Jrpg Jungle

Last year, I tried to make my JRPG Resolutions more realistic . I was over ending the year with a bunch of Resolutions I didn’t end up having time for, so I tried to be a little smarter and just do three. In hindsight, I ended up doing an unofficial resolution that I wanted to try keep up with new JRPG releases as much as possible in 2017 and I did that very well. However it also took a bunch of time away from my intended resolutions and while I think I had more success overall than failure for my 2017 JRPG Resolutions, I didn’t end up with the 100% completion I hoped for. In any case, I’m thankful for these resolutions that encouraged me to go deeper into at least one of my favourite JRPG franchises and fully completed or not, I’m happy to take what they taught me about my gaming time into 2018. 1) Play an old game from a JRPG series I would call my goal of playing an old game from a JRPG series fairly successful, even if I didn’t completely finish the game I was playing for this goal...

With no releases I was planning to pick up in August, it was a good time to catch up on JRPGs I’d put aside to play newer releases, at least for the most part, as I only ended up with a bit of gaming time as I tried to get ahead on other things, like posts and recordings for videos. I did finally get back to both games I’ve been playing since January, Persona 2 and Kingdom Hearts, to try get them finished by the end of the year and I also dabbled in a few mobile and console expansions that piked my interest. And of course, I couldn’t help getting back into my favourite JRPG of this year *cough* Persona 5 *cough* so far. Although it was a relaxed August, I did manage to play a few things, so here are all the JRPGs I played in August. Feel free to watch the video version here! JRPG of the month: Persona 5 I tried my best to choose another game for JRPG of the month as I know I’ve put Persona 5 in this spot a few times already. However, anything else I put here felt like I was lying to m...

E3 2017 wasn’t amazing for JRPG fans this year, but that doesn't mean it was without a few great JRPG announcements inserted between the usual E3 stuff. There were a few good surprise announcements in Nintendo’s show and other trailers for big titles sprinkled through the week of E3 that still made it a fun week to be looking out for game news. There are certainly some JRPGs deserving of hype that had me either excited for their story, gameplay or long off releases that I’ll be keeping in mind for awhile, so here’s a list of what I was personally excited by during E3 this year. Code Vein Code Vein is absolutely one of my top picks for E3, which is surprising since Microsoft’s conference usually isn't something I usually leave hyped. Code Vein has been described as ‘Anime Dark Souls’ by a few and I am completely okay with that as someone who hasn’t played Dark Souls despite being interested in it. Code Vein seems like the version of this game style that will get me in, with its ...

When playing Persona 2 and Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD recently, I noticed I felt a little lost. Not in a deep, emotional way or anything, but much more literally, at least in my gaming life. Both Kingdom Hearts and Persona 2 are over 15 years old (let that sink in) and in these 15 years, there are certain things I've apparently come to expect need in what I play. Aside from the beautiful graphics and smarter UIs found in modern video games, there's a little tiny thing I'm lost without - map markers and map points. It's exactly what it sounds like: I am saying that among the many fantastic JRPGs I was catching up on that I missed or hadn't played for a long time, before noticing how wonderful the story is or how good or bad some of the pixel art is, my biggest problem becomes how lost I find myself navigating these old worlds. It's important to mention that I don't usually blame the older games I'm playing for this. While yes, the older games could have put in...

When Loot Crate put out the idea of creating your own Dream Loot Crate ideas as part of their Dream Crate project, I absolutely had to make a JRPG Crate.  I’ve watched a Loot Crate unboxing video or two on Youtube before, and each crate seems full of fun themed items and geeky gifts , I’ve just never seen a theme that made me subscribe to getting their crates monthly, but if there was a JRPG Crate I'd probably be very tempted to subscribe. The idea of the Dream Crate is to pick a theme, the items you'd put in it and the franchises you'd include. If the theme is considered a good idea, it may become the theme of a future Loot Crate! I love the idea of coming home one day to a box of wonderful JRPG goodies, so here are five things I’d be more than happy to see in my Dream Crate (and will probably now be trying to purchase because more JRPG merch didn’t hurt anyone). Square Enix Vivi Plushie (Final Fantasy IX) It wouldn’t be a JRPG Dream Crate without something from Final Fa...

In the last few JRPGs I’ve played, I noticed something interesting: my general feelings during JRPGs remain almost the same throughout my hour count. If a game is good, I’ll usually know around the same hour count I realised other games were good. If a game isn't great and I decide to keep going with it, I can also see similar thought patterns based on how long I've been playing. I'm genuinely curious if other people have these, so here are mine and feel free to leave yours in the comments! The first 10 hours: Learning the game No matter whether a game is good or bad, I feel I never truly understand what the story or mechanics are until I'm coming up to the 10 hour mark. Personally, I'm not someone to get good at mechanics straight away, especially with JRPGs having different systems to learn among other things. While I can of course play the game before this, it takes me around 10 hours to feel like I’ve truly got the hang of the system (unless it’s really simple)....

Tokyo Game Show last year left me with the biggest grin on my face and so much video game hype that I could burst. While I feel TGS 2016 left less of an impression on me due to the discussion of games that have been shown excessively (I'm sorry Final Fantasy XV, but I'm looking at you), there were a few games that did catch my eye and got me excited for their release. Ultimately, TGS 2016 showed quite a few games and these are some of my favourites of the JRPGs announced and given trailers this year. Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Being honest, my hype level for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 had really gone down since made it my top game for TGS 2015. This had nothing to do with the game itself, rather that I haven't finished 1.5 Remix so I assumed I wasn't going to play 2.8 until long after I'd finished the 2.5 Remix. This year’s TGS Kingdom Hearts 2.8 trailer may have changed that. The new trailer backed by a nostalgic, fun remix of Utada Hikaru’s Simple a...

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...