Jrpgs are my jam. My bread and butter. A nice cup of hot chocolate when I’m feeling blue, and by far my favorite style of game. This list is my personal favorite top 10 not the ones most critically rated although wider cultural significance and impact on the industry was considered slightly (an obvious example is FF7 which anyone knows will be on here)

10. Dragon Quest 11

Originally launched solely on the switch before being ported to more popular consoles, this game was such a breath of fresh air for the time period. A return to true to form turn based combat that made the genre. It serves as a sort of soft reboot of the franchise as well, at least in the switch version with the toggles but I don’t think that’s whole side plot gameboy style side quest made the cross over.

9. FF 12

Most people will resent this being anywhere near this list but it won’t be near as bad as reaction to what’s coming trust me. It was the first FF game to truly try to innovate combat for better or worse, told a more mature story about politics (until the obligatory god character comes in 90% through) and actually had the player character who we are suppose to see as the protagonist as homeless orphan

8. FF 9

This game does two things. It gives fans of the series a more traditional fantasy game following the cyberpunk vibes of 7 and 8 as well as serving as a swan song for the glorious ps1 era. It’s smart and fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It even fricking kills Vivi lol

7. Persona 4

Much less adored and likely even acknowledged than its world wide stunning follow up. This was an amazing game that actually tooled around and developed concepts only to later be fully realized in Persona 5

6. Final Fantasy 13 trilogy

Now this is the one I suspect I’ll get shite on all over. And I get it. I get and acknowledge the problems people have with this game and I’m gonna run down every single thing I like about it. The dialogue especially in the beginning is fully detailed without exposition expecting players to mine data logs. But if you play through again knowing what it all means I suspect you’ll appreciate it more. I also just love the combat system in these 3 games. Some of the best ever made imo.

5. FF 10

This game was my first real jrpg and holds such a special place in my heart. With everyone curious what square could deliver in the ps2 era man did they fricking nail it. Such a powerful story about love, loss, redemption, and sacrifice.

4. Chrono Trigger

This game, along with the outrageous marketing campaign for a game to soon follow it FF7, are basically responsible for launching the genre world wide and it deserves its due for that.

3. Vagrant Story/Ff Tactics tie

A lot of people either don’t remember or never played these two games. Which is a shame since they’re both powerful stories with important things to say and both do it it in very different styles both thematically and gameplay wise. Tactics even gives you a much better understanding of FF12 in light of the ocuria and the aeons (forgot what they’re called in this universe)

2. FF7 original

Ah yes, this game I can come back to time and again and get the feeling of a mother’s comfort. The first video game that’s truly went worldwide from a Japanese studio on a major console (in large part thanks to Sony for pumping more money into marketing than me at a Vegas titty bar). It quite literally set the stage for everything video games would become. The first open world as we know it, with any significance, the first to not be afraid to explore modern social and political issues seriously but in a subtle way that didn’t put you off, the first to show what narrative powerhouses video games could be. And it gave us the single best antagonist or perhaps even go as far as dual antagonist or maybe you could make the argument Sephiroth is an anti-hero controlled by Jeneva (crisis core does this). This game changed the “game” in so many ways we owe all we have today to it.

1 Persona 5

For any Jrpg fan this rest on its on laurels snd nothing I could say would ever do it justice. So I won’t.

This post was edited on 8/10/21 at 1:56 pm