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. ...

As much I enjoyed playing video games in May, my gaming time in May mostly didn’t go how I expected it to. I started my month playing two portable Persona games as I’d planned to, although not as much as I wanted to. Then I played Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time and was much more mixed about it than I expected to be. Thankfully at the end of the month though, I had two games that caught my attention in the right way and put me in good JRPG spirits going into June. So although I only played a few games this month compared to other months again, here are the JRPGs I played in May. JRPG of the Month: Pokemon Quest If you’re a fan of Pokemon and JRPGs, you might’ve noticed all the exciting Pokemon announcements like the Let’s Go games and the core Pokemon game coming to Switch in 2019. There was also one more game that came to Switch right away and that was Pokemon Quest and since I wanted a good excuse to play my Switch for the first time in almost a month, I decided to give it a g...

As a Slice-of-Life JRPG, Atelier Lydie and Suelle brings something different to the JRPG genre. It focuses on collection and synthesis as its main mechanics, partnered with a light-hearted story that managed to turn what could be a sad story about two girls without a mother into one with plenty of humour and lively characters that make it standout from other JRPGs. Although its pacing felt a little slow at times, Atelier Lydie and Suelle ’s deep synthesis systems and fun story made it an experience that was pleasant to play and with lots of side events still waiting for me, there’s plenty to do in this fun, collection-based JRPG. Atelier Lydie and Suelle is based around the two girls from its title: the smart, slightly older twin Lydie and the fun, energetic Suelle who have big goals of making their Atelier the greatest one in the country. At first this is a lofty goal with their lack of alchemy skills resulting in lackluster creations and their Dad’s unreliable nature as their onl...

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...

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...

Before I got my Nintendo Switch, I was utterly determined to keep my feet planted firm on Vita Island. The PS Vita is a handheld I’d spent hundreds of fond hours with and on a sentimental level, I didn’t want to throw them away for another portable console . But the idea of a bigger screen, the total ease of switching between home and portable, and a more powerful handheld console had all been things I wanted to see for a long time, so with these in mind I eventually got a Nintendo Switch. I’ve spent less than a few months with my Nintendo Switch, but I already feel quite positive about it, with the portability and convenience of it already feeling superior to another portable console I loved for so long, I can see the Nintendo Switch already becoming a big part of my portable gaming life. When the Switch was first announced, the main thing that appealed to me was the seamless ability to take a handheld from home to on the go instantly and without restrictions. I was always happy I cou...

As someone who tends to prefer modern graphics over the old-school JRPG kind, you can imagine my surprise when I found Project Octopath Traveler’s demo impressing me. Don't be fooled by its 16-bit art style; Project Octopath Traveler boasts the polish of a current gen title in every way it should, from its well-written engaging preview at its story to a fun battle system that makes simple strategic additions to the turn-based system I already loved. As a game that was nowhere to be seen on my radar prior to this demo, this introduction to Project Octopath Traveler puts its best foot forward and shows an intriguing concept with a well done delivery so far. Feel free to watch the video version here! You could be forgiven for thinking Project Octopath Traveler is a strange word choice for this working title, but it makes sense when you consider its concept. With ‘octo’ signifying the number eight, Project Octopath Traveler gives the player a choice of one of eight different heroes sto...

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’...