Before this week, it had been many years since I played a JRPG. I think the last one I played was Blue Dragon on Xbox 360 back in 2007 or so, with the closest game since then being Dark Souls. Now, I'm nowhere near finished with Xenoblade but I'd like to get an idea of where I can go next in this genre, hopefully with a game that has somewhat similar combat.

I don't mind turn-based games, but I like having something to do in combat rather than just select my attack in a glorified rock, paper, scissors minigame. Xenoblade is a perfect example of this, while the combat isn't exactly twitch-based, there is still movement, positioning, and timing to keep me busy.

I don't own any consoles besides the 3DS anymore, so please keep your recommendations limited to the PC, or games that I can find physical copies of and rip to my PC to emulate them. This would include anything on the Wii, Gamecube, PS, and PS2. Could probably manage the older consoles as well. Speaking of 3DS, I already own Fire Emblem: Awakening and A Link Between Worlds, but I am saving those for when I'm away from home and it's taking me a long time to get through them. So please, no 3DS games for now.

Thanks!

Sorry I can't speak more definitively, but I always felt that Xenoblade and FFXII had a lot in common, at least in how the combat looked. I didn't play much of either, though, so I could be way off base!

First thing that springs to mind is definitely FFXII. The combat in that game is similar on a lot of levels to what's in Xenoblade, but FFXII's systems are a bit deeper. I absolutely love both games.

FFXII (PS2) is pretty similar, although that's more "Set up character AI and occasionally select actions from a menu". You move around the world and into battles seamlessly, get close to enemies to auto-attack with basic sword slashes etc. You have spells that you can set up to auto cast (if a character has >300HP, cast Cure, etc), but you can also select them from a menu at any time. You can pause whenever you want and queue up commands, an you can switch to your other active party members whenever you want.

Characters are pretty average, but Balthier is a classy guy. The story is mostly political and kind of drags at points, but it's serviceable. Mind you, if the bland, one note characters and middling, badly paced story in Xenoblade weren't a problem for you, this shouldn't be a problem.

If you're interested, should pick up the Japanese "International Zodiac Edition", rip it, then find the English patch online.

I was going to suggest this. I *hated* FFXII when it came out, but for some reason the job system (hence the silly "International Zodiac Job System" subtitle) and the way that reworked the progression really did it for me, and I ended up loving it when I played through last year.

Paging @sparky_buzzsaw. Your expertise is requested in the Xenoblade Chronicles forum.

I'll definitely add FFXII. I liked the original, but patched with the Zodiac Job system it is a lot better. The thing here is that you're going to have to patch it as only the IZJS only released in Japan. This essentially means playing in PCSX2, though I'd always recommend that game in an emulator, it still looks quite good and playing it on a PS2 it looks like an aliased mess.

I'll also say that it has the best VO for a Final Fantasy game, it is downright palatable (and good sometimes), which is definitely something you cannot say for the other spoken FF titles.

Another title maybe might be the Last Story, the world isn't as expansive but it still remains fairly open (not as analogous to Xenoblade as FFXII). Emulating that game in Dolphin might take a powerful PC however. The story is niceish and it has what I'd consider the best VO of any JRPG.

@mb: Hmmm. There really weren't many JRPGs of that sort on the platforms you've mentioned, but try Rogue Galaxy and maaaaaybe Dark Cloud 2. As far as turn based games, these might be complete misfires and you might wind up hating them, but try Wild Arms 4, Front Mission 3 and 4, and maybe look into some of the more wuirky NISA games from that era like Phantom Brave and Soul Nomad. Someone will remember it, but there was also a couple of spiritual sequels to Koudelka on the PS2 that were super fascinating and had interesting gameplay mechanics.

• Parasite Eve
• Last Story