I need a JRPG Recommendation Please!

@gokaired:

All I really remember is Turbo, and you'd have to make quite the case that he's the same dog in every game, or that they're all somehow genetically related. (Although on the subject of Quintet and dogs, Planet Laika's full of dogs, but I don't remember any of them being named Turbo. Way to drop the ball, guys.)

@video_game_king: Oh goodness not the the dog! :o (it would be cool if that was the case though)

There are a few characters from Gaia and Terranigma that directly reference the previous games, Metal Mantis from SB was a secret Boss on Gaia directly talks about the main protagonist from SB as "Blazer", there are a few other example but none that come to mind XD

According to this, it can be beaten in around 50-60 hours, slightly above what you want but not too much.

I got practically everything in the game and finished the extra ending (which involves beating a long extra dungeon) and it took me somewhere between 70 and 77 - I had to leave the game paused a few times but the hour counter kept going, so I'm not exactly sure how long I spent in the game. I also spent no small amount of time dicking around, just exploring and grinding for the sake of it (the game requires very little grinding but I really like the combat). After thinking, though, Digital Devil Saga (and its direct sequel, the two are related) seems more in line with what you wanted - it's a fair bit shorter, uses Nocturne's battle system, and has a bigger focus on a more concrete story. Nocturne's story is definitely good in that it gets you to think, but it has no particularly endearing characters or a really happy ending. You're in Nocturne's story to exercise your brain and challenge how you think things should be, not to make you care about the characters or world. Digital Devil Saga is closer to the latter.

I suddenly realized that nobody has mentioned Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Don't be turned off if you aren't big into Mario, that game kind of has its own take on the characters and universe, being a Squaresoft joint and all. It's relatively short, has a charming story, and does some fun things with the turn-based formula.

Yeah forgot about that. Usually you can easily get it on other ways if you know what I mean but legally is another topic sadly. Suikoden 1 is not a bad game But compared to Suikoden 2 almost anything is bad. Kotaku even wrote an article about the Suikoden 2 issue.

http://kotaku.com/its-time-for-konami-to-bring-suikoden-ii-to-psn-756789854

But on a Serious note if you really want to play a Suikoden game which should be much easier to get go for Suikoden 5. It is almost as good as Suikoden 2 in my opinion. On the gamestop site it costs 30$ pre owned which is totally worth it if you ask me.

As for new Games: Whatever you do: Buy Tales of Xillia in August for sure just to support JRPGs in the west. It is really a great JRPG. Worth every $. And it has a very nice feature because you can chose between 2 characters in the beginning which will change some of the events later on which makes it worth to play it 2 times because both are great characters and the rest of the party are fantastic too.

@melos: good point, Lets not forget Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Bowsers Inside Story are rather good and goofy.

Great list except for Valkyrie. Those games aren't really RPG's and they were sort of meh to me. Front Mission 3 is the best of it's series though and Vagrant Story is an excellent action RPG, criminally underrated both of them.

Persona 4 got me in the man tears quite a few times.

FF12 was definitely not a grind fest. I was underleveled for every tough boss/optional hunts/eidolons. WAAAAY more fun that way.

If you want to go this gen: Tales of Vesperia is without a doubt the best. Huge fan of the genre and nothing else even came close for me. I'd regret buying my 360 if it wasn't for Vesperia.

Persona 4 is the best JRPG of all time so I'd play that. If you have a PS3 I highly recommend Valkyria Chronicles, it is a tactical JRPG.

Tales of Symphonia (1+2) is really, really great. fun story, interesting characters, and a neat combat system.

I think the first Shadow Hearts game would give you what you want - it's got a great storyline, fun characters, a really different setting, and I finished it in 30 hours. The second game is longer. Kinda pricey used, but worth it (I got my used copy on Amazon for $25, which is more than I want to pay for a used game.) I'd also recommend Xenosaga if you like plot, but do be aware that it is cut-scene heavy. I think the first game took me 40-50 hours.

