Best JRPG of the current Generation?

So this generation has fallen flat on the JRPG front, save for a few gems and the DS library. What's your favorite JRPG that came out? Xbox, PS3, PC or otherwise?

Has to be Lost Odyssey for me! Great story telling and character development and a battlesystem that just invokes nostalgia in all the right places!

Despite how easy it was, I enjoyed every minute of eternal sonata. Just started tales of vesperia so I'll see how that goes

Final Fantasy XIII-2. I'm serious. I can't explain why, and I certainly can't justify liking it over some other great games, but it has been my favorite JRPG I have played this gen. I did everything in that game.

Resonance of Fate and Lost Odyssey. Ni no Kuni is out soon too.

@IBurningStar: It was that good? I tried it, but didnt really give it a solid chance before moving on to something else. Does the story pick up?

Definitely Lost Odyssey.

Honorable mentions go to Eternal Sonata and FFXIII.

Persona 4: Golden, mother scratchers! I don't care that it's technically from the last generation, it came out during this one, so shut up.

Unpopular opinion but I loved Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2. I'm really looking forward to Victory.

I'm not counting counting Persona 4: Golden because that is mostly a remake of a last generation game.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a pretty amazing game.

Lost Odyssey is a pretty emotional ride too, but it plays up those moments a bit too often.

Xenoblade

I've played Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, both Final Fantasy 13's and Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Out of those, I would give the nod to Tales.

Lost Odyssey and Persona 4

Unpopular opinion but I loved Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2.

I wanted to say Lost Odyssey so much. I love almost every aspect of that game except one thing: the random battles. I HATE random battles with a fiery passion and I personally feel they have no business being in any RPG in this day and age. They are what kept me from finishing that game and I so desperately wanted to see it through to the end.

So in its place I am going to go with Radiant Historia. Interesting characters, cool (if somewhat cliched) story, and a nice fresh take on the turn-based battle system.

But as Morningstar said above, Ni No Kuni is coming out soon and its definitely looking like a contender for best JRPG of this generation.

Radiant Historia on the DS was my favourite.

Xenoblade was amazing too and is the best I played on home consoles.

Valkyria Chronicles then Resonance of Fate for me. Granted, I've steered clear of JPRGs this gen as much of them have been complete anime bullshit but I really really liked the gameplay in those two games plus Valkyria Chronicles is a beautiful game.

Everyone should play Xenoblade and The Last Story. If you roll your eyes because those are Wii games I'll slap you because it's nonsense. They're both shining examples why JRPG as a sub-genre does a lot more than people say. If you complain about Japanese RPGs sucking this gen and have not played either of those, it's simply your fault, nobody else's.

Also, Contact is a seriously overlooked game.

@Petiew: It sounds like the game just might not be for you. For the most part I enjoyed the gameplay but it definitely did get boring and repetitive at times. I loved the game mostly for the story, character interactions, humor, and the animeness of it all.

LOST ODYSSEY

For Jansen.

And the fact there's a dumb power ballad in the middle.

@DeF said:

Everyone should play Xenoblade and The Last Story. If you roll your eyes because those are Wii games I'll slap you because it's nonsense. They're both shining examples why JRPG as a sub-genre does a lot more than people say. If you complain about Japanese RPGs sucking this gen and have not played either of those, it's simply your fault, nobody else's.

Also, Contact is a seriously overlooked game.

I keep hearing about Contact every so often, I need to track down a copy. And I played a few hours of The Last Story, was definitely interesting - need to get back to it at some point. I feel like the beginning of that game has some weird pacing issues; it starts off quickly with some battling, and then was a little uneven after that for a bit, I think that's why I quit playing. That sequence where you are running around the city away from guards seemed so out of place.

@Prismatic said:

Radiant Historia on the DS was my favourite.

Xenoblade was amazing too and is the best I played on home consoles.

Woo, someone else who played Radiant Historia!

That is definitely my number 1, followed by Xenoblade, then Resonance of Fate, then Lost Odyssey.

Sooooooo looking forward to Ni No Kuni next week. :D

Sounds like it might be Ni No Kuni.

I also very much enjoyed Lost Odyssey.

Definitely Xenoblade Chronicles, followed by Lost Odyssey. Also have high hopes for Ni no Kuni.

What I've played of Xenoblade Chronicles sure makes a strong case.

Seriously? Second page and no mention of Nier yet?

Lost Odyssey easily. It's the reason I got into JRPG's in the first place. I just love turned based battles.

Square really sucked this generation, FF XIII and it's sequels plus all the easily forgotten 360 exclusives it shit out.

I wish I could make a vote, but I have yet to play any. I got pretty much every game mentioned in this thread on my shelf still wrapped in plastic, but I have just never been able to get around to playing them. I have been wanting to play them forever, but other games kept coming out that pushed them to the sides and knowing that because of the long gameplay times I would need to commit myself to at least a week or two to play most of these turned me off. I think today will finally be the day I break down and jump into one of them. Just can't decide what one to start off on yet.

@SlasherMan: Seconded! NIER is nothing short of amazing!

Assuming DS and PSP count (and not counting Persona 4 Golden), my favorite was probably Radiant Historia. I also really loved Strange Journey, The World Ends With You, and while remakes, FFT: War of the Lions and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I tend to prefer my JRPGs on handhelds these days. Just got Xenoblade Chronicles so I'm sure that one will be up there too.

