3DS can stream X in Japan
.
I'm not a big spin-off person but I've played Rocket Slime and builders.
Rocket Slime is a game where you create monster teams and participate in mecha duels. You have to defend from boarders, load cannons and what not. There's also an action-y isometric map exploration part to it. It's been a while but it's a lot of fun.
Builders has you go through DQ town scenarios in an action-RPG/building game.
The big one to consider, which I haven't played, is Monsters, which I think is an anti-Pokemon. It is niche in the west but I usually see praise when it comes up.
I'll probably try Monsters. Will look up some gameplay footage and check prices, maybe I'll swing by GameStop tomorrow if they have a used one. They seem to be slightly behind the curve w/r/t DS game price inflation, some good deals can be had assuming they have the game in stock.
I'm gonna guess for fun. 7:3 in favor of Japanese.
Pretty much a shoe-in what the 3 WRPGs are as well.
7:3 is not a bad ratio if you ask me. There's clearly a console and JRPG slant, but it's still a workable balance.
Compare this to, say, the RPGCodex list, which is a great list in its own right, but other than Dark Souls is skewed completely towards C/WRPGs. The ratio might be something like 49:1.
I really wanted to put Live A Live on my list somewhere. That game was so far ahead of its time.
Live A Live is really something else. I'm not a fan of the way the game actually
plays most of the time, but conceptually it's still pretty unique. I wouldn't begrudge someone saying it was the best JRPG on the SNES, it's hard to even compare it to its peers because it's so different. Feels more like a modern experimental indie game than a Squaresoft production.
Underrail only got one mention in this thread as well, which surprises me a little.
A CRPG set in a post-apocalyptic environment is unavoidably going to compete with the classic Fallout games. I feel like the only way something like Underrail would get a lot of support, is if there was a cutoff that somehow excluded classic Fallout.
I haven't played Underrail yet though. But I did pick it up on GOG a while back.
It's my favorite in the series, partly because I'm generally more drawn towards scifi-themed RPGs, and I didn't really like the aesthetics in VII and IX.
The setting is definitely one of VIII's strengths. I really enjoyed how the sci-fi and fantasy elements (occasionally, very bizarre fantasy elements) were grounded in a realistic-looking aesthetic. The game's world feels so
foreign, and yet believable, like a realistic society built on unfamiliar principles.
Squall's gunblade is basically a meme at this point, but it's also an interesting microcosm of the game's setting as a whole. Two completely separate things mashed together into an initially puzzling whole, that ultimately becomes believable when given context.
The setting has always been one of FF's strengths though, as a series. I also like the post-apocalyptic-lite tropical/exotic setting of FFX. XIII even had a good setting, though it was poorly conveyed.