The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Especially but not limited to pre-2000 titles
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Animusubi
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by Animusubi »

Yay! Suikoden II is on the list! I also enjoyed Final Fantasy IX, it's my favorite of the FF games.
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by llj »

Would you like me to regale you all with the story of how I once passed up Suikoden 2 for $20 only to see it reappear in the same game store for about $200 just 9 months later? :(

I think that day I had a choice between Dragon Quest 7 and Suikoden 2 for $20 and I picked DQ7. Now, I loved DQ7 but let's face it, it's not that hard to find DQ7 today for a reasonable price and it's not that rare. Story of my life--poor long-term decision making on my part. :x
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by llj »

So what about you guys? Having played 2 JRPGs back to back in the last 5 months has got me thinking about how I'd rank my faves. I won't include SJRPGs since they're more about maps tactics than adventure.

Top 5 in no particular order:

--Tales of Symphonia
--Lunar 1 (PS1)
--Persona 4
--Grandia
--Final Fantasy VI


After the top 5...

--Skies of Arcadia
--Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter
--Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
--Earthbound
--Phantasy Star 1

11-20:

--Chrono Trigger
--Final Fantasy IV
--Super Mario RPG
--Persona 3
--Dragon Quest VII
--Suikoden 1
--Suikoden 3
--Phantasy Star 4
--Xenogears
--Secret of Mana

21-25:

--Final Fantasy 9
--Xenosaga
--Radiata Stories
--Lunar 2 (Sega CD)
--Mana Khemia

TBD (AKA still languishing on my shelves after playing about 2 hours of each):

Dragon Quest 8
Xenosaga 2+3
Breath of Fire III
Valkyrie Profile 2
Rogue Galaxy
Final Fantasy V
Devil Summoner 2
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by greg »

Hmm... top 5 RPGs that I enjoyed the most (in no particular order):
Final Fantasy 6
Chrono Trigger
Grandia
Skies of Arcadia
Secret of Mana (if you discount action RPGs, then substitute this with Tales of Symphonia).

It usually takes me quite a while to complete RPGs, especially when I get stuck in a tricky spot. Even moreso now that I have a kid. I really enjoyed Grandia 2, Star Ocean 2, and Riviera as well. I have quite a backlog of JRPGs I have yet to play in my collection. I have a feeling I will really enjoy playing Radiant Historia and Growlanser too. I am ashamed to admit that I have no experience playing any Dragon Quest, Lunar, or Phantasy Star games yet. I own them, but have yet to play them. Well, I've played only a little bit of some DQ and Lunar games. I played some Lunar on the Saturn, and thought it was peculiar that you can just put the battles on automatic. I don't know if the original Sega CD version is like that. I DQ4-6 and 9 for my DS, and I have the Phantasy Star collection (1-3) on the GBA. I recently got the Genesis collection for the PSP in order to get PS 4.
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danth
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by danth »

Hands down favorites:
Lunar 1 & 2

Next favorites:
Secret of Mana
Earthbound
Chrono Trigger
Lufia*

Other RPGs I liked a lot:
Dragon Warrior 1 - 4
Robotrek*
FF 6 & 7
Breath of Fire
Alundra*

The ones marked with stars are under appreciated and should be played by all.
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llj
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by llj »

greg wrote:
It usually takes me quite a while to complete RPGs, especially when I get stuck in a tricky spot. Even moreso now that I have a kid. I really enjoyed Grandia 2, Star Ocean 2, and Riviera as well. I have quite a backlog of JRPGs I have yet to play in my collection. I have a feeling I will really enjoy playing Radiant Historia and Growlanser too. I am ashamed to admit that I have no experience playing any Dragon Quest, Lunar, or Phantasy Star games yet. I own them, but have yet to play them. Well, I've played only a little bit of some DQ and Lunar games. I played some Lunar on the Saturn, and thought it was peculiar that you can just put the battles on automatic. I don't know if the original Sega CD version is like that. I DQ4-6 and 9 for my DS, and I have the Phantasy Star collection (1-3) on the GBA. I recently got the Genesis collection for the PSP in order to get PS 4.
I've been playing them since I was 15 or 16. I hit a patch in my early college years where my social life went to shit and I blew through a dozen or so RPGs in one summer. Now I basically play through about 2 or 3 a year. To be honest, I'm astonished I've finished all these. There are also a lot I haven't got on my above list, too.

Yeah, Lunar does have some auto-set battle functions. I think a couple of other RPGs have them too. These are usually to offset the tedium of random battles against weaker enemies.

I haven't played Dragon Quest 1-6, though I do have DQ 3 on the GBC.
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by greg »

llj wrote:Yeah, Lunar does have some auto-set battle functions. I think a couple of other RPGs have them too. These are usually to offset the tedium of random battles against weaker enemies.
Eiyuu Densetsu (Legend of Heroes) 2: Dragon Slayer for the Super Famicom has an automatic battle system as well. (Incidentally, I have it also for the PC Engine CD but I've yet to play it on there. I imagine that auto battle system is present on the PCE version too.)

