Been hearing a lot about Xenoblade being the jrpg of this generation (started it, pretty rad), but man I do wish more jrpg fans would check out Legend of Heroes: Trials in the sky on psp.

Easily the best 'classic jrpg' of this generation with modern systems that pretty much reduces frustration to pretty much nothing. It might be the only jrpg that I haven't found anything worth complaining about.

- Plot is simple, almost episodic with a main story going on in the background. nothing Xenogears deep. More focused on the character growth. Superb localization makes the pretty high word count game, pretty enjoyable. Characters fit molds, but they do them well and nothing facepalm silly. It also does it at a pretty reasonable pace that helps you learn about the world rather than most games that go full speed at the beginning in which players are overwelmed with lore and what not.

- Simple combat system. It utilizes orbs that place on a grid (kinda like ff7). simple yet effective. Nothing is permanent so those can be rearranged whenever, and however. Monsters on the field and are easily avoidable. You get orbs early on that show them on the minimap and eventually allow you to 'phase' through them like nightwalker and avoid them all together.

- Best feature ever. An all purpose journal that you can popup with a short cut (triangle left I think). Got info on all the systems (different combinations of orbs leads to different spells, this book tells you pretty much all the spells in the game, no bullshit). All the abbreviations for stats and what they mean, detailed journal entries on all quests and objectives and what not and the usual monster book. Don't need to go to gamefaqs for a guide about the systems and what not. All rpgs need this.

- Exp curves all around. Game doesn't like grinding, so if level too high, exp is shit. If level is too low, exp is insane.

- If you 'game over', you can restart the battle right there. No restart from save bs.

- An toggle able option that allows you to 'ninja gaiden' a battle if you die. ie: lower the difficulty. Doesn't even taunt you about it!

- A truly engaging world. npcs have an insane amount of dialogue (localizing nightmare I'd imagine). Pretty much any 'event' that transpires leads to entirely new dialogue from all the npcs in town. Heck if you help out npc 'john' in town A, he might appear in town C and react to your help.

- Pretty much 95% of all the sidequests are on a bulletin board in each town. Some are kill miniboss quests, some are 'detective' style investigation quests. Good amount to help build the world. And easily accessible.

- Dungeons are surprisingly 'simple' in layout and with no random battles, no frustration.

If you enjoyed jrpgs in the past and are tired of all the bs that's going on this generation or so. I implore you to check this out. I can see why this series is the 'top rpg' in japan these days.

I'm only about 20 hours in but I'd have to agree with you thus far. It makes a big push in resolving the classic issues of the JRPG; something that no other studio really seems to want to tackle.

I agree completely.
 
Really the best thing about this game is that everything about is fun. I can't wait to play the rest of the games in the series.

@FancySoapsMan said:

I agree completely. Really the best thing about this game is that everything about is fun. I can't wait to play the rest of the games in the series.

Sadly it does seem that the chance of the other 2 being localize is pretty slim. These games have some of the longest scripts in games today and with vita around the corner, who knows =/

I agree with everything you said. It's been a while since i played a JRPG with this much personality. The ending is awesome.

Till you realise that the second part isn't translated yet...

While I agree completely about your positives (seriously, that combat toggle for easier battles after you die saved my ass once or twice, and I think every RPG should have it), I think the game is missing some big opportunities, especially in terms of fleshing out its distractions. There's a fishing guild you can't join. There's an abandoned house (even with a sign that says "easily convertable to a restaurant") that could have made for something fun and off the beaten path. There are a dozen moments when the story has moments that the player should have been able to interact with instead of just reading through. I really enjoyed the game thoroughly, but I hope that future games in the series take note of missed opportunities like these and make it possible to have a little bit more fun when I don't feel like questing.

@Sparky_Buzzsaw said:

While I agree completely about your positives (seriously, that combat toggle for easier battles after you die saved my ass once or twice, and I think every RPG should have it), I think the game is missing some big opportunities, especially in terms of fleshing out its distractions. There's a fishing guild you can't join. There's an abandoned house (even with a sign that says "easily convertable to a restaurant") that could have made for something fun and off the beaten path. There are a dozen moments when the story has moments that the player should have been able to interact with instead of just reading through. I really enjoyed the game thoroughly, but I hope that future games in the series take note of missed opportunities like these and make it possible to have a little bit more fun when I don't feel like questing.

haha yeah some parts could use more stuff, but that always has the potential of backfiring. Finding an enjoyable 'minigame'/'sidequest' in a jrpg is pretty rare for me, and it's more often than not, pretty damn frustrating. And when one of those are mandatory... Sometimes simple is the way to go. And you can tell this game didn't have the highest budget around, but it worked well with it's limitations which ended up being more 'story' than 'game', which is fine for me, but I guess it turned off some people, but at least the writing is great (XSEED did good ;P) and not stupid like Golden Sun.