Support NeoGAF

[hououinkyouma00]

Before anyone reaches for their pitchforks, I said Jrpg, so that excludes games like Witcher 3.

No, and The Witcher sucks as well (story/lore only go so far).

Persona 4 Golden, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy 6 are the best JRPGs.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Absolutely not, and I say this as a huge JRPG fan and a huge Dreamcast fan.

 

[ethomaz]

There are tonnes of superior Japanese role-playing games, most of them created by Square in one form or another. Though I have to admit it's always had a cool title, 'Skies of Arcadia' or 'Vagrant Story'? I know which title I'd pick.

Vagrant Story is truly a gem.

 

[AlteredForms]

Vagrant Story is truly a gem.

I was talking about the titles of each game and not the game itself.

 

[Graciaus]

I found it very overrated. Decent game but doesn't hold up anymore.

 

[Xenon]

This thread reminded me that I still have a copy of this for the Dreamcast somewhere.

 

[STARSBarry]

Eternal Arcadia for me is the best JRPG. It never got a sequel which is criminal, however you have to look back at what was releasing at the time, in the same way people say FF7 is still the greatest JRPG, its taken in context of what was released at the time and heavily coloured by nostalgia. In that way it really was the greatest JRPG, one thing that really stood out for me is how the characters didn't feel like your standard JRPG fare, they where hopefull and positive but not because they where stupid, they understood what was at stake but believed they would make it through, because what other choice did they have?

Its a very close one for me, in specific areas Ar Tonelico 2 I feel is superior especially in music... but that open sky and the adventure itself... man if there was one game I wish I could have zapped from me memories to experience all over again it would be Eternal Arcadia. I still have Eternal Arcadia Limited Edition its one of my pride and joys.

 

[cireza]

I played it a bit when I was younger. Really slow, but I could see the appeal. It was also in 50hz, which I have sold and replaced by a 60hz NTSC version. You also played in 50hz SantaC ? Didn't that feel really slow?

50Hz doesn't mean that games are slower. I played the PAL version and don't remember that it was slow. I am guessing that it was optimized, as every single SEGA developped game since the Saturn days. No reason for this one not to be optimized...

 

[PhaseJump]

It's one of the last well written, upbeat traditional JRPGs with characters that develop and have personality. It has a lot of game play check list stuff to chase down. I've played it on DC and GC. I'm actually playing through Legends again right now.

It's better than a lot of games in the genre and it has pure blue skies Sega written all over it.

I would buy it again if it was remastered.

 

[Tschumi]

No... But i can see why you would say so. I don't know what other JRPGs you have completed in your time but maybe you'll get a bit more from certain other titles...

I wonder if you're not inadvertently just plugging Dreamcast..

 

[Y0ssarian]

Yes it is. I played it for the first time in 2019 so I had no nostalgia for it.

 

[mekes]

I had a Dreamcast but I never played this. I did sell my Dreamcast shortly after news broke about the consoles future. Perhaps that is why? I felt like I was buying all promising games up until that point.

 

[deathsaber]

It was definitely my best JRPG "at the time" experience I played- one of my fondest gaming memories. That said, while the game is dear in my heart, much of it hasn't aged well to today's conventions, so it won't win many "best of" rewards. Random battles (and too many of them, even in Gamecube version that reduced them a little), pretty "as basic as it comes" turn based battles, graphically will now wow no-one (looks like an early 3d game).

That said, I still love the turn based simplicity. LOVE the ship battles. Love that its just a fun game about characters wanting to go on an adventure (and that they sure do!) without being emotionally tortured, or gloomy edge-lords about it. Aika would bitch slap any edge lord in the crew! Yay, Aika!

Honestly Sega, while it would be a dream to get a sequel (real or spiritual), I'd be elated to just get a port playable on modern consoles as this piece of gaming history should be available to the masses to check out.

 

[Cao Cao]

It is my favorite JRPG so yes

 

[NT80]

I played a demo of this on the Dreamcast back then and it was the first time I'd ever seen turn based combat. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and never bothered with it. I really couldn't get over that.

 

[Elysion]

It's mostly standard jrpg stuff. What makes it stand out is the idea of exploring a world made up of floating islands with an airship. I've always wished other games did something similar – especially something like Final Fantasy, where airships always played a big part. FF12 would've been perfect for this, with its focus on sky pirates, aerial battles, and flying fortresses – it even had a floating continent! But instead the game took place almost entirely on the ground, and instead of airship traversal all we got was a menu screen.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

No, dumb question. Was it a good game? Yes.

On a side note, being a JRPG fan is fucking depressing. Is there any other genre where games that are 20-25 years old are considered the loftiest achievements of the genre that no modern game can hope to touch?

 

[SF Kosmo]

No, dumb question. Was it a good game? Yes.

On a side note, being a JRPG fan is fucking depressing. Is there any other genre where games that are 20-25 years old are considered the loftiest achievements of the genre that no modern game can hope to touch?

I think a lot of this is the story of the Japanese gaming market in general, which has increasingly out of step with the rest of the world since the start of the PS3/360 gen.

The gaming audience in Japan hasn't aged up the way the rest of the world has, and they have moved increasingly more toward handhelds. The focus on lower budget games has in turn meant a lot of devs have shrunk or not grown in the way western devs have and there's been a larger and larger culture gap in general.

There are still great JRPGs as ever but it's kind of back to where it was in the 16-bit days, a niche for the diehards.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I vote for Skyrim as the best JRPG ever.