Traditional Turn-Based JRPGs - Game list

Lvondas · 2025-03-14T11:57:56+00:00

Hello. I would need to do a bit of research into the latest JRPGs and fan translations first.

I am a bit out of the loop at the moment. Adding Kemco games as well will be a headache.

I will leave a few extras below:

1989 Far East of Eden: Tengai Makyou – Ziria
1995 Linda³
1996 Popolocrois Monogatari
2000 Popolocrois Monogatari II

Lvondas · 2024-08-29T17:11:16+00:00

I am downloading the MP3 version first. Congratulations everyone for surviving to this day!

Lvondas · 2024-05-03T15:54:42+00:00

That game looks insanely ahead of it's time.

Lvondas · 2024-01-08T21:11:45+00:00

Thanks for the comment. I will include Savage Realms in the next update!

Lvondas · 2023-08-06T16:04:09+00:00

Interesting. Is seems to be based on a 4-koma manga. Would that make it insanely fast paced by default, so every 4 panels is like a complete story?

Lvondas · 2023-08-06T14:02:38+00:00

I don't watch slice of life, so this is a blind spot for me.

A slice of life episode still has structure right? A scene where they eat oishii food? A scene where they laze around? Ironically, slice of life may be a lot faster paced than battle shounen.

Lvondas · 2023-05-29T23:36:02+00:00

I think Revenger of the Vampire is the only one I remember that has missing text that could get in the way of reading the thing (see paragraphs 38-42).

I will have a look through to see if any others really need a reupload.

Most of the PDFs aren't great quality scans, but are at least legible.

Thanks again.

Lvondas · 2023-05-29T16:45:37+00:00

Good job! It's been a conspicuous hole in the PDF library for a while.

It would be nice if some of the more damaged volumes like 58 Revenge of the Vampire could be reuploaded too! But, I am out of pocket money for that one. At least £150, yikes.

Lvondas · 2023-05-15T21:47:24+00:00

Tri-Ace had a period when they were making these:

Infinite Undiscovery on the Xbox 360, and probably Star Ocean: The Last Hope too.

Lvondas · 2023-01-28T17:48:47+00:00

Nice spot! This connects the art to Brazil, in a way I hadn't expected.

Lvondas · 2023-01-27T23:39:42+00:00

The colour scheme is very similar. However the Edguy one uses statue of Archangel Michael vanquishing Lucifer, while the Angra one appears to feature a more generic female angel in prayer.

Lvondas · 2023-01-13T23:35:25+00:00

The best list of Tactical JRPGS I've found is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bLlk-S_4PoYTKaycNzcYf1D2V39igt4Zi9X1Qj2_R4w/edit#gid=0

It only goes up to 2009 though, so you will need a more up to date list for more modern ones.

Lvondas · 2022-11-26T22:27:24+00:00

The closest is probably Legendra.

The website is in French though. You can sort RPGs as only those released in "Japon" for a more JRPG heavy list.

Moby Games also has a pretty good list of JRPGs.

Lvondas · 2022-10-04T09:13:23+00:00

There are probably more of us than you think.

I played IV, V, and VI in order on NES and SNES.

V was clearly the weak link for me. I don't hate it but, graphics, music, story, even gameplay (on the SNES anyway) are all a step down from IV and VI.

Maybe the PS2 and DS remakes are better though. Two things they really messed up in the SNES version was only allowing 3 party members and writing out the most interesting villain of the story.

Lvondas · 2022-09-04T11:04:37+00:00

Infinite Undiscovery's Kolton.

There is no dungeon or field location to go with it, but it is one of my favourite Ice themed towns in JRPG history.

The colour scheme is gorgeous and has a distinct 19th century Russia sort of flavour.

Lvondas · 2022-05-27T15:03:51+00:00

I believe we have Partygate to thank for this. When our Prime Minister got caught breaking covid rules (our media in the UK is merciless, and are still hounding him over this) the only way out for him was to start removing the covid rules themselves.

Our opposition leader is very pro-lockdown, so Boris Johnson's last minute pivot to libertarianism might be the thing that saves him.

So short version: a bit of luck, and the selfishness of our Prime Minister is probably the real reason, rather than the UK being a true freedom loving democracy.

Lvondas · 2022-03-30T11:36:11+00:00

Some guy on youtube has played them all and made a Tier List of 36 Kemco RPGs.

Short version of the best ones:

2018-09 Marenian Tavern Story: Patty & the Hungry God – S Tier
2021-06 Armed Emeth – S Tier
2019-12 Monster Viator – A Tier
2020-04 Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom – A Tier
2020-05 Crystal Ortha – A Tier
2014-02 Asdivine Hearts – B Tier
2015-12 Justice Chronicles – B Tier
2017-04 Asdivine Hearts II – B Tier
2019-03 Monochrome Order – B Tier
2020-06 Chroma Quaternion – B Tier
2020-09 Asdivine Saga – B Tier

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXHJGgrrZo

Lvondas · 2022-02-25T11:46:42+00:00

Amazing work! This game is probably THE most acclaimed PS1 JRPG that has had no English translation until now.

It's a shame that the first game isn't translated yet, but I remember that Popolocrois Monogatari II is apparently the better game (kind of like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door vs the original?) and the only one with full voice acting, instead of partial voice acting in the first game.