Lost Odyssey is the only reason that I'm kinda sad my 360 died me and I never replaced it.

Probably Eternal Sonata. As someone else said it was very easy but i loved the battle system and the game is still one of the best looking games ever made. Its gorgeous to look at. Superb Game!

@JHavoc: I personally found the button-mashy combat system for Eternal Sonata extremely off-putting. Or was I just playing it wrong?

I haven't finished it despite buying it over 3 years ago, but I really like Lost Odyssey. I'm on disc 4
 
I'm 70 hours into FFXIII, there is alot that I like about it but it's too damn long, I usually love when games are long but I'm in the middle of chapter 12 and the fights are so frustratingly difficult sometimes and the game feels like it's been going on forever, and I've had this game since release. I actually like the world and characters alot, even Vanille, the battle system is great, I love it, but it far too long to get interesting and the ending is just nonstop fighting
 
I have FFXIII-2 in my possesion, from what I've seen the gameplay and battle system is vastly improved, even if the story is worse. I wanna get to it now
 
Best fighting system is FFXIII, random encounters is a terrible concept

Probably Eternal Sonata for me.

I also really enjoyed Blue Dragon, a lot more than most it seems. Though it was probably too simple for most I'm not the hugest jRPG fan and Blue Dragon hit me with a real classic feel.

I was hoping it would be a hands-down victory for Ni No Kuni: WotWW but I dunno, the demo didn't really do it for me gameplay-wise.

@SlasherMan: Well you are meant to attack to build up your chain for special moves. There is certainly more strategy to it than mindless button mashing. Its not hugely in depth but i prefer it to going through a load of menus then watch it play out. That i find way more boring.

Eternal Sonata is the best for me because of its overwhelming Charm. Just ignore the lecture at the end of the game which is still baffling to me now as it was the first time i saw it

@SlasherMan said:

@JHavoc: I personally found the button-mashy combat system for Eternal Sonata extremely off-putting. Or was I just playing it wrong?

I tried playing that game about a year back and couldn't figure out the combat at all. I got up to the very first fight in some kind of sewer if I recall correctly, and couldn't beat it. I banged my head against the wall for a good hour and nothing I did could damage the guy and he was basically one shotting my guys. I just gave up after that. So I'm right there with ya in not enjoying the combat.

@BamurDeadd: Yeah, it does. I mean, it involves time travel so it is all kinds of silly, but it is good for what it is. The game has a memorable antagonist who has a solid motivation that isn't something dumb like "lol time kompression." It also helps that the heroes aren't constantly whining and being melodramatic. Noel and Serah both turned out to both be likable. The Pokemon creature collecting aspect is also neat and is just one of many small side activities you can do. I haven't really liked a Final Fantasy since IX. I mean, X was OK, but IX was the last one I put a lot of time into. So liking Final Fantasy again is kind of a big deal for me.

@crusader8463: My main problem with the combat system is the hand cramps the constant button mashing gave me! But it's been recommended enough here it seems that I'll probably just end up giving it another shot at some point. Perhaps you should too.

The right answer is Persona 4: Golden but if I'm not allowed that because it's technically an updated port of a previous generation game then I'll go with Tales of Vesperia.

I'll admit that I haven't played a lot of the ones mentioned in this thread though. Eternal Sonata is on my radar, I'll probably play it one day and I'm keeping me eye on Ni No Kuni although I'm not entirely sold on it yet. I don't have a Wii and no matter how cheap one might be now, I'm not buying one just to play Xenoblade and Last Story.

@SlasherMan: Eventually I will, but I have tried enough games with that style of combat that I think it's just something I'm never going to enjoy. I just don't care for that type of combat system. I play RPG's for the strategy of building a party/characters and being able to think my way through fights. I don't want to win because I smashed buttons faster then the AI. That just holds zero appeal to me and keeps me from enjoying the rest of the game.

It's kinda odd since I guess I haven't played any JRPGs this generation. This is odd since I do love those games but none of them have been widely well recieved so I don't know where to start. I would like to play one before the generation ends.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

I guess that might be cheating because it's a port of a 2004 game (it was only available in Japan back then though) but in my opinion it stands far above the rest.

I don't know about the best, but absolutely the worst was Final Fantasy XIII.

@Captain_Felafel said:

Persona 4: Golden, mother scratchers! I don't care that it's technically from the last generation, it came out during this one, so shut up.

@IBurningStar: Hmm.. Hearing you and other people being so praising of the game makes me want to jump back into it.. Currently playing ToGf on and off again though.. Have you played that one?

@BamurDeadd: It is on my to play list. Heard a lot of good things about that one.

The World Ends With You, The Last Remnant, Devil Survivor 1&2, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Strange Journey.

EDIT: I just remembered that Infinite Undiscovery was pretty fantastic as well.

@Nux said:

The Last Remnant,

That is a surprising pick. For me it would be Lost Odyssey. The World Ends With You, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, and Tales of Vesperia are also great.

Radiant historia is the best JRPG to come out in the last 10 years, and probably the following 10 years.

Nier is not a JRPG. It is an action game.

@SniperXan: I respectfully disagree entirely.

Magna Carta 2, is the worst JRPG of the generation.

FFXIII is quite well liked.

edit: owait! MC2 is korean. Had no idea.

Trials in the Sky. Hands down.

Loved Resonance of Faith because it reminded me so much of Valkyrie Profile 2. Eternal Sonata was also pretty good (and also somewhat similar to VP2).