Obscure Jrpg Titles

I've played a great deal of Jrpgs. I got into Anime style rpgs a while ago, and played the well known/somewhat known titles. Recently i've stumbled upon some weird titles i've never even heard of before. They were Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico and Atelier Iris.

Are there any other games that are not well known, or maybe even are but i've just missed them, that are similar to these games?

anything by Idea Factory is super obscure, and most time awful.

Lol, thanks, but try naming titles that are somewhat decent.

growlanser generations for the ps2 is one of the best packages i've played, giving you both growlanser II and III. the stories are okay but the battle system is where those games really shine.

A friend of mine really seemed to like Trinity Universe. Personally I really liked Lost Odyssey though its not very obscure.

I remember when I used to be able to say Shin Megami Tensei in forum threads like these. Not that I'm complaining or anything, its just a curious thought.

StarTropics?

Lol, i was going to note that i've played SMT games, but i didn't bother since it's well known these days.

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll check those games out.

anything by Idea Factory is super obscure, and most time awful.

growlanser generations for the ps2 is one of the best packages i've played, giving you both growlanser II and III. the stories are okay but the battle system is where those games really shine.

Try Okage:Shadow King. It's not as anime focused as Gust and NIS games are, but it's a very unique story with the usual turn-based combat that so few of us love still. To this day I've never come across anything similar to that game.

Thanks for all the suggestion guys, i'll check all of those games out.

Games by Sting are worth checking out, specifically  Riviera, Yggdra Union, and Knights in the Nightmare.  Also if you enjoyed Iris, the most recent game in the series is Atelier Rorona.

StarTropics?

Have you played Valkyria Chronicles yet?

If you're looking for obscure games, I dunno.

If you're actually looking for obscure titles, I would say Infinite Undiscovery takes the cake.

The Suikoden games are great games. You can find the first one on PSN for 6 bucks. The second one is the one I'd recommend, but it's mad expensive online. I can't say anything about the 3D ones since I've never played them. 
 
@Flappy said: 

@zus said:

growlanser generations for the ps2 is one of the best packages i've played, giving you both growlanser II and III. the stories are okay but the battle system is where those games really shine.

I cannot agree more.  It's unfortunate that we probably won't be seeing anymore Grownlanser titles over here, but this package is something that a JRPG lover should totally look out for.

Try Okage:Shadow King. It's not as anime focused as Gust and NIS games are, but it's a very unique story with the usual turn-based combat that so few of us love still. To this day I've never come across anything similar to that game.

For Growslanger Generations, do i have to play the first game in order to understand the storyline?

Not a JRPG, but Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Version 2012 is a goofy name.

Rogue Galaxy? Shadow Hearts: From the New World? 
 
Not sure how obscure they are but they're both pretty good in my opinion. Rogue Galaxy is a very interesting game to me because of how important potions are in the fighting system. There are no heal spells that I can recall and even the regular enemies do tons of damage, but the potions are ridiculously cheap. So half the time your chugging potions. It was such an interesting change of pace because I rarely rely on potions in other JRPG's. Also it has real time hack and slash game play rather than being turn based. 

Just to rattle off a few that haven't been mentioned yet: 
  
- Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (Persona 3 & 4 fans, take note of the artist)
- Odin Sphere (or practically anything VanillaWare) 
- I would say Breath of Fire is now officially "obscure".
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army AND Shin Megami Tensei : Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. Two obscure SMT mouthfuls-worth. Totally flew under the radar on the PS2's twilight (interesting story and setting, but, admittedly, not very good games). 
- Secret of Evermore (a rare and unusual US-developed Square RPG in the 90's) 
- Riviera: The Promised Land, Yggdra Union, Knights In Nightmare, and practically all of Sting Entertainment's repertoire. 
- All of Wild Arms, practically. 
- Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins 
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (I nominate this for 'silly subtitle' award)
- All of Square's SaGa games, (hopefully) ending with the bewildering Unlimited Saga. 

That's all the obscure JRPGs I can shake a stick at, from the top of my head, anyway.

