What Was Your First JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Games)?

I played "Dragon Warrior" before the first Final Fantasy but I played Zelda before both.

I suspect a lot of people in my age group it was probably Dagon Warrior though
 
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Persona 5 and I quickly realized that this whole anime stuff is not for me. The game is so slow. The dialog is so cringy and the combat is repetitive as fuck.

I get that the game is produced with lots of love and care and that it is probably fantastic if you are into this stuff. But as an almost 35-year-old dude who never consumed any of that stuff, it's just not working.

Same thing with the Final Fantasy 7 remake. The game looks fantastic. But I can´t stomach that dialogue and the waifu shit.


If you love that stuff, more power to you! Not shaming anybody. It´s just not my thing I guess.
 
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I wonder what ever became of those franchises.
 
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As a a kid my local movie rental place rented games. I rented either dragon quest or final fantasy for my nes don't remember which one exactly but I had no idea how to play it. A waste of money. Had to wait till next weekend to rent a different game.
 
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Dragon Warrior on NES. It was a totally unique experience for me as a kid, but I always loved the fantasy genre, so I was all in immediately. Plus, you gotta love that cover art.

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After that, for some reason I skipped Dragon Warrior II and IV, but I was completely obsessed with Dragon Warrior III. You could create your own party, and the world felt massive at the time.

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I bought this in 1996 when I was 15 years old. My first ever Jrpg. I've read so much about the genre and I was so excited to play this, because Suikoden was one of, if not the first, Japanese role playing game to release where I live. And the game was fantastic. I played through it so many times absolutely loving it. As you can see, I still got my copy. Now I'm waiting for the Switch double pack remaster that releases in 2023. Can't wait!
 
Dragon warrior but I didn't understand it and found it very hard. Wasn't until either chrono trigger or final fantasy 4 a few years later that I fell in love.
 
First: Final Fantasy

But the one that really got me into the genre and that I played all the way to the end was this:
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The GOAT
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Chrono Trigger really opened my eyes to what games could be. Up until that point I had mostly played platformers and a couple of fighting games but Chrono Trigger introduced me to the concept of more interesting worlds and stories and character progression in games. I liked the gameplay, the fights the exploration but and additional reason for wanting to play was actually seeing what would happen next, fights like Magus weren't just cool for their visuals or mechanics but because the story implications of the showdown made it all the more exciting

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My friend: "You have to play this game, it's weird as fuck. It's really good, I think? It's called Earthbound, I'll let you borrow it."
Me, a 10 year old about to have his entire taste in gaming revolutionized overnight: "Thanks, I'll check it out."
 
Dragon Warrior for me as well. I actually had no interest in the game seeing the commercials and ads and stuff. But my brother had said to me "Hey, that game looks really good, you should get it". So I did. And was immediately hooked on it and the genre.
 
This defined my childhood to be completely honest
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Theres also Zelda ALttP, but i dont consider zelda games as JRPG's as theyre mainly just action/adventure games
 
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Honestly don't remember. Maybe some of the first 3-4 Final Fantasy. But there's actually a chance that my very first was Final Fantasy VII.
 
Chrono Trigger emulated on my phone when I was 12 years old. I got very far into the game but unfortunately there was a section where I had to catch a rat or something and it required multiple inputs at once and my Android phone at the time didn't support multi touch so I was never able to get past that area. I haven't played the game since but I plan to return to it sooner or later.
 
Pokemon Yellow :)

and I am happy I only got into Pokémon with that version and didn't try earlier, because I think the super ugly sprites of Blue and Red + the lack of GBC support would have turned me off massively back then.

took them 3 tries to have the sprites look nice imo. first the Japanese Red+Green super ugly, to japanese Blue/western red+blue which were slightly better .. and finally Yellow which has really nice redesigns
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The Legend of Zelda on NES.

As for pure J-RPGs, Phantasy Star IV. A timeless masterpiece. Played Phantasy Star I and II later, both legendary games as well. Also Shining Force II, during that same period, then the first. The MegaDrive was such a fantastic system for us in France, we had so many great adventure and role playing games !
 
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Paper Mario on N64. It's what got me into the genre. Sublime game. The music to this day is some of the GOAT. Loved the partner mechanic to assist in battles, level them up, help Mario traverse through the world/ solve puzzles. And in general just give some superb world-building and giving personality to the Mario characters. The FP system, and having to decide whether to level up Mario's health, FP, or equip badges. An amazing attempt by IS and Nintendo to follow-up Square's Mario RPG with their own unique take on the genre. Just an amazing, seminal piece of software when Nintendo were at their best.

But TTYD and Lost Odyssey will always be my two all-time favorites. TTYD is just literally bigger and better classic Paper Mario in every way, in particular taking the battling system and some of the RPG mechanics to the next level, on top of some really excellent post-game/ endgame content. You can literally save the game after you save the world, and the game knows you beat the story, and there's all this great content to complete from there.

…And LO is self-evident. You just gotta play it if you love classic JRPGs and a great story.

Thank you for the chance to talk about 3 of the very best videogames ever made :)
 
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Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. I can't remember which was first. I believe I got Final fantasy on "clearance" as a kid the one day so I'll say that was second.
 
BouncyFrag said:
Loved this game!
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Gorgeous game! I love watching the animations and details. A bit challenging but fun. I'm planning on doing another playthrough soon.

My first exposure was FF1. My best friend from across the country(Minnesota-Cali at the time, now Nevada) would come spend the summer with his Dad. He'd always have the newest stuff, things I'd never heard of. Final Fantasy was such a deep and more strategic experience than most of what I'd seen at the time. Later on around 3rd to 4th grade I'd later play my first D&D game. The memories man. The first Jrpg I actually had and beat alone was Dragon Warrior. Learning the ins and outs of leveling, getting to new areas and grinding for exp and money for new gear, or finding it was new and going on that adventure was great. People poo poo classic fantasy adventure but I long for it.

After moving on from the NES I went Sega. Even today I look back very fondly of the art styles employed during that time frame. Bright vibrant gfx in places filled with fantastic species and creatures I wanted to visit. The SMS(a hand-me-down) was a great little beast, though the Genesis was where I really had my first bought and built up library. Shining Force will always be my fave on the system and in the franchise, but there are a lot of great titles. I'm currently playing through Shining Force CD on my Genesis Mini 2 and having a blast! Great party variety and a simple but endearing classic adventure to liberate a series of Islands and kingdoms from the clutches of evil.

I'll never forget seeing another friend's uncle's(poor guy worked like dog) Turbo Gfx 16 & CD add-on. Playing through Ys Books 1&2 was revolutionary. I love Jrpgs so much. Hell Japanese games in general. I used to love western games too but most of the spirit has since left or changed for the worse which is a shame as there was some real envelope pushing talent. My girlfriend isn't great at action based games, but loves rpgs and she prefers pretty ladies and femininity so she's always on some romp through another Jrpg regardless of the system lol. Currently getting her hooked on tabletop rpgs as well with my own homemade system.
 
Pretty sure for me it was Final Fantasy for NES. I vividly remember my friend saying something along the lines of "You tell the guys what to do and they do it, your the boss" Game was great.
 
First I remember playing was FFVII at a friends house. The first I actually bought myself was FFXII.

Actually, Pokemon Blue on friends Gameboy might have been my first.
 
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