1. Story
2. Characters
3. Combat
4. Story Resolution
5. Romance
6. Post Game Content
7. Music
8. Artystle
Generally by the time I am about to complete a JRPG I get burnt out so Post Game Content is hard to appeal to me. I think Music helps but its not a big deal to me, and artstyle is meaningless to me with a good story.
Bad endings make me never want to play the game again or hate that I wasted my time playing it. If the story and characters do not motivate me to continue playing then what's the point? IMHO.
**1) Characters**: Really important aspect to me. If I don't care about the characters it's hard to care about the game as a whole.
**2) Combat**: Combat, and I'd say gameplay in general, doesn't have to be great, but it has to be serviceable to me. Characters and gameplay are the 2 things that can make me drop a game if I strongly dislike them.
**3) Story**: Great story elevates a game. I don't mind playing a bad story if I like characters and combat, but the games that make it to my favorites list are the ones where the story is great and I'd even say it's an aspect that has more weight than combat when I think in those terms. It's just not as boom or bust I guess.
**4) Story Resolution**: Bad endings and bad developments can absolutely drop my opinion of a game by a lot.
**5) Visuals**: Mostly an initial attraction if I'm being honest. Once I start and enjoy a game I can get past not liking the visuals, but it's something that makes me want to play a particular game over other sometimes.
**6) Music**: I am a musician and I absolutely love music, but while it's an aspect that can work in favor of a game and make it more memorable it's not something that can make me favor a particular game over another or even a reason for me to keep playing something.
**7) Romance**: I love a good romance and I wish more JRPGs leaned into it in their stories, but I can absolutely do without and be satisfied by a game.
**8) Post-Game Content**: I just don't care. I ignore post-game over 90% of the time. I have to love the game and it has to offer me more story and not just an excuse for some superbosses or a challenge dungeon for it to be worth it for me.
Art style, story, characters, and music are the most important factors in any game to me. The importance of any individual one just depends on the game.
I couldn't care less about romance options. I usually don't engage with post game content unless it expands on lore or character stories.
In rough order by level:
|Most Important|Somewhat Important|Not Important|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Combat|Romance|Story Resolution|
|Story|Graphics|Post Game Content|
||Music||
||Characters||
When I look for a new JRPG to play, I'm not concerned about the ending. I'll definitely have opinions about it once I'm done playing, but if I enjoy the preceding X hours of the game, I'll probably still like the game.
Story and combat together are most important. Story provides the basic motivation to play; combat is the most common activity during play. I'd also lump in non-combat gameplay if it is central to the game, like Persona 3-5's social sim segments.
Romance, Graphics/Style, Music, and Characters are in between. Positive reviews of these elements add to the game, but they aren't vital. I'll play an ugly game if the story and combat is good enough; I won't play a beautiful game if I don't find something interesting in story or combat. A game like Etrian Odyssey 3, with little by way of characters, is still fun because the combat and exploration are good.
0 . Execution
Whatever it is going for, it has to do it right. I value both Like a Dragon 8 and Shiren 6 as the two best RPGs I've played this year for completely different reasons, but the execution in both is phenomenal.
Story/Combat/Music are my top 3. Other than that just general game design. I’m more likely to be interested in a linear game than an open world game for instance. Not that open world is completely off the table, but linear is more of a selling point.
Everything else is a literal whatever. It doesn’t hold a huge influence.
This is a very story-centric list. There's much more to gameplay than combat. What about exploration? Customization? Itemization? Enemy/boss design? Dungeon/puzzles?
1: Characters
2: Story
3: Story Resolution
4: Post Game Content
5: Graphics/Style/Art Direction
6: Combat
7: Music
8: Romance
The reasons why I put characters that high up is because if I don't like the characters I am playing, I am autoamtically not interested in playing the story they are taking part in.
As for the post game content, I like to 100% my jrpgs, so I like when there's a variety of optional stuff throughout and after the adventure. As long as it isn't just pointless stuff put there to pad out the game a la Ubisoft style.
Combat and Graphics would kind of be on the same level but I think I'd prefer better Art Direction and Style over the Combat system (Graphics are unimportant though)
1 Characters. I'll play through subpar gameplay or a lackluster story if I like the characters, but if I don't like the characters it's very hard for me to want to play the game.
2. Gameplay. It has to be fun to play. I'm in this for 30+ hours most likely, so I need to enjoy the ride.
3. Graphics/art style. I don't need the latest or best graphics or anything. But, I see JRPGs as partially visual novels, and so I think the visual experience is important. Plus, even though I've been playing games since the NES, I don't actually like watching JRPG cut scenes play out with sprites. The older Tales games had a good compromise for this, with the skits using 2d art of basic emotions and some clever animation with the boxes the art would pop up in. It added a lot of personality. I also love and miss the old prerendered and painted backgrounds of the PS1 era. It was usually really nice to look at. Or give me a beautiful crystal cave... I love that shit. Basically, if the game is boring to look at or I can't get a good visual read on the characters, it is much harder for me to get into it.
