A better first one for my preferences would have been something like Persona 4/5 just because of my story/style preferences), but I think generally Chrono Trigger is as close as you can get.
It has no money. It has no gear. It has no cutscenes or events. All it has is spells and stats.
All four elements have their individual levels. To level them up, find spirits in the overworld or get a level up, and it'll let you put one point into an element. When you have enough points in two or more elements, it'll let you combine them (but you have to remember the combinations).
All your stats have individual XP bars, and raising one to 100 gives you 1 character level (which also gives you 1 point for your elements). To level them up depends on what you wanna raise. DEF is raised by getting hit. MP is raised by using magic. HP and physical attack are raised by bonking enemies with your staff. That kind of thing. (TLDR it works like Final Fantasy 2)
It's very simple as an RPG, but it's pleasant to look at and listen to.
Chrono Trigger is a genre-defining classic and definitely still enjoyable IMO. The difficulty is quite easy overall and the game doesn't require any real grinding.
If you want something more fresh, Chained Echoes is a modern take on a lot of classic JRPG formulas, but still retains a lot of that great classic feel and beautiful pixel art.
If you're more interested in 3D stuff, Final Fantasy VII Remake is an excellent JRPG. While not turn based, it is accessible to beginners as you can tone down the difficulty a lot. Also, don't worry about the "VII" - you don't really need to know anything going into it.
I have had chained echoes on my wishlist for a pretty long time and I will probably buy it. It looks really good and I like pixel art but also want something more modern.
These are great games, but I don’t know if I’d recommend them to beginners into the world of JRPGs. Their primary draw, for me at least, is the complexity of their battle systems. It’s a lot to take in if you’re new to the genre. I could be monstrously wrong though, heh
My biggest issue with Octopath was the grind. Maybe I was playing "wrong", but I hit a point fairly early on where I wasn't high enough level to continue the story. I was sort of stuck in an in-between spot where I could win fights but get trivial amounts of xp, or die every other encounter.
The story had me hooked, I love the visual style, and I liked the combat system... But the grind destroyed me.
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