Like this page and what I do here? Consider supporting me on patreon! www.patreon.com/davidvinc [0:30] - 1) Character Interaction [1:57] - 2) Humor [3:28] - 3) Progression System [5:06] - 4) Plot Twists and Great Storylines [7:05] - 5) Meaningful Sidequests [8:51] - 6) More Bang for your Buck [10:37] - 7) Sense of Exploration

When Chrono died I was speechless. I couldn't believe a game would kill off the main character back then. One of the best twists ever. I also thought it was so co that you could recruit Magus.

I'd add beautiful soundtracks. Golden sun, final fantasy, kingdom hearts, mother, tales of... Just so much beautiful and brilliant music!!

I miss instruction manuals coming with games. makes collecting feel more complete

I miss world maps.

I would totally include music because I feel like JRPG music is nothing like other video game music. Between its battle themes and relaxing town music. I can put on a playlist of rpg music on my phone like it's any other music. But I also didn't realize humor until you mentioned it because I didn't play anything that made me personally laugh until I played Tales of Xillia 2 with Rollo and every interface cutscene had me dying.

Completely agree about side-quests. I'm tired of stuff existing just to lengthen the playtime that they can market. I'm perfectly fine playing a nice tight 30ish hour RPG that has meaningful side-quests.

The Dragon Quest creators are clearly fans of puns going by the monster names alone. And then Maella Abbey's library is basically exclusively crappy joke books. Made me feel even worse when the Abbot was killed. "A man walks into a bar. Ouch!!!"

My favorite thing about RPGs is equipment. I like upgrades, downgrades, sidegrades, accessories, relics, etc. I love being able to customize my setup even within the same set of characters. I love stat trade-off pieces. I love weapons that do specialized damage. Equipment that can be used as items in battle, either once or infinitely. Wide gear assortments are the best!

I am in complete agreement with every single item on this list, these are among my favorite things about RPGs! But of course, I have a few of my own that I wanna add: •Animated Opening: I know this may be a weird one, but I love turning on a game and starting it up with an animated opening movie (especially if it's got a catchy song with it). It just gets me so hyped for everything I get to look forward to! •Rivals/Enemies Joining Your Party: Characters like Zeke in Xenoblade 2 or Babus in Final Fantasy Tactics that menace or outright antagonize your party joining later has always been a favorite trope of mine, especially when you come together to fight a bigger threat. •Second World Map: One of my favorite twists, feeling like "oh, I've explored everything, this fight must be the final boss!" Only to find a whole new world of towns, dungeons and adventure!

I'll always respect you for giving FFV some of the love it DESERVES

the sense of exploration--yes! I remember how me and my neighbor accidentally stumbled upon that island in ff6 where that worm sucks you in and it's such a strange environment. the good ol' days of no internet and self-discovery in rpgs!!!

I really agree with the progression being what makes a rpg fun

Phantasy Star 4 on Genesis had the talk option where the characters could banter about the current plot in the storyline.

Xenoblade is basically just the pinnacle of RPGs, the maps are amazing with little secrets, many of which have beautiful vistas as a bonus in addition to the items or boss monster. You are gated by tough monsters, but with enough diligence you can learn about their senses and sneak around them to get really good treasure and item farming points. And it subverts generic quests because technically some of them are just "get 5 of ---- item" or "kill 3 -----", but they are either paired with a little side story or lore reasons (or for Xenoblade X are just clearly separated, optional and exist solely as an option to grind armor, exp and money if you would otherwise have softlocked yourself)

The plot twist in Star Ocean til the end of time left me with my jaw dropped.

What I love about your videos is how many examples you give of what you're talking about and how varied all the games you bring up. It's so well done. And you have a good day too!

David, I just want to say that your JRPG videos are my absolute favorite to watch on KZfaq. I don't comment on videos I watch very often, but I wanted to take the time to let you know that I do really enjoy the videos you make for us and appreciate the hard work you put into making them.