Yeah, Persona is awesome, but they are long. You basically play through an entire year. I haven't played the other Altus games yet - Nocturne looks good. I'm still playing PS2 JRPGs. Sigh... those were the good days. This gen has been tough on a j-rpg fan, but at least we have handhelds.

While not a Snes or PS2 era RPG i wholeheartedly recommend Legend of the Dragoon for the ps1. It has the best jrpg combat of all time, interesting story and characters, and some catchy music. If you haven't played it its only 6 bucks on psn

If you really want to play that you should wait for the HD release which will be released in the West in early 2014 with dual voices as well.

Dragon Quest 8

Earthbound, Grandia and Xenogears are some of my favourite games of all times. You can't go wrong sinking however many hours into any of those.

If you haven't played Chrono Trigger, and want to play Chrono Trigger. Play Chrono Trigger. It's a great game, and stands the test of time. (No pun intended)

If you want something with some quirk, I'd recommend Earthbound. It's about as long as Chrono Trigger (20-30 hours) and it's full of quirk and general weirdness.

Also:

Hold on let me check my drawer of old games...

Definitely Dragon Quest 8. The music in that game is kick ass. I would recommend all of the PS2 era MegaTen games (surprisingly, I never got into nocturne). I really liked the digital devil saga.

And to whoever said Super Mario RPG: LotSS... yes. YES.

Alrighty guys,

So I finally went out and bought a game, and the winner is . . . . . . . . Chrono Trigger. Honestly, that's just the type of game I'm in the mood for. I wanna say thanks to everyone for all of the recommendations, and for responding so quickly. I expected this thread to have like 5 posts, not 66! Rest assured, this thread is definitely bookmarked and I will be playing almost all of these games at one point. Don't think I've ignored your suggestion, from the Suikoden's, to the DQ's, to the SMT's, the other FF's, the Tales games and everything you've recommended--I'm gonna try them.

You guys have given me games for the next few years, and for that I say thank you and huzzah!

@bobgnarly: I kinda figured you had already played Chrono Trigger for some reason - but you chose very, very wisely.

Chrono trigger! I have it on my PSP but I only started it last week. Great game (at least so far) and a good choice!

GAH! NEED TO SUGGEST ONE MORE!

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean for the Gamecube.

It was one of my favorite RPGs of that era. It is from Monolith (Xenosaga + Xenoblade). It came on 2 GC disks, and I loved it for it (they're tiny! WHY!). It's battle system is pretty fast, it's story is memorable (to me, anyways), and more people need to try it out. It got a prequel years later that was a bit hard to find, but was OK. But the original is great. What else is your Wii doing, anyways?

Enjoy Chrono Trigger, it's pretty short (for an RPG) but great!

Not really a good choice in my opinion but as long you will buy Tales of Xillia everything will be forgotten^^

still hope you will enjoy it though.

If you want to continue the story of Final Fantasy X in the best way possible, there's no better game than Final Fantasy X-2, easily the greatest Final Fantasy to contain a massage minigame. Also perhaps one of the greatest unintentionally comedic games ever made.

I'll also echo anything Shin Megami Tensei/Suikoden related or FF XII.

CT is a good choice. It's not my favorite, but up there.

I'll +1 Terranigma and Vagrant Story suggestions as well. Both of them are great. I'll forever curse the day my idiot brother sols our Vagrant Story copy. I've since bought it again on PSN, but it's not quite the same as owning the box.

Ni No Kuni - sucks a pretty big dick. Terrible combat system and a 10% voice acted main story.

Tales of Graces f - is pretty good, man. Excellent combat system and a 100% voice acted main story goes a long way, even if it is pretty dry.

Tales of graces is pretty bad in comparison to other tales of games. The characters and the story is pretty terrible. Only thing that is good is the combat system but thats all. As for Ni no kuni. I must admit got bored after 12 hours it is just not my kind of game and story.