Jrpg Jungle

Somehow, I’ve been writing and talking about JRPGs on the internet for a few years and I’ve still never played a Dragon Quest game. This might be because one of the first JRPGs I fell in love with in high school was Final Fantasy X since Final Fantasy is much more popular in Australia and since Final Fantasy X is a more of a modern-looking RPG, it definitely influenced the kind of aesthetics I like in JRPGs. Despite being a big fan of what some consider to be its rival series, Dragon Quest seemed interesting the first time I heard of it. Akira Toriyama’s art looks great in it which makes its aesthetic more appealing, it's got a cute slime mascot, turn-based battles and I’ve always wondered how its fantasy stories and worlds compare to others in the genre. With the English release of Dragon Quest XI coming up soon, I’m strongly reminded again that I still haven’t touched this series, so here’s a list of games in the series I want to try to help me get into this classic JRPG series. ...

Booting up most games these days, I’m met with a decision. A decision that affects important parts of my game experience, such as challenge or the time it takes to play, which has a large effect on my overall game enjoyment. This decision is choosing a difficulty mode. I find changing difficulty modes along the way distracting, so I want to get it right the first time and there’s a very easy way to tackle this decision - choosing Easy mode. There may be a slight stigma towards playing games on Easy. I imagine some people have thoughts such as "It takes the skill or challenge out of playing", "It’s not really playing the game", "It’s for weaklings" etc etc, or at least that’s the internal dialogue I had with myself the first time I made the switch into easy town. But playing on easy mode has allowed me the opportunity to try more games by giving myself a little speed boost and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting a relaxing experience in one’...

There's a special feeling that comes with making New Year's Resolutions. The main reason I like them is because it's promising yourself you'll be better next year, which can't be anything but positive even if the resolution isn't always kept. The Gaming Resolutions I made at the beginning of this year were in the back of my mind all year and somewhat guided my gaming choices in 2016. But with only so much gaming time in my life thanks to working full time, my successes and failures with these Resolutions mostly came down to what I was most excited to play. While my overall success with these resolutions may be questionable, the ones I did the best with did had a positive effect on my gaming life and that's all I can really ask for. Here are the results, successes and failures of my 2016 Gaming Resolutions, hope you enjoy! 1. Play (and finish) a Pokemon game Result: Played a bit of Diamond and the Sun and Moon demo. Didn't finish one. Having just gotten...

After a long wait for Persona 5, I can barely believe that it’s out and inside my PS3. While plenty of people are still waiting for the English localisation, other people like myself have bought the Japanese version to get a peek before the slow-approaching February localised release and/or to play it out of sheer impatience (I’m in both parties). Persona 5 has plenty of high expectations to live up to thanks to the generally high quality of Persona games and after playing Persona 5 for over 26 hours (at the time of writing), I think most Persona fans will be pleased with Persona 5 for many different reasons. The gameplay, story, music, artwork and UIs shine in true Persona style and with every character design, transition screen and new game mechanic, it seems like a lot of love was put into crafting the incredibly fun JRPG that is Persona 5. If you're a Persona fan that’s missed changing Personas on the fly, Social Links or deciding what to do with your after school time, you’ll...

When I began my tactical JRPG kick , Fire Emblem was one of the first series I wanted to try. As a fan of the Persona series and after enjoying the fun tactical smartphone JRPG  X-Tactics , Fire Emblem’s combination relationship and tactical mechanics sounded right up my alley. Fire Emblem Awakening may not be the most recent Fire Emblem game, but it doesn't take away from being a tactical JRPG triumph. With a well thought out and unique tactical battle system and twist-filled plot full of interesting characters, I was captivated with Fire Emblem Awakening from start to finish. Fire Emblem Awakening’s story begins in the midst of a war between nations as the amnesiac Avatar (the customisable playable character) awakens in a field and is found by the royal family of the Ylisse nation, consisting of the strong-willed prince Chrom, his loyal knight Frederick and the light-hearted princess Lissa. The tactically-skilled Avatar quickly joins the nation's army and becomes a key member...

This Summer was the season of a surprising amount of mobile games for me. I did play a bunch of games on consoles and portable devices, but with the release of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and Mobius Final Fantasy I had my work as a JRPG fan cut out for me. Aside from mobile games, I also finally completed the wonderful Fire Emblem Awakening and I just started Lost Dimension on Vita which I’m happy with so far. Speaking of handhelds, I’d like to give a shout out to portable gaming devices in general this month as they were a total gaming lifesaver while I was moving apartments this month. Without portable consoles, my gaming life would’ve been on hold and that simply wouldn't do! So here’s what I played this season and I hope everyone enjoyed their Summer gaming time! Let me know your favourite JRPGs of this Summer in the comments. Lost Dimension (PS Vita) Status: Now playing. Suspicious of everyone. I've definitely still got a lot of Lost Dimension t...

I love most JRPGs that allow me to get to know the characters deeply, but I particularly love ones that have their own special systems to do this with. Some of my favourite JRPGs such as Persona 4 Golden and Ar nosurge feature brilliant systems based around Social Events and Interactions that raise the plot while giving an extra gameplay mechanic and I'm happy to say that Fire Emblem Awakening’s Support system is no different. While I’m definitely enjoying the tactical nature of Fire Emblem Awakening, its support system is done in a really meaningful way that closely ties itself to the core story. With well-written dialog featuring humour, friendship and romance, I haven’t unlocked a single scene I haven’t enjoyed yet and it’s become my favourite thing to look at after battles. Making Fire Emblem Awakening’s Story Even Better Photo Source:  JustOneGamr Fellow fans of fun and colourful characters will likely enjoy Fire Emblem Awakening’s Support system since all of the character ...

After finishing Persona 3 , I decided to play something different because I was experiencing my first ever case of what I call ‘dungeon fatigue’. Since I’d recently had fun with the tactical iOS game X-Tactics and really wanted to finally play some 3DS games, Fire Emblem Awakening seemed like a logical choice for my next JRPG journey. Playing Fire Emblem is an incredibly rewarding experience that is the perfect continuation to my journey into tactical RPGs and definitely making me even more excited about them. I’m really enjoying strategising battles in a new way and it’s easy to pick up the systems because they mostly use mechanics such as status effects and elemental damage that are already familiar to the turn-based JRPG player as well. I once ignorantly shrugged off a bunch of interesting looking tactical RPGs as being too difficult or too different to what I was used to, but now I think they a good challenge and change of pace for someone like me who plays mostly turn-based JRPGs...