That Shadow Hearts Covenant hits so many of these points is one of the reasons I love it so much. The response of the party to a wizard threatening to throw them into Hell? Try to figure out how he's levitating, decide it's the pillow he's sitting on, and ask him where they can get one. Each of the characters gets at least one side quest that gives them their ultimate weapon and also ties up their individual character arc.

The content you put out continues to be really great quality, thanks David!

When you’re an adult “time” is a more valuable resource than “money” therefore bang for your buck is not as appealing bang for your time. A game is not worth playing just cuz it’s cheap or free.

You covered it so well that I'm struggling to find more virtues: 1) trope subversions and plot twists 2) well made battle systems (i.e.: elemental weaknesses and status effects) 3) multiple endings and/or morality routes 4) well rewarded mini games (I'm right there with you regarding mandatory mini games) 5) relatable characters and themes like racism, mental health, etc.,as well as representation 6) party members with unique play styles (ie: mage versus brawler) 7) balanced experience systems (to encourage swapping out party members)

One of my favorite thing about JRPG is exploring a new town and talking to the NPCs in it.

Yeah David I pretty much agree on all points! I started off falling in love with Zelda on the Nintendo and then I recall the first time I played an actual RPG and realized how much more expansive it was I never looked back. During the playstation 1 era there was this explosion of great RPGs and I remember just going to Best Buy and buying one at random without reservations. It's sad to me that the more recent rpgs seem mostly low quality other than a few high profile series like DQ. My friend was trying some at random on PS Now and almost all of them are samey lolita harem games that make you feel embarrassed for playing them. I guess they are laser-targeting that demographic. I miss the days when you could just randomly pick up a gem like Thousand Arms or something like that.

Just found ur channel n am binging it while stuck at home. Thoroughly enjoying ur content

I hope you keep doing this. Love seeing the different types, and your top 10. I’m a huge rpg collector and many you’ve shown I haven’t heard of before.

Great video. I wish you didnt mention all those spoilers in so much details though, cause wanna hear you talk about the plot twists and what they add to a game but without actual spoilers (luckily i already played those games). Would suck to skip that whole section just cause of spoilers. Agree with all your points, the best rpgs have these virtues!

I'm of a similar generation who was around for the NES and SMS generation. During the 16 and 32 bit eras, no genre shot ahead in quality as much as RPGs, eventually other genres would catch up, but the real cutting edge was that genre. Other genres that did fairly well were platformers and fighters (at first) - I think the fighting genre slowed down after Killer Instinct and peaked at the first Soul Caliber, similarly, the Platformer genre continued to grow, but stopped growing quickly after Banjo Kazooie or so. RPGs kept skyrocketing right into the PS2 era, and by that point they were so far ahead that everything else was copying them just to try to keep up. But admittedly, after Skies of Arcadia and Final Fantasy X, the genre began to slow down.

It’s nice to see someone mention Arc Rise Fantasia! That plot twist was intense, and the entire story was spot on too. One of my favorite games of all time. But yeah the best plot twists seem to come from the trails series... 🙂

Still really sad that the skit in Tales of the Abyss have no english voice. 😢

One really great thing that EarthBound did that I haven’t seen anywhere else (except Chrono Trigger, but that was much different) was making one field enemy equal to one battle enemy, where when you approach one enemy, you fight only that enemy, unless more enemies run over to the fight. This makes it where if you’re lucky, some enemies won’t make it over in time, and the fight will start without them.

Tales of Bestaria does have sidequests there is a big one for each playable character and not only goes deeper into the backstories of the character but it unlocks their alternative costume color.

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I actually like the idea of limited inventory space. It forces you to plan ahead and figure out which items you need, while making selling or storing unnecessary ones a viable option. Plus it seems more realistic than an infinite inventory, because we ourselves can’t carry an unlimited number of objects at once. Now this isn’t to be confused with item limits, which prevents you from buying more than x number of one particular thing. Secret of Mana is the most annoying example of this, because you can only carry 4 of any specific item, as opposed to only being limited by the number of slots in your inventory.

Excellent, well thought out video. Perfect list!

Appreciate the background music! I’m also one of the other three people to play arc rise Fantasia !

