What are the best/most accessible JRPGs for Nintendo Switch?

Woodchipper

Woodchipper

Member
JRPG newbie looking for advice here. The only one I own is Fire Emblem Three Houses, and while I like the style and atmosphere, I suddenly stopped playing it for whatever reason.

What other JRPGs would you recommend for someone who is just starting to appreciate the genre?
 
Grandia 1 is great, part of the HD collection, haven't played 2

FF7 is imo beginner friendly ish, not quite like Grandia though.
 
killatopak said:
DQXIS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think Dragon Quest checks both the quality and accessibility boxes. It's fun, content-rich, polished, has great characters and story, and looks surprisingly good on the Switch. Also, the gameplay is easy to grasp and if you feel like you're getting overwhelmed, you can always just grind levels off easy monsters to bring down the difficulty.

The Xenoblade games are excellent too, but have a steeper learning curve, so I don't know if I'd recommend them to someone who has never played a JRPG before
 
I recommend Ys 8 - Lacrimosa of Dana.

Graphics wise, it's pretty outdated looking & performance may not be as smooth as PS4 Pro or PC/Steam - but it's not too long (unless you go for completionist like I do) and it's got fast and engaging action battles, likeable bunch of characters with rather campy storyline - and you get to fight T-Rex. ;) Oh, also it's got great sound track too.

Others have mentioned DQXIS - and it's a very good one. It pretty much checks off everything that a typical JRPG in its purest form. Sometimes little too much so, but for me, it's not a bad thing. It's a long one though - but the feeling of achievement after that long journey is quite something.
 
I would also say DQXIS, the default difficulty is pretty easy, and once you get more confident you can use "Draconian" to customize your difficulty.
 
Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition

www.nintendo.com

Tales of Vesperia™: Definitive Edition for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Tales of Vesperia™: Definitive Edition and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com
(keep an eye out, this regularly goes on sale for $12.49 or less)

The game is a great introduction to JRPGs. Good cast of characters, fun action battle system, enjoyable plot, tons of anime tropes. The game isn't very difficult or frustrating, doesn't have huge difficulty spikes, and is pretty forgiving for JRPG newbies.
 
Xenoblade 2 also really good but really hard recommend to newcomers because there is lots of system in its combat and the game does really crappy job explaining its battle system to the player.

Even someone like me who plays lots of JRPG, got confused first time playing the game.
 
I've never really played JRPGs before in earnest (FF7 back in the day on PC but I was too young to understand it) until DQXIS and I love it, I played the "10 hour" demo for like 16 hours. I didn't find it overwhelming at all, the only overwhelming thing is my inability to NOT min-max everything before moving on but thats not the games fault.
 
Dragon Quest XI S.

Its an impressive work they did to Switch and the game is amazing and a whole package.
 
Caligula effect overdose is a good and fairly easy game. I played it on the ps4, but it's on pc and switch as well.
 
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, XII
Octopath Traveler
Child of Light
Dragon Quest XI
Dragons Quest Builders 1 and 2
Paper Mario The Origami King
Mario + Rabbids
Golf Story

(Yes, I know not all of these games were made in Japan. I'm listing games belonging to the same genre, regardless where they were made. Same reason I'm not listing Dark Souls here.)
 
Last edited:
Op, what is the story behind your avatar btw? I'm reluctant to make fun of it without knowing because I feel like its a picture of your son or something.
 
Last edited:
Mario + rabbids is an RPG ?
I thought it was like ghost recon 3DS in gameplay style ?
 
Last edited:
Captain Toad said:
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, X, XII
Octopath Traveler
Child of Light
Dragon Quest XI
Dragons Quest Builders 1 and 2
Paper Mario The Origami King
Mario + Rabbids
Golf Story

(Yes, I know not all of these games were made in Japan. I'm listing games belonging to the same genre, regardless where they were made. Same reason I'm not listing Dark Souls here.)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't really put Dragon Quest Builders, Paper Mario, and Mario + Rabids in the same genre as the others (maybe Golf Story too, no idea).

Paper Mario itself plays very differently from past titles and Mario + Rabbids plays out almost exactly like XCOM.
 
Monster Hunter Stories 2 also looks great from the Treehouse footage. Seems to have a really nice battle system that requires a bit of strategy, but remains accessible.
 
Punished Miku said:
Monster Hunter Stories 2 also looks great from the Treehouse footage. Seems to have a really nice battle system that requires a bit of strategy, but remains accessible.
Click to expand...
I had no interest in the title until they showed the combat. Glad they are having a demo for it soon too.
 
carlosrox said:
A Japanese RPG? Says nothing about what kind of game it is.

Suikoden is nothing like Pokemon. SMT is nothing like FF6.
Click to expand...
Sure each JRPG can play vastly different from each other same way not all SRPG play the same. "JRPG" just easier way to categorize of what type of game you are looking for, thats all.
 