I actually miss my college days of zero social life, when I could play an RPG all afternoon or all night long. I would play Secret of Mana for hours on end until my SNES started making some funny colors. It was only that game that did that. On occasion I was able to play that game 2 player. It must be interesting to play it with 3 players.

Nowadays, I still have zero social life, but although my daughter enjoys watching me play video games, I have to watch out for my wife because she grows horns from her head whenever I play video games around our daughter. She is the ONLY one in her family who doesn't enjoy video games (her sister likes Famicom stuff and her mom owns a DS). It's okay if she watches Anpanman for an hour, but if she watches a video game for 15 minutes, somehow it is going to hurt her eyes and her brain. I swear...

ANYHOO, most of my RPG gaming is on my DS or PSP. Maybe I ought to get one of those smaller monitors with AV hookups like they have on Game Center CX and put it in my hobby room. I hate to admit defeat, but at least I could play games more in peace and quiet.
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by gaijinguy »

I just came here to say that I'd put the original MOTHER on there as well.
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by DKop »

greg wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2013 2:55 pm Here is a translation:

【外国人が選ぶ日本のRPGベスト25】 (Top 25 JRPGs chosen by foreigners)
1位:クロノトリガー (スクウェア) Chrono Trigger
2位:ペルソナ4 (アトラス) Persona 4
3位:ゼノブレイド (任天堂) Xenoblade
4位:ファイナルファンタジーVI (スクウェア) Final Fantasy 6
5位:ダークソウル (フロムソフトウェア) Dark Soul
6位:ファイナルファンタジーIX (スクウェア) Final Fantasy 9
7位:ファイナルファンタジーVII (スクウェア) Final Fantasy 7
8位:ファイナルファンタジータクティクス (スクウェア) Final Fantasy Tactics
9位:ファイナルファンタジーXII (スクウェア・エニックス) Final Fantasy XII
10位:ラストストーリー (任天堂) Last Story
11位:ゼノギアス (スクウェア) Xenogears
12位:MOTHER 2 (任天堂) (AKA Earthbound)
13位:すばらしきこのせかい (スクウェア・エニックス) Subarashiki Kono Sekai (aka The World Ends With You)
14位:MOTHER 3 (任天堂)
15位:ドラゴンクエストV (エニックス) Dragon Quest V
16位:ペルソナ3 (アトラス) Persona 3
17位:タクティクスオウガ (クエスト) Tactics Ogre
18位:ニーア ゲシュタルト (スクウェア・エニックス) Nier Gestalt (never heard of this one)
19位:ヴァルキリープロファイル (エニックス) Valkyrie Profile
20位:聖剣伝説II (スクウェア) Seiken Densestsu 2 (aka Secret of Mana)
21位:戦場のヴァルキュリア (セガ) Senjou no Valkyrie (aka Valkyria Chronicles)
22位:ファイナルファンタジーX (スクウェア) Final Fantasy X
23位:幻想水滸伝II (コナミ) Suikoden II
24位:ペーパーマリオRPG (任天堂) Paper Mario RPG
25位:真・女神転生III-NOCTURNE (アトラス) Shin Megami Tensei III

As for my opinion, any Final Fantasy after 7 sucks. I am glad to see 6 so high up in the ranking, though!
I've been on this site for HOW LONG and im now just seeing this thread haha.

I've played a bunch of Final Fantasy games but 7 is the only one i've beaten through to completion (and it took me many starts and stops throughout 20 years to finally commit to it). I've heard from many die hard FF fans that 6 is the superior game that should be adored more than 7, but 7 has a pop culture around it since it came out and it's never stopped. I started playing Final Fantasy 8 like....4 years ago on my PS Vita haha.

I started playing Lunar a couple of years ago and I need to get back in it and finish the game, since I have two strategy guides for the darn thing. Lunar 2 is in my retro game tub awaiting the day I can play that game. I have Chrono Trigger on the DS but never finished it. Still haven't finished playing a Persona game to date but maybe ill finish one of them at some point. There's more I need to finish but thats the extent of my list for now.
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Re: The Top 25 Japanese RPG's

Post by runesaint »

Hmm, of them I have played and beaten FFI (many times ) II (once?) III (three or four times?) IV (six or seven times?) V (maybe eight times?) VI (six or seven times?) VII (at least 4 times) VIII (at least 5 times) IX (none) X (none) XI (once. it is hard to beat an MMORPG, but after about a dozen years I did. whew) XII (none) XIII (None) etc.
I -have- but have not sat down to play IX, X, XII, WoFF.

Of the other games on that original top 25 list from ...a decade ago? wow, also played and beaten Chrono trigger a number of times, FF Tactics played but never beaten , and Valkyrie Profile(huh, it had... FOUR sequels? Never played any of those.. liked the original tho).
I probably should sit down and replay all the Final Fantasies from 1-X and XII and WoFF tho (and tactics if it ever comes out on Steam/PC)
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