Jrpg Jungle

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...

It’s not every day you find a JRPG heavily rooted in anime and third-person shooting with a clear Freedom Wars influence, but Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet delivers this in its own way in this gameplay heavy experience. Taking third-person shooting mechanics and adding in JRPG ones with leveling and stat-boosting, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet’s challenging hunts and quests tell the story of this gun-filled MMORPG from Sword Art Online’s second series, but with interesting new characters that make its own story accessible to both newcomers and fans of the show. It might not be the biggest world to explore, but with endless customisation in both appearance and gameplay style, and an interesting story that ended a little too soon, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet’s shooting filled world managed to both be pretty fun to play and make me care about Sword Art Online’s world more. Fatal Bullet is based in the story’s online world of Gun Gale Online, an online shooting game known for its popu...

Persona 5 has been getting plenty of hype lately. Leading up to it's Japanese release yesterday, there were plenty of preview videos appearing online and it couldn't look more stylish and fun. What hasn't been touched upon much is the story of Persona 5, most likely to avoid spoilers since story is typically one of the best parts of a Persona game. But for those like me who don't mind a little extra context before playing a game, a special episode of Persona 5 the Animation was released last week which gives the first extended insight into Persona 5’s story. It's a fun episode that shows off Persona 5’s characters and story premise all while maintaining enough mystery to carry the hype train forward and to satisfy those who wanted a little taste of what's to come in Persona 5. Warning: Mild spoilers for the episode follow in this article. I've included as little as possible, but I'd still advise proceeding with caution! Also, despite Persona 5 being out ...

I usually have mixed feelings about Persona 4 the Animation. On one hand, it's entertaining and a fast way to relive the original story of Persona 4, which is pretty convenient considering the length of the game. On the other hand, I'm a total sucker for small details in fiction and Persona games in general are full of details. Anime and TV by nature are shorter mediums, meaning some of these details are forced to be omitted just because of time. But there's one great thing about the Persona anime series and it's that it uses filler episodes really well to give extra insight into characters, even expanding on the game's detail. Persona 4's shining glory are it's characters, so building upon the complex universe made in Persona 4 is the best way to use this  I've been recently collecting the Japanese Persona 4 the Animation Blu-Rays from my local electronics store because the first few were quite cheap. I'm always on the hunt for ways to incorporate m...