Long story short, what I love the most in J-RPG is the narrative medium. Not only in storytelling and dialogues, it's important of course, but also by connecting plot and gameplay. That's a lot of work for the devs, but so sweet to play and focus when it is well done. The video is great ! =)

There were side quests in Tales of Berseria. Just very few of them. The whole Videl's questline was optional, and most party members had optional side quests of their own (Eleanor's was to kill the demon responsible for her mother's death, for example).

I miss the world map in most RPG. Nino Kuni still has a world map but it is kind of limited.

Tales of Berseria had side quests for all of the characters in the game, they also put the different monster islands, boat exploration, etc

Dragon Quest 9 did side quests well. Many of them did give more info on NPCs, such as Erinn, Sellma, and the ghost girl who leads you to the end boss. Sadly, since Nintendo stopped internet service for the Nintendo DS, these quests are no longer accessible without an action replay device. I do hope for a remake of that one, too.

Love the casual Jansen from Lost Odyssey ref. This channel rules.

Amazing video. I totally agree with all points. Clearly a work of pure passion.

I'm all about the characters. I love RPGs that allow me to get to truly know them and see their unique personalities. If I feel invested in the crew I've got, I'm gonna love the game. Humor adds to that for me. I also like meaningful sidequests but I dont like mini games. However I love fishing in any form in an RPG. If their size fishing quest in an RPG, im gonna consider it heavenly. I love leveling systems that give me input into how the characters develop. I too love world maps and am sad that I've become numb to interconnected zones and point and click. I also enjoy RPGs with romance sims but only if they are diverse and actually effect the story. I hate when you get max love with someone and then the plot completely disregards it.

The main thing that got me into RPGs was the lack of fake difficulty. Most older games have about 30 minutes of actual content, but you have to keep playing certain sections of the game in order to figure out how to beat it, due to overly difficult jumps or annoying enemies. RPGs don't have to pad out the length with that crap.

Honestly, the most mind breaking twist I've seen in a game is the true meaning of the intro to Trails from Zero.

Character interaction - Baldur's gate needed a shout out there.

What I love is that every game has at least one memorable track.

Woah woah... "Star ocean saw this.." Skits in Tales First showed in Tales of Destiny, Star Ocean on SNES had the Private Actions, and to top it off. Star Ocean was actually made by the same team that made Tales of Phantasia, but broke off from Namco and telenet and formed Tri-Ace after the release of Tales of Phantasia. But yes, I do agree with many of the points made here, things I wish there were more of, like World map exploration. Few RPGs have it now.

I think another important thing about RPG's is how to handle difficult subject matters, because simply saving the world isn't enough, and I know you touched on this a bit with your Character interactions, Side Quest, Storylines and Plot Twist points, but I think what makes a story work isn't by just sticking to the whole "Save the World from the Evil Overlord plot" that's a staple in many games. But how to handle certain sensitivities that can make or break the experience depending on how well the story's written and if the matters are handled with tact, respect, and grace. I want JRPG's to take risks and explore more mature subject matters, like Nier Automata with its exploration of things like sexuality, depression, and all other stuff, like the Crossbell games tackling political issues. Not every JRPG is gonna talk about these things and that's totally fine, but I think that'll help make the ones that do explore hard to talk subjects stand out more.

Tales of Berseria had side quests. The Katz chests, each main character had a backstory side quest, the white turtle stuff with the dolls and letters, the secret battles with Jude and Milla. I suppose it isn't a lot, but the main character quests are pretty side tracking as it is.

I like it when RPGs give you a pointer of where to go to progress the story, or when they are uncryptic with places you have to go to make progress.

I played Western RPGs first, so I've enjoyed choice & consequence the most. They are there in some JRPGs, eg relationship systems in P5, alternate endings, perhaps some more.

Dragon Quest VII (or Dragon Warrior VII as its first localization was called) on the PS1 had probably the most extensive party chat of all; not only would characters react to every NPC, but you could also talk to your party in battle.

I dunno if you've played them, but the Baiten Kaitos games have some amazing plot twists. Some of favorite in any video game.

