Jrpg Jungle

There was a time when smartphone JRPGs meant something to me. Whether it was being able to have a free, immersive experience with me on the go or having something to play when I didn’t bring my portable consoles out as much, smartphone games were a part of my life in lunch breaks and train trips and I was pretty addicted to certain ones like Final Fantasy Record Keeper . As much as I enjoyed these experiences, I fell out of them sometime last year when I became overwhelmed with the amount there were to play and started bringing consoles like my Vita and Switch out with me more in preference of bigger experiences with a concrete beginning and end, despite still enjoying them from time to time. I’ve still kept smartphone games on my phone though, as they’re still enjoyable for their collection systems, bite-sized stories and gameplay tributes to console games I love just in pocket form, so here are some smartphone games I used to play that as I play more big experiences I sometimes wish ...

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...

With the main games and DLC I wanted to play releasing in the later half of last month, my gaming time was pretty free for a bit, so I took the time to play demos, platinum and finish some stuff before new release time. I was kind of all over the place in my gaming time at first, but I did set a few solid goals that I completed. I finished all of NieR Automata ’s main routes finally, played SINoALICE , God Wars and Episode Prompto at launch and platinumed Persona 4 Dancing All Night (because why not, right?). Most of all, I tried a few new interesting experiences I'm excited to talk about, so here are the JRPGs I played in June. Feel free to watch the video version here! JRPG of the Month: NieR Automata To everyone who pushed me to properly finish NieR Automata , thank you as I probably would've missed out on that all important conclusion to Automata’s fascinating story. Automata gets my game of the month again because as soon as I got ending D, I dropped everything I was d...

I didn’t know I wanted to see all of my favourite childhood characters turned sinister until the announcement of NieR Automata director Yoko Taro’s smartphone game SINoALICE. Partnering with successful developers of smartphone games Square Enix and PokeLabo games, SINoALICE has a lot of potential as a quick and fun RPG experience, with bite-sized pieces of dark story that are quick and easy to cycle through, along with weapon-based combat that combines familiar elemental JRPG mechanics with interesting new ones. Although it has a few technical bumps in its current form, what I’ve played so far has given me confidence that with enough support technically and events to keep it fresh, in good time SINoALICE could be the dark and unique smartphone JRPG that the smartphone world was missing. Feel free to watch the video version here! SINoALICE’s characters are all based off fairy tale characters that will be easily recognisable to most players. There’s Alice, Snow White, Cinderella and oth...