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. ...

When a friend recommended me indie studio Mirai Labo’s smartphone game Phobos Children , I was pleasantly surprised to see their take on a JRPG-inspired battle system as it was said to be an action-puzzle RPG. Interestingly, Phobos Children makes its own combat style that combines ideas from JRPGs and puzzles with the handy touchscreen to make an involved experience that relies on tapping bubbles to attack in a fun and unique way. As a fan of JRPGs and rhythm games, Phobos Children’s combat reminds me of both in an addictive way that makes me want to keep playing it. Video from the Mirai-Labo YouTube Channel The combat of Phobos Children uses a fairly simple concept that ends up being smart in its execution. In order to attack the enemy and defend your army, you must tap the bubbles coming across the screen, specifically three of a matching colour. By doing this, the enemy gets hit and you can avoid damage. If you’re fast, you can execute a lot of these in quick succession to keep your...

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...

I said last month I’d play a lot of Persona 5 and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for almost the entire month of April. In fact, I’ve barely played any other games as between life and enjoying the time sync that is Persona 5,  I just haven’t had the time. It’s lucky that Persona 5 is such a good game however, as I haven't minded at all. I’ve downloaded a few demos of JRPGs I’m quite sure will be good, but I don’t want to leave the friends and confidants I've made in Persona 5 yet. So although the list of JRPGs I’ve played this month is a short one, the amount of hours I put into my main April game is certainly not. Here are the JRPGs I Played in April. Feel free to watch the video version here! My Favourite JRPG of April: Persona 5 If you’ve seen my recent content or my March JRPGs I’ve played post, then Persona 5 being my favourite game of April is probably no surprise. But Persona 5 is highly deserving of this month’s title, as it’s really really good. I intend on making...

JRPG fans have been pretty lucky over the last few years to be getting great smartphone games. There was Final Fantasy Record Keeper in 2015, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ in 2016. With great tactical gameplay reminiscent of the 3DS Fire Emblem games and a wealth of characters and things to keep players busy, Fire Emblem Heroes may be 2017’s killer RPG app. Fire Emblem Heroes begins with the light premise that you have been summoned to help the Order of Heroes restore other hero worlds that are regularly being invaded by dark forces. You can do this thanks to your ability to summon powerful heroes to fight by your side, with these heroes being familiar characters from the Fire Emblem series. As I’ve only played Fire Emblem Awakening outside of Heroes, it wasn’t until the Awakening chapter that I realised each chapter was based around the world and characters of a Fire Emblem game. Particularly in the Awakening chapters, it was cool to be versing teams o...

I've been feeling really positively about most smartphone games I've been playing recently. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius has become a new staple in my smartphone game roster and I'm also having fun playing Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and X-Tactics at my own pace. I was so ready to add Mobius Final Fantasy to my smartphone game roster and love it like I had all other Final Fantasy mobile games I've played so far. I had all my pre-registration rewards ready, I tweeted about it and I was genuinely keen. Unfortunately, being keen for something leaves you open to being let down. After downloading Mobius, I played it for one night, tried to jump back in the next day and found I didn't have the immediate hook I’d gotten from my other recent smartphone JRPG discoveries. This was (and is still) strange to me, since I thought Mobius had some very cool ideas in its trailers and I liked the idea of having a version of Final Fantasy similar to the modern ones on consoles on my sm...

The Final Fantasy series has really made its way into the mobile gaming market. With a majority of the core Final Fantasy games available as paid apps on smartphones alongside free Final Fantasy apps such as Final Fantasy Record Keeper, there’s an experience for Final Fantasy fans of all budgets and tastes, ranging from the old school JRPG Final Fantasy style to the more modern 3D style seen in recent Final Fantasy games. The Brave Frontier inspired Final Fantasy Brave Exvius take inspiration from the classic Final Fantasy games with its turn-based battle system, pixel art sprites and town exploration that will be familiar to fans of the series. But it isn't all classic Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius balances bringing a new Final Fantasy experience to the smartphone space featuring an interesting story with witty dialogue reminiscent of the classic games and also brings in the fun collection and turn-based systems featured in other mobile and core Final Fantasy series ga...

I’ve spoken about smartphone games a lot recently, mostly because of the release of new Final Fantasy mobile games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Mobius Final Fantasy. My previous smartphone gaming habits involved only one game - Final Fantasy Record Keeper , one of Final Fantasy’s first quality original smartphone games that incorporated familiar RPG and Final Fantasy mechanics into a light experience on the go. I downloaded Record Keeper on the first week of its release so I was able to keep up with its main quests, events and limited edition characters for a good period of time (especially before I dropped my phone two months later). But all good things must come to an end, because recently I’ve stopped playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper completely to the point where I may delete it. For most smartphone games, deleting one is sadly a mere a necessity most of the time, whether it be for clearing memory or just getting an icon off your home screen. But to be deleting Final Fant...

Ever since I started playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper last year, I’ve noticed mobile games becoming more and more a standard part of my gaming life. This is somewhat surprising to me, since when I used to bring up the topic of mobile games to my friends, they were regularly talked about as lesser experiences when compared to console games. Despite this, when the port of the original Final Fantasy became my first venture into the world of mobile games, my expectations of them became very high very quickly. I was completely addicted to the old school JRPG and the best part was that it lived in my pocket. As much as I love my portable consoles, there's a lot to be said about having everything on one device, so this Final Fantasy experience carved out the beginning of my enjoyment of smartphone games. I had paid money to play the original Final Fantasy game on iOS, so when I saw Final Fantasy Record Keeper was free, I was ecstatic. With a majority of my Final Fantasy experiences on...