I'm stuck up and better than everyone.......yet I love your content dave!

I’ve given you a sub after the FF16 trailer. Keep talking about RPGs man! All I want is some old school style RPGs for the rest of my liiiiiife!

I really had not properly looked back at the changes of interaction in JRPGs. When I played FF1 and much of the Dragon Warrior series up to number 4 things were very basic. There wasn't so much banter and deep convo at all. At the time I played those games though it was very common for it to be what it was so I didn't know any better on what an improvement of relatability there would be when games started moving the needle through interactivity, conversation and meaningful emotion. I think that when FF7 came out people had not gotten into enough in the RPG world to prepare them for the depth of what so many felt when Aeris was killed by Sephiroth. I would wonder if our reaction to that would have been much more muted had games before FF7 been more advanced than they were. Your description of Chrono Trigger's impact on you is much like what I experienced with it. Everything was so intertwined and meant something. I know people have stated the music in that game is amazing but at the risk of overstating it I will say that it has my No.1 favorite JRPG soundtrack followed by the amazing score from Final Fantasy 4 for all-time personal favorites. What I'm getting at is the music made everything feel even MORE connected and impactful while the game was fun and beautiful to look at and frankly still is. Overtly I think 2 games that understood in production that these virtues were important were Persona 4 and Persona 5. Both have amazing character interaction, surprisingly entertaining humor, a progression system that is fun and interesting, meaningful plot twists and purposeful story lines, many many side-quests, extended fun game play packed in and plenty of places to discover (maybe lacking in world maps but still). These games may not be for everyone, but to me they are wonderful Turn-Based RPGs and back the points you make here. Thanks David!!

Bring back world maps!!! It gives a sense of scale that is impossible using "realistic scaling". Plus, it adds so many opportunities for secrets and I always loved the sense of dread walking in the wrong place and finding an OP enemy. And look at how many older games used it as story medium. Both FF5 and FF6 heavily rely on it for gameplay and story!

I finally found Arc Rise Fantasia but haven’t got around to it yet...the backlog is real.

Personally my virtues of JRPGs are 1: Medieval fantasy with the feeling of a fairy tale. Fantasy's always been my go to for RPGs, especially feudal and medieval eras. Cliche yes, but it's there for a reason. 2: Of course, character interactions. No need to explain this. How party members play off each other is very vital to making or breaking a JRPG 3: clear cut romances. Yeah, we can all have our waifu dating sims, and I play Persona, so I'm guilty of this as well, but knowing what will happen, and wanting to see the protagonist get together with the girl is always more engaging. I miss those RPGs where we know the main hero will say "I love you" to his girlfriend. Especially when they finally show it by sharing their kiss. 4: Bright and colorful worlds. I'm a kid at heart, so I do love it when the world has so much vibrancy and color. Dull and dreary palettes drag certain areas down. 5: Dungeons. What's an RPG without dungeons to test the adventurers as they continue on their journey? Dungeons can be used as means to teach both kids and adults how to utilize their party members throughout the adventure 6: Protagonists that talk. Honestly, silent protagonists can help with the western side of RPGs, but JRPGs, I want my protagonist to have their own personality, and motivation for going on their grand quest. Sure we can all have our power fantasies, but isn't it better to have a protagonist with their own personal reasons for going on their adventure instead of a mute who's just there to be an empty husk for the players? I think so. 7: Music. Music always helps to set the mood for certain set pieces in a story. There can be somber melodies, for the dramatic backstories, and the heroes' low points, adventurous to get that feeling of leaving your humble village to set out on your journey and gathering allies, and of course battle music for the various fights as you progress. I especially love it when JRPGs have vocal songs, because they're perfect at setting the mood for the beginning of the story, and the conclusion.

Replay value in the sense of multiple ways to play. As such, Mana Khemia 2 is still one of my favorites of all time. Since unlike the first game where you had to actually play the same story twice to get into the extra dungeon, the 2nd game has 1 of 2 groups to play as. Both follow the same timeline and maps, but has vastly different character interactions and actually seeing the story from the other side was very interesting. I think Hexyz Force does something similar too, but i never got around to playing it, despite owning it on PSP ~.~

This makes me wanna start working on my RPG Maker game again. If only I wasn't inept at coding, lol.