You should try :   Hyperdimensions neptunia, trinity universe, cross edge, resonance of fate, record of agarest war, magna carta 2, arc rise fantasia, sakura wars, lunar SSS, Ragnarok,  shin megami tensei games,  the other atelier games,  disgaea, the tales of games and the star ocean games. 
I'm currently in a similar phase too :)   Looking for games by NIS helps and you should also try out the yakuza games just for its japanese flavor.

I am quite the obscure JRPG aficionado so I can help here. If you want great obscure JRPGs get .hack//GU vol 1 for ps2. It is a sci-fi action JRPG and a very good one at that with a phenomenal story and it's very fun leveling up. Or you can try Shadow Hearts also on ps2, which is more of a gothic turned based JRPG. It has a pretty good story, but the concept is the most interesting. Now if you're only thinking ps3 this is a bit harder, but I can still help. Obscure JRPGs on ps3 would be Eternal Sonata, Hyperdimension Neptunia (not really obscure but not everyone knows about it), Cross Edge (talk about obscure ps3 JRPGs, this is as obscure as they come), Trinity Universe (It's kinda meh in my opinion but you might enjoy it), Disgaea 4 (not really an obscure franchise at all, but it can be to some people), Folklore (not really a JRPG per-say, but it's awful close with it's art style and themes. Other than that you can try Dragon's Crown (which is more of a beat em' up JRPG combo), and last that I can think of is White Knight Chronicles (which sucks to be honest, but you might like it (probably not)). Those are just ps3 and ps2. There are a lot more on ps2, like Rogue Galaxy, Star Ocean Till the End of Time, Okage Shadow King, Atelier Iris, and Dark Cloud to name a few. On ps1 you have Koudelka, which is extremely obscure in my personal opinion, Valkyrie Profile, Threads of Fate, Vagrant Story, and many others. On SNES you have Secret of Evermore and on NES you have Startropics. On DS you have Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey, Luminous Arc, and Etrian Odyssey (which I think is becoming more popular). So there you go. I have many others, but you can just ask me if you are interested. RPGs are one of my favorite genres, so I tend to look up a lot of info on them.

It is the year 2014 and Idea Factory still ships hot garbage to the masses

I would say Neir for PS3, and Lost Odyssey for 360, which isn't obscure but I loved it. Also Koudelka, Shadow Hearts and Terranigma.

Idea Factory? The official Japanese designation is Idea Fuck.

What systems do you have access to? Here is a list of some good, underappreciated, JRPG's:

• Valkyrie Profile (PSP, PSX)
  • This one is a game that has grown on me over time. At first, I thought that the game wasn't traditional JRPG enough, but now I enjoy how progressive it was.
• Legend of Mana (PSX)
  • I enjoy this game for the same reason that I enjoyed Valkyrie Profile. This is still one of the most inventive takes on the ARPG genre. Its biggest crime was calling itself a "___ of Mana," game, when it was so different than Secret of Mana. Still one of the most beautiful 2D games that anyone has created.
• Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinstrals (SNES)
  • This might be the secret, best SNES rpg. It is your standard "Dragon Quest," style JRPG, but the dungeons are more puzzle than maze.
• Star Ocean II (PSX, PSP)
  • Another Tri-Ace game, and happens to be one of my favourite PSX JRPGS.
• The Shadow Hearts Series (PSX, PS2)
  • I really did not enjoy Koudelka and I only kinda enjoyed Shadow Hearts, but Shadow Hearts: Covenant is one of the best PS2 JRPGs.
• Grandia Series (PSX, PS2, DC, PC)
  • Grandia 1 is my favourite game in the series, but all three are worth playing. My biggest complaints with the series is the frequency of random battles. Normally this would be a dealbreaker for me, but this game has one of the best combat systems in a turn-based RPG.
• Gothic III (PC)
  • This is Dark Souls of open-world RPG's. I know it isn't a JRPG, but it is a good RPG and obscure.

Seiken Densetsu 3 is the sequel to Secret of Mana. It's a really good sequel with a cool weekday system and multiple playable characters (choosing which one affects the storyline in various ways, sort of like starting race in Dragon Age: Origins.) Live a Live is a cool one too, similar with a multiple characters thing but has all this time travel stuff that is not too different from Chrono Trigger.