The best JRPG you've ever played

So anyway, Im tired of seeing JRPGS being trashed on these forums. I want to know what the best JRPG all of you have ever played is. I expect a lot of Niers and such. I've got to go with a strange one, Mother 3. That game was amazing. Hands down it had the balls to do things that no other video game has done. It focused on issues of death and family relationships, was funny, and had a kick ass soundtrack to boot. I've never played a game quite like it. But I want to know what all of your favorites are, So do tell.

Not a fan of most JRPGs, but Persona 3 is one my all time favourite games, so I'm gonna go with that.

Suikoden 2. It has a fucking Iron Chef minigame.

Nocturne.

Demon's Souls.

Dragon Quest VIII

Persona 4!

This is now like the 100th thread I have said these two games: Xenogears and Final Fantasy VI. They are the best of the best. Better than Mother, better than Suikoden, better than Chrono Trigger, better than Persona, better than Dragon Quest, better than any Tales of game. I know this because I am just amazing like that (true story).

Seriously though, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Those opinions just happen to be wrong if they're anything but Xenogears and Final Fantasy VI. Ohh ho ho ho ho!

Have JRPGs been getting trashed on here lately? Seems like they've been quietly just goin' along doing their own thing while everyone rants and raves about ME3. Maybe I'm just missing these threads, but I would have imagined @Hailinel being more active in my friends feed if JRPGs were being attacked. :P

Suikoden 2, FF IX, Chrono Cross. Yeah, I'll go with these three.

I agree with Mother 3.

@hershelgeorgelives:

Of all time: I'd say Secret of Mana and Terranigma.

My favourite JRPG on the PS3 however would be Eternal Sonata.

Yay Earthbound! It's either that or FFVI, I think.

Front Mission 3. Though I suppose its not a "regular" jrpg. No whiny emo androgynous teens for one thing, just awesome adult characters in giant robots kicking the living shit out of each other in a game with one of the coolest stories ever that even had an alternate universe version on the same damn disc. Fucking hell Squares abandonment of the franchise still pisses me off, and 4 never even released here and 5 never got translated garrhhh.

I have a weird list.

Final Fantasy VIII, Super Mario RPG and I know a lot of people hated it, but The Legend of Dragoon.

Mother 3

Nocturne

Xenoblade

Panzer Dragoon Saga easily. Atmospheric and an awesome combat system. Story was great too.

Nocturne was pretty rad as well.

Now, I bet judging by my avatar, you're expecting me to say how much I love Persona 4 at the top of my lungs. I do think that's a pretty damn great game, and I've written my fair share of creepy threads as a result of that adoration, and that continues to be unwavering even if the severe merchandising of it all is really wearing me down. But that answer would be unoriginal and will probably be uttered by who knows how many old fans of the first Endurance Run.

So instead I'm going to be the one person who says Barkley, Shut Up and Jam Gaiden: Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley Saga. For a dumb freeware game that exists mostly as a joke sequel of both Barkley, Shut Up and Jam and the movie Space Jam, it is not only surprisingly playable (despite the perspective, the gameplay is more like Mario RPG and its ilk rather than other traditional JRPGS), but also humorously very well-written, taking itself just seriously enough for you to be in on it all. It's a short game, granted, but it's a great experience for what it is. And...

You can make the argument about whether it's a "true" JRPG since it was made by a Western team, but since a lot of it is so fundamentally riffing on how the SNES Final Fantasy games looked and played (among other games, naturally), I'd argue it's close enough. I'll just leave a video of the first portion of the game. Tracking down the download version should be easy enough without my help.

Terranigma, Contact, Xenoblade (still not done yet!), Chrono Trigger

a lot of the other safe-bet candidates I haven't played enough or at all yet but will do so soon (-ish)!

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls obviously, they are both amazing. Aside from those, the only JRPG I truly enjoyed was FFVII.

Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 9 and Secret of Mana

Persona 3, 4 and Xenoblade in recent years. I'm pretty much done with the genre now, though.

Persona 3 and 4 obviously, but if you're willing to count Nier as an RPG then I'd probably rank that above both those games.

earthbound, final fantasy VI and VII, and right now i'm playing through xenogears, a fantastic game that moves along faster than any jrpg i've ever played. chrono trig and mario rpg get very honourable mentions.

Mother 3.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant, for shizzle.

No love for Pokémon yet?
 
Also, Valkyria Chronicles is really really good.

Dark Cloud 2, if that counts as a RPG.

More recently I must say that Tales of Vesperia sits firmly on the throne.

Persona 3.

Persona 3 FES.

I've only played two. Demon's and Dark Souls. I think Demon's Souls is a tiny bit better overall than Dark Souls but it's close.

FFX, I refuse to give up my childhood RPG.

Persona 4 and FFVII are both up there though. I like most Jrpgs, but those 3 are the ones I wanted to spend a ridicolous amount of time in.

FUCK YOU RUBY WEAPON!

Persona 4, Chrono Trigger, Skies of Arcadia and Final Fantasy VII. Maybe Tales Of Symphonia.

I'm a sucker for the SNES games: Final Fantasy 3/6, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG...and wish that someone out there would make RPGs as accessible as those games.

...so someone please correct me and say someone in 2012 has made a JRPG as accessible as those.

Earthbound and FFVII. I know FFVII tends to be a little ridiculed for whatever reasons, but it was the first FF game I really got in to. Even though I was young enough to get into FFVI, I never really did. In fact, I never finished FFVI and I still regret that to this day. I still love earthbound to death though. I've heard good things about mother 3 as well.

Panzer Dragoon Saga is pretty goddamn awesome. It's like somebody turned Star Fox into an RPG that manages to kick the shit out of everything else on the market.

Final Fantasy IX, Lost Odyssey and if they count as a JRPG then the Pokemon games 

Final Fantasy IX and Dragon Quest VIII.

Final Fantasy VII, Resonance Of Fate, Persona 4. If you consider Demon's Souls a jrpg, then throw that in there too.

Chrono Trigger and Persona 4 are the first that come to my mind.

Star Ocean: Till The End of Time holds a special place in mine and my friends hearts. It's combat was just so good.

Xenoblade Chronicles

I really loved Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy VI in my SNES days. 
 
I haven't really played many JRPGs since then.

Persona 3, but growing up I absolutely loved the Golden Sun games. I replayed those over and over again and are still two of my most beloved games.

Persona 3.

if Nier counts than that, otherwise SMT3: Nocturne.

I loved Secret of Mana back in the day. But since then I've grown to hate JRPG's.

Chrono Trigger is my favorite.

Final Fantasy VII. Kefka has no real motivation other than just being crazy. The materia system is much better than the Esper one. There is more advancement and it is more complicated. After the floating continent, the flow of the story breaks completely.

Persona 4

I don't think anyone has mentioned Radiant Historia yet!

Chrono Trigger, Xenogears,FF7 and 8.

Probably Chrono Trigger