7:06 if you wanna skip #4 spoilers

That Gilgamesh theme in the background tho. ❤️❤️

No new game plus on Saga Frontier, but it does touch on everything else you pointed out. Saga Frontier is a ps1 game.

I really did like Graces f's title system. Really gave a big incentive to get them all.

Impressive Video I liked and agreed with these points in their entirety.

So idk if it would count as a "virtue", necessarily, but something I've liked is when games do foreshadowing juuuust right. Drop hints that are not too obtuse and when it comes time for the reveal, a crafty player can say, "Yeah I see how this happens" without the game being like "This is how this happens." Case in point: FF13. Pretty bad game overall for reasons, but I remember a dialogue between Sazh and Vanille where Sazh was going over what the Primarch or whatever was, Vanille seems clueless, Sazh asks her if she slept through history (class) as a joke, and Vanille jokingly agrees. Then you find out that yes, she *did* literally sleep through history, and not in the way a first-time player may have interpreted it. And the best part? The game doesn't shove it down your throat or have a flashback to her saying that. It's just a thing you pick up on. Just stuff like that.

Mannnn, you just get me when it comes to what makes an rpg great.

You have a good day too buddy!

I really like the small touch in Tales of Smyphonia Dawn of the New World, every dog has the name Collette gave them. Regarding character customization you brought up Tales of Graces F, I would add Tales of Hearts R, setting up the Soma and skill abilities to turn Beryl and Kohaku into melee fighters is extremely satisfying. They're the two weakest physically but equip them with a Soma with high attack power and the most TC, combined with all thier melee artes have long combos and the TC combo mend skill and Kor is on the bench. Too bad the game has so much customization and Kunzite has no place in the party lol.

reading "heavenly" and seeing Disgaea...that's a wtf for me XD but it's nice hearing someone speek good of that serie! oh, and Skyes of Arcadia too!! maaaan that was THE world exploration for me!

My top 1 virtue is well thought progression system. I believe that no RPG should ask players to grind in order to progress road-block bosses. I love in Trails in the Sky and Berseria where if you complete almost all sidequests, you are more than enough prepared for bosses. Also, you can't grind in Trails because exp decreases according to your level. #1 reason why I love that game.

Plot Twists are my bread and butter in gaming nowadays and I'd be surprise if a JRPG didn't have at least one now. First JRPG I played was Grandia 2, and it's plot twists blew me away. But I have to say that the game franchise that blew my mind the most would be the Danganronpa franchise. I know none of the main games are well JRPGs, but their story elements and how each game defied my expectations really got to me.

While mandatory mini-games made the sins list, I would actually put optional or mostly optional mini-games here. I could spend an entire day betting on monster fights in Dragon Quest III or playing the card game in Final Fantasy VIII.

wow! I'm the 5,000th viewer! Great video once again David!

Always love your videos! Wish I could play some JRPGs with you some day.

David, love you man, but in the 16 bit era there was a game that hit most of the marks, and it's Phantasy Star 4. Also, Mass Effect, especially the second one, excels in every item you mentioned.

Going to the moon in ff4 was so freaking badass.

I too loved Tales of Graces F, for that exact same reason.

Cecil didn't burn the village to the ground, the item he was supposed to deliver did, so technically that would have been the king Baron who did it. Cecil would never have done it directly and willingly.

Not a sidequest, but since you said something about "Talk to every little girl on the planet" .. The Trails in the Sky series ... open EVERY treasure chest in the whole game and then talk to it again. That was so damn tedious.

Meaningful choices. Having a game with many different "correct" ways to play it is an area which is synonymous with the genre. It's usually tied with the progression system, and it's usually good odds that "a choice driven progression system" is what people are talking about when they say a game from another genre has "RPG elements".