Octopath Traveler and Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition are the two best JRPGs on Switch.

It concerns me that you put down Fire Emblem though, did you get to the second half of the game? (If you don't know, you didn't get to the second half.)
 
Last edited:
I'm stuck on Golf Story. I feel like such a failure. There's a part where you have to hit a really long drive to within a few feet of a hole multiple times and I can't manage it once.
 
Guileless said:
I'm stuck on Golf Story. I feel like such a failure. There's a part where you have to hit a really long drive to within a few feet of a hole multiple times and I can't manage it once.
Click to expand...
I was really into that game for a while and I think I got distracted and moved onto something else. That's crazy that it can get that difficult. Didn't expect that.

Looking forward to Mario Golf story mode though in a few days!
 
My recommendation : Valkyria Chronicles 4

81qN6GIaLoL._AC_SY445_.jpg


This is also a Tactical-RPG (like Fire Emblem) but battles are much more interesting and varied. It never gets repetitive/tedious.
 
Last edited:
cireza said:
My recommendation : Valkyria Chronicles 4

81qN6GIaLoL._AC_SY445_.jpg


This is also a Tactical-RPG (like Fire Emblem) but battles are much more interesting and varied. It never gets repetitive/tedious.
Click to expand...
Fantastic choice! My only issue with entire series is the ranking system, it doesn't reward strategic play, it only rewards speed, finishing the battle as little turn as possible.
 
Danjin44 said:
Fantastic choice! My only issue with entire series is the ranking system, it doesn't reward strategic play, it only rewards speed, finishing the battle as little turn as possible.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Achieving this does require some thinking and strategy though, but not the one you would like to see.

The game is also very well optimized for Switch.
 
cireza said:
Indeed. Achieving this does require some thinking and strategy though, but not the one you would like to see.

The game is also very well optimized for Switch.
Click to expand...
I get why they decided to do this, it prevents people from playing too safe and forces you take risks, but there must be better way encourage this than what they came up with.
 
Last edited:
Danjin44 said:
I get why they decided to do this, it prevents people from playing too safe and forces you take risks, but there must be better way encourage this than what they came up with.
Click to expand...
Not the best. But they mitigated the problem to some extent in VC4, as there are other objectives that bring points that count for the rank outside of pure speed. It still does not count as much as it should.

A better system would combine :
Get the best rank by finishing in 3 turns
Get the best rank by finishing in 4 or 5 turns, only if you destroy some key enemies in the process
 
Solid thread OP, im in the same boat being mostly new to JRPGs

The Dragon Quest games have been showing up in a lot of these type of threads, some even will say they're the greatest franchise in the genre. And apparently, these are the highly acclaimed Dragon Quest games

Superb: V, XI, III, VIII

Really Good: IX, IV, VII




DQ
 
FF VII/VIII and IX are on sale right now. Buy them and play them in order.

Buy DQ I and III on sale next time too, only play II if you want to because I can't recommend it to a newcomer. It's not a good game.
 
Danjin44 said:
Fantastic choice! My only issue with entire series is the ranking system, it doesn't reward strategic play, it only rewards speed, finishing the battle as little turn as possible.
Click to expand...

Ah so the sequel also suffers from "tanks? Alicia is my tank" gameplay.

Valkyria Chronicles (the first) is also for sale on switch. Great story, lovable cast of army rejects, enjoyable system of unlocking their skills. I found FE3H to be paralyzing with its social stuff and choices in a way that I never felt with VC. I really loved it!
 
Well pokemon sword practically plays itself. It is shit though and nobody should play it.

The SMT3 nocturne HD remaster is the best rpg on the system, but not very accessible.
 
Woodchipper said:
JRPG newbie looking for advice here. The only one I own is Fire Emblem Three Houses, and while I like the style and atmosphere, I suddenly stopped playing it for whatever reason.

What other JRPGs would you recommend for someone who is just starting to appreciate the genre?
Click to expand...

Isn't Final Fantasy 9 or 10 on there? How about 6?

I whole heartedly recommend those

10 is a bit more involved due to its skill tree, but nothing that should intimidate ya. People play these as kids, I know I did
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

NIS America: a Game-Key Card on the Nintendo Switch 2 is the most beneficial option for our customers
2 3
109
158
Effigenius replied
The 25 Best JRPGs of All Time - IGN
2 3 4 5
246
4K
DelireMan7 replied
What is it about Nintendo that you appreciate the most?
2
66
1K
Ribi replied
Is Hogwarts Legacy for $27.99 on the Nintendo Switch 2 the best game to get for launch?
Deals 
32
1K
dottme replied
Mii characters are genderless on Nintendo Switch 2
2 3 4
167
1K
Boss Man replied
Top Bottom