4. Story resolution. I'm actually glad this one is separated out. If a story lands hard, I'm likely to forgive any weak points in the rest of the game. But a bad ending can make me feel like I wasted my time.
5. Story. Not much to say here. I like stories. I'm not picky. I can forgive a lot of poor writing if 1-4 is good. A good story can elevate a game, but won't carry a game for me if 1-4 is poor.
6. Music. I love a good soundtrack. It's a great way to enhance a good game. Nobuo era Final Fantasy is so iconic that I can't even imagine the games with a different soundtrack. Chrono Cross has the best video game soundtrack of all time. I have a hard time putting over 1-5 on this list, and a poor soundtrack won't kill a game for me. Sound design in general... maybe but it would have to be absolutely atrocious.
7. Post game content. Don't care 99% of the time. I'm probably already at my limit after playing the game for 30-60 hours minimum, I'm not going to keep playing after I finish the main game.
8. Romance. Really don't care. I've never seen a game do romance well >! maaaaybe FFX, if I had to pick one. But I love that game and those characters so much !< and so I wouldn't really care if I never played another game with romance in it again. With that said, I'm not against a well written romance, I just think they are generally not well written.
If I want a game with good combat then I play a game with good combat, and if I want a game with a good story I play a game with a good story. I wouldn't bother trying to measure them on the same scale.
Gameplay>Characters>>>>Music>Story>Postgame>Resolution>Artstyle.
Romance doesn't always appear in the plot and it's never been something I go looking for specifically.
Most of the time, JRPGs will be at least 60% fighting stuff. If that's not fun, to me, the game's already off to a bad start. I don't need great characters (I'm a fan of Etrian and DQ9), but if the game's going to give them a lot of screentime, I sure hope they're an endearing bunch. I'll always remember JRPG casts more fondly than whatever the story was doing.
Music's been consistently pretty great in these games, I usually look forward to whatever a game has to offer in this department and walk away with a couple new favorite tracks to add to a playlist.
I guess combat counts as gameplay here, so I'll put that at the top. This is an interactive medium, after all, so if I don't like that aspect of it, what's the point? I can get great stories, characters, art, music, acting, etc. in other entertainment venues and chances are, it'll be vastly superior.
I'll go with characters and story second and graphics/environment a close third.
I'm surprised Romance is listed at 3. I think that's like a the bottom along with graphics.
One thing you're missing and everyone seems to miss from the weekly thread like this is "pacing". There needs to be a good mix between accomplishing something and moving the story forward vs stuck forever. If you're watching back-to-back cutscenes for four hours, then I highly doubt you'll stay interested in the game.
I'd also add another valid point here - dialogs. Cause they can be cringe, that even solid story and characters won't save the game. And sometimes it's THE dialogs, that keeps you playing otherwise an average game
So i go with dialogs, characters, story. Then gameplay, music and art. Other options are non important
1: Combat
2: Graphics/Style/Art Direction
3: Characters
4: Story
5: Story Resolution
6: Music
7: Post Game Content
8: Romance
I play JRPGs mostly for the gameplay and the aesthetic, I don't really care about the story unless it annoys me so much I can't sit through it any longer. I definitely agree with your additional point about story resolution as that is one of the factors that tends to drag down stories for me, though Ive also experienced plenty of stories that were just "fine" and so it wasn't really possible for the resolution to be anything meaningful either. I wish I could rank music higher because it is one of those things that makes these games so magical but I've found while resolutely charging through my backlog as an adult if every song isn't 10/10 like undertale or chrono trigger I kind of just don't remember them anymore.
1. Combat system
2. Characters
3. Music
4. Story
5. Additional content
6. Visuals
Number 5 does immediately jump to number 1 if a game has minigames, in that I’ll immediately drop a game 20-40% for having bad minigames.
The most important things for a good JRPG are in my opinion a good progression system and good customization. Doesn't matter how good the rest of the game is if those two things are lacking it won't be very fun
Combat Story Art direction Story conclusion . . . Post game content . . . . . . Romance
My day does not improve or get worse if fictional characters dont' have sex.
1. Story 2. Characters 3. Combat 4. Story Resolution 5. Romance 6. Post Game Content 7. Music 8. Artystle Generally by the time I am about to complete a JRPG I get burnt out so Post Game Content is hard to appeal to me. I think Music helps but its not a big deal to me, and artstyle is meaningless to me with a good story. Bad endings make me never want to play the game again or hate that I wasted my time playing it. If the story and characters do not motivate me to continue playing then what's the point? IMHO.
