Jrpg Jungle

With the promise of being a big adventure on a deserted island, Ys VIII certainly delivers. Making one island somehow feel like a large world of its own, Ys VIII encouraged me to explore the many inches of its island thanks to its story and its great mechanics that help with exploring that slowly revealed more of this island as I played. But there’s more than just exploring an island to Ys VIII, with the adventurous spirit of its protagonist and the mysterious island making the story bigger than its initial premise and its well-paced reveal made this adventure intriguing throughout its six chapters, with more things to dive into post-game. In this rich island world, Ys VIII captures the spirit of adventure well, and its mysterious world with plenty to see and explore with its smooth gameplay makes it a fantastic fit on Nintendo Switch. Ys VIII revolves around the series’ protagonist and adventurer Adol Christin who finds himself aboard a ship called the Lombardia that leads him to his ...

I’ve always been a fan of portable consoles and for a long time, the PS Vita was my favourite. As I transitioned into work life, the PS Vita was what helped me keep my gaming time in tact and introduced me to some of my all-time favourite immersive JRPG series during small moments of free time in my day and for that, it holds a special place in my portable console collection. Unfortunately, the world of PS Vita has grown quiet as of late, particularly in the west with Sony’s announcement a few months ago of the end of physical Vita cartridge production, along with the innovative Nintendo Switch providing current-gen console game quality on the go and eliminating the need for Cross-Buy as a portable and home console hybrid. But that doesn’t mean the PS Vita isn’t still a useful console with its library of amazing JRPGs new and old and its ability to play PS One Classics and PSP games meaning there is still a big library of great games for portable gamers looking to experience classic ga...

During June, I had a good amount of time before Ys VIII came out since it was a quieter month, so I decided to make up for lost time and catch up on all the great demos that had come out during E3, making it a surprisingly busy month for my gaming time. It was probably also made even more busy since I also continued with a bunch of my favourite experiences, including jumping into the Persona 3 side of the Persona dance spin-off games that I love, trying some Atelier DLC and getting back to Persona 2. This is before I took a much needed dive into a full, proper JRPG in the form of Ys VIII after having played a lot of spin-offs and small experiences and I enjoyed taking a dive into a new, big JRPG world. So with a mix of new, old, long and short experiences, here are the JRPGs I Played in June. JRPG of the Month: Ys VIII (Switch) As I said in the intro, since I’ve been playing a lot of less traditional JRPG experiences in the form of spin-off games, I am really, really enjoying playing ...

Choosing between Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight or Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight is mostly a matter of preference. Where Persona 5 brings the acid jazz, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight brings more of a funk, hip hop flair in terms of soundtrack, which is reflected in the tracks featured from the original game and also in the remixes based off its tracks. Dancing in Moonlight features the same polished rhythm game experience that Dancing in Starlight does, but with a Persona 3 makeover and its characters. Setting it apart is that Moonlight features the most high quality 3D models we’ve seen of Persona 3’s characters in years, so playing this game and seeing the updated versions of these characters felt special as someone who has played the original Persona 3 game as a PS2 classic. Whether you’re here for the dancing or here for more Persona 3, Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight delivers the polished rhythm game and visual experience that fans of Persona’s Dancing games expect while being a ...

E3 2018 was pretty good this year, even if I wouldn’t call it my favourite E3. I don’t mind too much since TGS is always the better conference for news of new JRPGs, but regardless we did get a few interesting ones at E3. As someone who usually finishes E3’s conferences most excited for what Sony is bringing, I found Nintendo’s conference more interesting as a JRPG fan, although all of the conferences had at least a little bit of news about what’s coming to the genre in the next year. As with all E3’s there were a few surprises big and small for JRPG and video game fans in general, so these are the JRPG trailers and announcements that got me the most excited at E3 2018. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition As one of the biggest new JRPG announcements of E3 2018, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was announced on the Xbox Stage as coming to consoles in Winter this year with new characters released in the West for the first time. The trailer looks great, especially when compared to ...

With its great acid jazz soundtrack, it’s no wonder Persona 5 works so well as a rhythm game. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight features the already great involved rhythm game mechanics from its predecessor in a familiar form with an updated UI alongside the characters of Persona 5 showing their personalities in dances. While it’s new event-based story mode sets it apart from the last Persona Dance game, there are many events to unlock, on top of costumes, fun challenges and ways to shake up both its core gameplay and its social aspects to keep Persona fans busy. If you like rhythm games and Persona 5’s characters and music as much as I do, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is worth a look for story and rhythm game fans alike. If you’ve played Persona 4 Dancing All Night , you’ll recognise and pick up the rhythm game system in Dancing in Starlight quickly since the core systems are almost identical. It features the familiar circular rhythm system from Dancing All Night that uses a combinat...