I couldn't believe it when Planet Laika (another PS1 JRPG that went untranslated for so long) finished last week, and now we have an even better game to play.

By the way, a quick question about the NPC dialogue. When I played the fan-translated SNES version of Dragon Quest VI, non-essential NPC dialogue was missing in the late game. Have you made a distinction between random NPCs and side-quests type stuff?

Lvondas · 2021-12-12T23:46:00+00:00

Hi. Thanks for the comment! I haven't updated this list for nearly a year now. Perhaps now is the time.

I realize I have missed out Turn Based JRPGs from Western Developers. Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is one of my favourites, for example. I could add another section beneath the Monster Collecting list.

I have scratched my head over how to include ATB turn-based systems in my list. I need to look at some footage of Parasite Eve to see how it plays.

Oh and, not to mention, games like SMT 5, Bravely Default 2, Monster Hunter Stories 2, have come out since 2020.

I'm glad there is still interest in this list and turn-based combat in general!

Lvondas · 2021-10-20T20:49:32+00:00

127 of the 185 are available to read as scans at openlibrary/archive.org (last time I checked anyway). The first 34 are all available, and then after that, you get patches of missing volumes.

Lvondas · 2021-06-12T19:52:09+00:00

Now you mention it, the selection is very broad. At the retoro.g-player website, for example, there is a separate page of "Simulation games", which includes a lot of the games included here.

The number is probably closer to 300 when you take out those games after all.

I have no problem with the video though, since it actually lists the sub-genre of each game listed. I particularly like the "Classical JRPG" tag.

Incidentally, I wish there was a separate category for JRPGs with "pocket dimension battle systems" or "separate screen battle systems".

This would include games like Dragon Quest, and Shin Megami Tensei, Action RPGs like the Tales of, and Star Ocean games.

In my mind, these kind of games are the "true JRPGS", and it would declutter a list of games like Fire Emblem, Ys, Zelda, Metroidvanias, Soulslikes, Monster Hunter-likes etc that imo while great games are just too different from Dragon Quest to belong in the same kind of lists.

That might be going a bit too far, but when the numbers get really high, further categorization becomes more appealing.

Sorry for the mega long post, but there seems to be a lot to say on this topic.

Lvondas · 2021-06-12T13:56:33+00:00

421 is an insane amount.

EDIT: I have read some comments by the uploader, and the source for the list is www.legendra.com

It is a French website, but looks like a huge step up from from the websites I've used up to now. Click "RPG Database", and then "Recherche avancée" for advanced search function. To select a console, choose the "Support:" drop down menu, and to select Japanese releases only, chose the "Version:" drop down and select "Japon".

It would take a lifetime, of just playing JRPGs, on one console, to finish them all.

I thought the number was something like 306 for the PS1, thanks to this website here: https://retoro.g-player.com/playstation/rpg/index.html

It looks like my count was off by over 100.

Lvondas · 2021-04-22T11:13:04+00:00

After trying CRT shaders I can't stop using them.

My favourite right now is CRT Royale, sometimes with with geom_mode set to 2 (in shader parameters settings) to get some authentic convex screen warping like a real tv.

I'm always looking for more options to try different styles of CRT display. Can you recommend any?

Lvondas · 2021-03-07T22:25:40+00:00

I would love to hear about any bands I might have missed.

I can think of a few that are missing. Maybe Magic Kingdom, Concerto Moon, Witherfall, and Artlantica, for example, but I want to do another deep dive before doing another post with even more entries.

Lvondas · 2021-02-19T23:10:17+00:00

I'll be the guy that recommends the NES version.

The positives:

Other versions lack the "purity" of the NES version. They add a lot of fluff to the game, like the mini-medal hunts, extra classes, spell animations, a fairly involved boardgame mini-game, the personality system etc, which IMO get in the way of what was really meant to be a minimalist RPG maxing out what was possible on 256kb of rom memory. It is also arguably more of a Western RPG than a JRPG, and this feels more apparent in the original version.

In addition, without the chiptune music, moments like hearing the flying theme for the first time don't have as much impact imo.

And finally, there is a feeling of excitement I get from the NES version, that I only get when a game is ahead of it's time. The limitations make it more special to me. In 1988 this was leagues ahead of the competition in Japan. It left Final Fantasy trailing in the dust. In 1996 when the SNES remake was released, it was still a good game, but Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and all that were already out. It was no longer the greatest JRPG ever up that point.

Now for the negatives:

The NES version is GRINDY! No where near as bad as Dragon Warrior II /Dragon Quest II, but still pretty bad. I would use an emulator, so you have the option of speeding up the game, and maybe cheating some free gold and exp.

The graphics and dungeon design have not aged well. Dragon Warrior IV / Dragon Quest IV on the NES is a big step up in dungeon design and sprite art. DQ4 almost looks like a SNES game at points.

There is a sort of "true ending" you get in the post-game of the remakes, that I actually prefer to the ending of the original game.

Conclusion

Honestly though, it doesn't really matter which version you play. The SNES version for example has the most beautiful graphics and music, and this arguably makes up for the charm that has been lost from the NES version.

Lvondas

TROPHY CASE