I've been living with a girl for about two years now. I own every current console, a DS, a 3DS and a gaming PC. She's had pretty much unlimited access to a good portion of the best new games out up-to and during that time and has tried a fair share of different games and genres. She's been pretty enthusiastic about it, but most of the stuff that I play doesn't seem to interest her. Overall she's gravitated toward the Wii. With the inexplicable exception of Warhammer 40k: Kill Team on 360, she's mostly enjoyed relatively casual stuff that she bought herself (Animal Crossing, Rhythm Heaven Fever, Kirby's Epic Yarn, etc). Even then, she hasn't really played those that much. In fact, I've played more of Kirby than she has.
Recently, however, she picked up a copy of The Last Story that had been sitting on my self since I had picked it up more or less accidentally from Amazon and kept it as a lark. I hadn't touched it myself yet, but she was drawn to it, and it's actually got its hooks in her. She said she once played her brother's copy of Persona 4 on the sly for a while, back in 2008 or 2009, and enjoyed the turn-based combat in that, too, but stopped playing shortly afterwards because it wasn't her game or system. So, it's pretty clear that she likes JRPGs and doesn't have a preference for real-time or turn-based combat. It's actually no surprise, as she really enjoys manga and anime, but she's never had access to the genre up until now because I just don't play JRPGs at all. Hell, I haven't really played a new JRPG since Final Fantasy IX first came out. I certainly know very, very little about the state of the genre today.
Right now, she's on track to beating a game for the first time in her life, and, if she wants to keep going, I'd like to get her some more JRPGs to check out. Granted, I'm already planning on picking up Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for myself when it comes out this month, and she will likely be all over that, too. Xenoblade Chronicles is a pretty obvious choice, but it's really hard to find short of paying way, way too much on Amazon or eBay. I don't have a Vita and can't afford one right now, otherwise Persona 4: the Golden would be a great choice. I don't have an early model PS3, either, so I can't just get the PS2 original Persona 4. I've been thinking about reintroducing her to Dragon Age: Origins, but she was really intimidated by it the last time I showed it to her.
Anyway, I'd like to know what you duders would recommend in terms of current-gen JRPGs that would be fairly accessible for folks new to the genre and/or relatively new to video games. Bonus points if you think they are similar to The Last Story or Persona 4. I think she digs the exploration of areas, story, and character interaction more than anything. She also doesn't mind a little melodrama (which she thinks is funny in small doses), but she did mention to me that she didn't like how much of wuss-bag the main character of The Last Story was early in the game.
tl; dnr: My girlfriend found out she likes JRPGs, and I know almost nothing about the current state of the genre. Aside from Ni No Kuni, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Persona 4, what are some JRPGs she could check out on current hardware?
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