Jrpg Jungle

One of the first things that stood out to me about Persona 5 when I tried to play it in Japanese last year was the way that gameplay mechanics kept unlocking, even 40 hours in. Playing the English version now, I'm still having the same experience five dungeons in, thanks to the Confidant system in Persona 5. This constant unlocking of new mechanics keeps gameplay varied and gives more benefits than just interesting conversations and Persona EXP for spending time with NPCs, and it manages Persona 5’s depth well. It's one of the many things that keeps Persona 5 deep in its JRPG roots, with the polished gameplay Persona fans know and love. Spoiler note: No story spoilers will be spoiled here, but there may be some mild gameplay spoilers. Proceed at your own risk! Feel free to watch the video version here! Confidants take the familiar social link mechanic for those who played Persona 3 or 4 and puts a spin on it that makes it suit Persona 5 much more. Persona 5’s themes of justic...

Since his compositions for NieR Automata and Final Fantasy XV’s Episode Gladiolus , Keiichi Okabe has quickly risen to being my current favourite JRPG composer. The eerie beauty he creates in his pieces is unique, with his use of vocals and instrument combinations adding to this. I mentioned in one of my other NieR posts that I heard NieR’s music was brilliant and Automata certainly proved that to me. I know it's only the first half of the year, but so far there's no question that NieR Automata has the best JRPG soundtrack this year so far and I'm pretty sure it's in my top 5 favourite ones ever. Speaking of top 5s, here are five of my favourite tracks from NieR Automata’s brilliant soundtrack. Feel free to watch the video version here! (The video features previews of a lot of the tracks included in this article!) Edit: I made a mistake in my video with a couple of tracks in this video (Amusement Park and A Beautiful Song) by crediting them to Keiichi Okabe. While Kei...