Jrpg Jungle

During June, I had a good amount of time before Ys VIII came out since it was a quieter month, so I decided to make up for lost time and catch up on all the great demos that had come out during E3, making it a surprisingly busy month for my gaming time. It was probably also made even more busy since I also continued with a bunch of my favourite experiences, including jumping into the Persona 3 side of the Persona dance spin-off games that I love, trying some Atelier DLC and getting back to Persona 2. This is before I took a much needed dive into a full, proper JRPG in the form of Ys VIII after having played a lot of spin-offs and small experiences and I enjoyed taking a dive into a new, big JRPG world. So with a mix of new, old, long and short experiences, here are the JRPGs I Played in June. JRPG of the Month: Ys VIII (Switch) As I said in the intro, since I’ve been playing a lot of less traditional JRPG experiences in the form of spin-off games, I am really, really enjoying playing ...

Choosing between Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight or Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight is mostly a matter of preference. Where Persona 5 brings the acid jazz, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight brings more of a funk, hip hop flair in terms of soundtrack, which is reflected in the tracks featured from the original game and also in the remixes based off its tracks. Dancing in Moonlight features the same polished rhythm game experience that Dancing in Starlight does, but with a Persona 3 makeover and its characters. Setting it apart is that Moonlight features the most high quality 3D models we’ve seen of Persona 3’s characters in years, so playing this game and seeing the updated versions of these characters felt special as someone who has played the original Persona 3 game as a PS2 classic. Whether you’re here for the dancing or here for more Persona 3, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight delivers the polished rhythm game and visual experience that fans of Persona’s Dancing games expect while being a ...

With its great acid jazz soundtrack, it’s no wonder Persona 5 works so well as a rhythm game. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight features the already great involved rhythm game mechanics from its predecessor in a familiar form with an updated UI alongside the characters of Persona 5 showing their personalities in dances. While it’s new event-based story mode sets it apart from the last Persona Dance game, there are many events to unlock, on top of costumes, fun challenges and ways to shake up both its core gameplay and its social aspects to keep Persona fans busy. If you like rhythm games and Persona 5’s characters and music as much as I do, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is worth a look for story and rhythm game fans alike. If you’ve played Persona 4 Dancing All Night , you’ll recognise and pick up the rhythm game system in Dancing in Starlight quickly since the core systems are almost identical. It features the familiar circular rhythm system from Dancing All Night that uses a combinat...

In the period between finishing my main February JRPG and starting my March one, there was a big period of free time between JRPGs for me. This isn’t to say March was a quiet month for JRPGs, especially since the highly anticipated Ni no Kuni II that I wish I played came out, but I had my heart set on playing Atelier Lydie and Suelle that was due out towards the end of month. As I waited for Lydie and Suelle, I played catch up with many demos and experiences involving game series I love like Persona O.A., while being pleasantly surprised by series I tried for the first time like Yakuza 6. Whether it was the deep story of Yakuza 6 or the cute, slice-of-life adventures of Atelier Lydie and Suelle, there was a lot of variety in what I played, so here are all the JRPGs I played in March. JRPG of the Month:  Atelier Lydie and Suelle: the Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings I waited most of March for Atelier Lydie & Suelle and the relaxing collection experience I hoped it would...

January was a very good month for JRPGs and also a month where I had to quickly accept that it would be impossible to play everything. After all, I started the month on the tail end of December’s Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and while I had a solid game plan in the form of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker’s Memory for January, various experiences from betas to demos to indies kept popping up and all I could do was try stick to my plan while playing what I could in between. I did manage to try a lot of the experiences I wanted to try in January for varying lengths of times and feel positively about most of them, so here are all the JRPGs I Played in January. JRPG of the Month:  Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker’s Memory Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker’s Memory has been the JRPG I wanted to start 2018 with ever since it got given a release date thanks to the first one making me fall in love with my PS4 . Armed with my PS4 again, I entered Hacker’s Memory with not much knowle...

I think in 2017 I played more new releases in one year than I have any other year. I made a conscious decision to try play more of the many new releases I get hyped for and it was a decision I don’t regret as I found some really great games to add to my personal favourites. The year started out with a bang with strong titles like NieR Automata and Persona 5 and the JRPGs kept coming. While some were hit or miss, there was something for every kind of JRPG fan this year. But there were five great JRPGs that particularly stood out to me thanks to their quality stories and endless amounts of things to do that have made me really glad I played them. These are the five JRPGs I loved the most in 2017 and the five I will look back on fondly and remember as my favourite JRPGs of this year. 5. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 After putting Final Fantasy XV high up on my list last year, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 may just be the kind of open-world game I’ve been missing a little this year. I’m 45 hours in an...