Dang it. I'm trying to find an anime review! Hope you the best in life all the same my brother 🙏

Not everyone will agree with me on this, but puzzle bosses: Bosses that have a unique gimmick that will probably kill you if you can't figure out how to play around their style and use it to your advantage. Persona 5 had tons of these and I loved them all (except Okumura). In fact, I like well-done boss battles in JRPGs more than any other game, when your power is just enough to pull even with a deadly enemy, and make you feel like you're coming together as a team to take down a threat none of you could have ever handled on your own. You know what they say about the team that slays together...

I love the first two seconds of this video being Lufia 2. David is big brained with his subliminal messaging.

You forgot to mention the great music. When i playes chrono trigger for the first time i use to hear that music in my sleep lol

You know, those points actually sum up why I'm one of the few people who hated the first two Golden Sun games. Interaction: Their only dialogue was plot-related. Humor: I can't remember a single funny moment that was intentionally funny. Progression System: Nope. Plot Twists and story: The whole thing is an idiot plot because the villains didn't take a single minute to explain they were trying to save the decaying world. The only major twist was that a single blink-and-you-miss-it interaction at the start of the first game paid off in the last act. Meaningful Sidequests: They go through a tree level and a thieves lair for absolutely no narrative reason. Bang for the Buck: The first two games could EASILY have been just one game, if not for a lot of pointless dungeons. Exploration: Broken bridges, and a collect 'em all sidequest with the Djinns that give you nothing for completing it.

"oh hell yeah dude" me when u upload

Some of the best music period.

_Persona 3_ has a "Pungeon Master" who _gets involved in a plot twist!_

“Awful when they’re not” *flash back to getting struck by lightning on dodge No. 158 and then giving up cause fuck that shit *

So, judging from the fact that the Trails series is in most of these spots, could it be that it's a great series, I wonder? Seriously, I just barely started Trails in the skies 1, and it looks pretty cool. The magic stones system seems a bit weird, but I'll see how it goes...

#7 - I honestly miss the camping in Breath of Fire III and meals in Grandia at least when it comes to character interaction... not sure about others, but yeah, I always love talking to any and everyone in a game, no matter how seemingly trivial their dialogue is. XD I mean, why not? :p I'd say that technically counts as 100% completion too and makes the game feel more immersive...

I agree wholeheartedly with #6

Meaingful Sidequests - Hmm... I wonder how you'd feel about Radiant Historia and getting more depth out of the ending depending on how many sidequests you've done, and a bonus one when you 100% complete it. :p Honestly, it was kind of stupid that whole dialogue was absent unless you do enough of them, and the sidequests are kind of okay, but it was also nice to have the sidequests be important instead of meaningless, that every little bit is helpful in making a better future or something, given the time travel elements. :p But maybe being a fun minigame diversion would have been perfectly fine too, at least none of it is mandatory and the game is fine on it's own.

I'm glad you brought up Skies of Arcadia. That game was probably the last game to really blow my mind in the RPG genre. The Xenoblade games have all done very well, as well, and Witcher 3. But, with those small exceptions, it's difficult to feel that the glory days of RPGs aren't in the past. IMO, the genre started to feel amazing around Final Fantasy Legend, Phantasy Star, and Final Fantasy II/4, and then the magic began to run out after Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, and Final Fantasy X. There have been some phenomenal RPGs since: Dragon Quest 9, Witcher 3, all the Xenoblades; but I find many of the big RPGs are Bioware/Bethesda types that, to me, are dry and unengaging. I'm not saying others can't enjoy Bioware/Bethesda, but I can't.

I haven't heard you mention fire emblem yet, so if you like character interactions you may want to check out some of the newer games in that series. Birthright/conquest/awakening were insane in that regard. I think there's a couple of same sex pairing options in awakening, but there may be some censorship at play I'm not aware of.

Wow. Your list honestly has rekindled my preference for RPGs. Guess I'll get back to some I have pending. Great job, you earned a sub.

0:45 I like how you consider Secret of Evermore a JRPG, and that "JRPG" stands for a kind of RPG, and not for its country of origin. Have you played other western made JRPGs, like Cosmic Star Heroine, or the South Park games, or even older games like Septerra Core (which is heavily inspired by Chrono Trigger)?