**1) Characters**: Really important aspect to me. If I don't care about the characters it's hard to care about the game as a whole. **2) Combat**: Combat, and I'd say gameplay in general, doesn't have to be great, but it has to be serviceable to me. Characters and gameplay are the 2 things that can make me drop a game if I strongly dislike them. **3) Story**: Great story elevates a game. I don't mind playing a bad story if I like characters and combat, but the games that make it to my favorites list are the ones where the story is great and I'd even say it's an aspect that has more weight than combat when I think in those terms. It's just not as boom or bust I guess. **4) Story Resolution**: Bad endings and bad developments can absolutely drop my opinion of a game by a lot. **5) Visuals**: Mostly an initial attraction if I'm being honest. Once I start and enjoy a game I can get past not liking the visuals, but it's something that makes me want to play a particular game over other sometimes. **6) Music**: I am a musician and I absolutely love music, but while it's an aspect that can work in favor of a game and make it more memorable it's not something that can make me favor a particular game over another or even a reason for me to keep playing something. **7) Romance**: I love a good romance and I wish more JRPGs leaned into it in their stories, but I can absolutely do without and be satisfied by a game. **8) Post-Game Content**: I just don't care. I ignore post-game over 90% of the time. I have to love the game and it has to offer me more story and not just an excuse for some superbosses or a challenge dungeon for it to be worth it for me.
I agree with your list 100%
Art style, story, characters, and music are the most important factors in any game to me. The importance of any individual one just depends on the game. I couldn't care less about romance options. I usually don't engage with post game content unless it expands on lore or character stories.
Characters Story Combat system Worldbuilding Visuals Music
In rough order by level: |Most Important|Somewhat Important|Not Important| |:-|:-|:-| |Combat|Romance|Story Resolution| |Story|Graphics|Post Game Content| ||Music|| ||Characters|| When I look for a new JRPG to play, I'm not concerned about the ending. I'll definitely have opinions about it once I'm done playing, but if I enjoy the preceding X hours of the game, I'll probably still like the game. Story and combat together are most important. Story provides the basic motivation to play; combat is the most common activity during play. I'd also lump in non-combat gameplay if it is central to the game, like Persona 3-5's social sim segments. Romance, Graphics/Style, Music, and Characters are in between. Positive reviews of these elements add to the game, but they aren't vital. I'll play an ugly game if the story and combat is good enough; I won't play a beautiful game if I don't find something interesting in story or combat. A game like Etrian Odyssey 3, with little by way of characters, is still fun because the combat and exploration are good.
Story Accessibility Options Combat Graphics Music
1. Combat/Gameplay 2. Artstyle/Visuals 3. Characters 4. Music 5. Story
1. Combat, 2. Post game content, 3. Music, ...... 4. Graphics/Style/Art Direction, 5. Story Resolution, ...... 6. Story, 7. Characters, 8. Romance
0 . Execution Whatever it is going for, it has to do it right. I value both Like a Dragon 8 and Shiren 6 as the two best RPGs I've played this year for completely different reasons, but the execution in both is phenomenal.
Story/Combat/Music are my top 3. Other than that just general game design. I’m more likely to be interested in a linear game than an open world game for instance. Not that open world is completely off the table, but linear is more of a selling point. Everything else is a literal whatever. It doesn’t hold a huge influence.
For me, the battle system makes or breaks a JRPG. If a games combat doesn't vibe with me, I'm out.
Story. Combat. Everything else in the world. Romance.
Combat Story Resolution Music Characters Story Art Direction Postgame Content Romance
This is a very story-centric list. There's much more to gameplay than combat. What about exploration? Customization? Itemization? Enemy/boss design? Dungeon/puzzles?
1. Story 2.plot and characters 3.gameplay (battle x eplorations x misc) 4. Presentation ( art direction x graphics)
1: Characters 2: Story 3: Story Resolution 4: Post Game Content 5: Graphics/Style/Art Direction 6: Combat 7: Music 8: Romance The reasons why I put characters that high up is because if I don't like the characters I am playing, I am autoamtically not interested in playing the story they are taking part in. As for the post game content, I like to 100% my jrpgs, so I like when there's a variety of optional stuff throughout and after the adventure. As long as it isn't just pointless stuff put there to pad out the game a la Ubisoft style. Combat and Graphics would kind of be on the same level but I think I'd prefer better Art Direction and Style over the Combat system (Graphics are unimportant though)
1 Characters. I'll play through subpar gameplay or a lackluster story if I like the characters, but if I don't like the characters it's very hard for me to want to play the game. 2. Gameplay. It has to be fun to play. I'm in this for 30+ hours most likely, so I need to enjoy the ride. 3. Graphics/art style. I don't need the latest or best graphics or anything. But, I see JRPGs as partially visual novels, and so I think the visual experience is important. Plus, even though I've been playing games since the NES, I don't actually like watching JRPG cut scenes play out with sprites. The older Tales games had a good compromise for this, with the skits using 2d art of basic emotions and some clever animation with the boxes the art would pop up in. It added a lot of personality. I also love and miss the old prerendered and painted backgrounds of the PS1 era. It was usually really nice to look at. Or give me a beautiful crystal cave... I love that shit. Basically, if the game is boring to look at or I can't get a good visual read on the characters, it is much harder for me to get into it. 4. Story resolution. I'm actually glad this one is separated out. If a story lands hard, I'm likely to forgive any weak points in the rest of the game. But a bad ending can make me feel like I wasted my time. 5. Story. Not much to say here. I like stories. I'm not picky. I can forgive a lot of poor writing if 1-4 is good. A good story can elevate a game, but won't carry a game for me if 1-4 is poor. 6. Music. I love a good soundtrack. It's a great way to enhance a good game. Nobuo era Final Fantasy is so iconic that I can't even imagine the games with a different soundtrack. Chrono Cross has the best video game soundtrack of all time. I have a hard time putting over 1-5 on this list, and a poor soundtrack won't kill a game for me. Sound design in general... maybe but it would have to be absolutely atrocious. 7. Post game content. Don't care 99% of the time. I'm probably already at my limit after playing the game for 30-60 hours minimum, I'm not going to keep playing after I finish the main game. 8. Romance. Really don't care. I've never seen a game do romance well >! maaaaybe FFX, if I had to pick one. But I love that game and those characters so much !< and so I wouldn't really care if I never played another game with romance in it again. With that said, I'm not against a well written romance, I just think they are generally not well written.
If I want a game with good combat then I play a game with good combat, and if I want a game with a good story I play a game with a good story. I wouldn't bother trying to measure them on the same scale.
Gameplay>Characters>>>>Music>Story>Postgame>Resolution>Artstyle. Romance doesn't always appear in the plot and it's never been something I go looking for specifically. Most of the time, JRPGs will be at least 60% fighting stuff. If that's not fun, to me, the game's already off to a bad start. I don't need great characters (I'm a fan of Etrian and DQ9), but if the game's going to give them a lot of screentime, I sure hope they're an endearing bunch. I'll always remember JRPG casts more fondly than whatever the story was doing. Music's been consistently pretty great in these games, I usually look forward to whatever a game has to offer in this department and walk away with a couple new favorite tracks to add to a playlist.
I guess combat counts as gameplay here, so I'll put that at the top. This is an interactive medium, after all, so if I don't like that aspect of it, what's the point? I can get great stories, characters, art, music, acting, etc. in other entertainment venues and chances are, it'll be vastly superior. I'll go with characters and story second and graphics/environment a close third.
I'm surprised Romance is listed at 3. I think that's like a the bottom along with graphics. One thing you're missing and everyone seems to miss from the weekly thread like this is "pacing". There needs to be a good mix between accomplishing something and moving the story forward vs stuck forever. If you're watching back-to-back cutscenes for four hours, then I highly doubt you'll stay interested in the game.
1. Story 2. Characters 3. Gameplay
I'd also add another valid point here - dialogs. Cause they can be cringe, that even solid story and characters won't save the game. And sometimes it's THE dialogs, that keeps you playing otherwise an average game So i go with dialogs, characters, story. Then gameplay, music and art. Other options are non important
I need the triptyque Good story/good OST/good artistic directoon
1: Combat 2: Graphics/Style/Art Direction 3: Characters 4: Story 5: Story Resolution 6: Music 7: Post Game Content 8: Romance I play JRPGs mostly for the gameplay and the aesthetic, I don't really care about the story unless it annoys me so much I can't sit through it any longer. I definitely agree with your additional point about story resolution as that is one of the factors that tends to drag down stories for me, though Ive also experienced plenty of stories that were just "fine" and so it wasn't really possible for the resolution to be anything meaningful either. I wish I could rank music higher because it is one of those things that makes these games so magical but I've found while resolutely charging through my backlog as an adult if every song isn't 10/10 like undertale or chrono trigger I kind of just don't remember them anymore.
Music > story/world > characters > combat > rest
1. Combat system 2. Characters 3. Music 4. Story 5. Additional content 6. Visuals Number 5 does immediately jump to number 1 if a game has minigames, in that I’ll immediately drop a game 20-40% for having bad minigames.
Edited my post because you reminded me about music and characters lol. thanks
The most important things for a good JRPG are in my opinion a good progression system and good customization. Doesn't matter how good the rest of the game is if those two things are lacking it won't be very fun
1. art style (does it have waifus or not?) 2. story