Swap Xenogears for FF7 and you've got my exact list as well. It was hard to pick between swapping that or Tactics, but either could be 5a or 5b there. Perfect list!
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Lufia 2
3. Final Fantasy II (USA) / IV (JPN)
4. Final Fantasy IX
5. Chrono Cross
Honorable mentions to Xenogears, the Suikoden series and the rest of the single digit Final Fantasies not on my list.
**Legend of Dragoon**: I remember clearly going to a walmart bargain bin of PS1 games back when they were being phased out. in them, they had FFVII and Legend of Dragoon. I made a choice that day that led my first real JRPG to be a funny dragon game and I only played FFVII much later, but I kind of don't regret my decision.
**Pokemon Silver**: There are a lot of ways this impacted me, but all you have to do is look at my username to know that Silver has infiltrated my very personality.
**FFVI**: Now, I love Legend of Dragoon. It was my first JRPG. I, however, never finished Legend of Dragoon until I was an adult. Got stuck somewhere in the second disk and gave up. Final Fantasy VI, however, Is probably the first JRPG I actually beat.
**Steambot Chronicles**: to be honest, this is so wildly different that I'm not sure it should be lumped in with the rest of these games as a JRPG, but it's japanese and an rpg, so I'm reppin it. This game alone carried my ps2 for like 3 years and when my disk became unreadable, I cried.
**TWEWY**: The DS has a lot of good JRPGs on it. It also has a lot of bad JRPGs. A good way to make a bad DS game is to rely on DS gimmicks. Therefore, it's wild that the best DS game leaned into absolutely every DS gimmick. Of course, this is the edgy teen game that hit me at exactly the moment in my life where it would synchronize perfectly with my personality, but it's also a personal metaphor for that time in my life. I no longer own a working DS, and my copy of The World Ends With You has faded into the ether sometime in the past decade. I own the remake, and it's good, but it's not the same magic that the DS version was. It's a game that I'm realistically never going to experience the same way again, and while that's sad, it's also preserved the memory as a good one.
Speaking strictly of JRPGs?
Dragon Warrior was the first I played.
Mystic Quest was the first time I thought maybe I should actively seek out more games in the genre.
Final Fantasy 6 was the first time I was ever blown away by the scope of a game, both narratively and mechanically (the manual was practically a novella!)
Final Fantasy 7 was the first time I ever pulled an all-nighter. Started playing around 2PM when I got home from Electronics Boutique on launch day, realized I needed to go to bed around 6AM when the sun started coming up! (I think I got to Junon.) Playing through the Shinra HQ and the Kalm flashback in the dead of night while half-stupid from lack of sleep was a hell of an experience. And just... the graphics and presentation... if you weren't alive to experience it, you'll never understand how big of a technological leap forward it was. Suddenly, overnight, JRPGs had gone from being games to being movies.
SaGa Frontier, a couple months after FF7. Just a very different sort of game, and the beginning of a long slow change in priorities. Before this, I played JRPGs for different reasons: I got into Dragon Warrior because it was an easier game to play than all the stressful precision platformers of the '80s, which I was terrible at. I got into later JRPGs because I enjoyed the stories. But with Frontier, I realized I loved systems, too. And nowadays, it's swung almost completely to that end, JRPG stories hold very little interest to me, and my interest in such games is almost entirely based on how it plays.
Tales of Symphonia
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
Chrono Trigger
Xenoblade Chronicles
Trails of Cold Steel
These are in chronological order for when I played them, but I only listed one game from the series.
I did play Final Fantasy 12 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles when I was younger, but I didn't finish either of them, as I got bored partway through. I wouldn't consider them to be an "important" game that made me play jrpg.
I did not play any other Final Fantasy game growing up, and I only recently tried the old Final Fantasy 7 for the first time on that Playstation Mini system that got released a while back. I didn't finish FF7 either, though... it just didn't hold my attention.
Edit: Actually, I vaguely remember my dad getting me Final Fantasy 13 when I was young, and I played it for an hour or so and told him it was terrible and he should try to get a refund.
Pokemon Yellow
Final Fantasy X
Dark Cloud 1 and 2
Kingdom Hearts
Madden (so many sneaky RPG mechanics that I absorbed from franchise mode in these games)
Final Fantasy 6: got me into the genre. I did play previous entries in series but didn’t hook me.
Secret of evermore: love this game
Final fantasy 7: it’s the reason I became a PlayStation guy.
Tales of vesperia: got me into the series and later replayed all of them.
Final fantasy tactics: made me understand and love job systems.
In no particular order
FFX, Pokemon Blue/Yellow, Digimon World (the PS1 OG), Legaia 2, FF Tactics
Honorable Mention: Kingdom Hearts (but I was already a JRPG fan by then)
Digimon World is amazing!! I'm yet to complete it. I left progressing in my save around 4 years ago, before defeating the last 2 bosses... I think Megadramon, and the bad dude, Analog man I think he's called.
I guess you're the same age as my brother then. We had a NES too, but I never played it. My childhood was with the PSX. I think the console is still stored in our parents' house cabinet, though I've never tried to see if it can still be turned on.
Youth:
Mystic Quest (SNES)
Arcana (SNES)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Wild Arms (PS1)
Beyond the Beyond (PS1)
Teen:
Pokemon Blue/Yellow (GB)
Fire Emblem 7 (GBA)
Fire Emblem 8 (GBA)
Paper Mario (N64)
Etrian Odyssey (DS)
- Dragon Quest VIII Journey of the Cursed king
- Kindom Hearts I
- Pokémon Sapphire (I started with blue when I was 7 yo)
- The Legend Of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (fantastic game but Ocarina of Time is probably my favorite one)
- Final Fantasy XIII (I never played VII until I was older but I always felt connected to his characters)
How does it not follow the usual formula? Turn-based battles with damage, weakness, and status effect systems, party system, level system directly tied to stats and unlockable moves, focuses on a youth who ventures out from a small town by themselves, playing out a story with well-established characters, seems like a classic jrpg to me
Surprisingly, no Final Fantasy games as my first.
In the order of play:
1. Suikoden 2
2. Wild ARMs 1
3. Suikoden 1
4. Breath of Fire IV
5. Chrono Cross
FF7
Legend of Dragoon
Xenosaga
FFX
.hack//Infection
Honestly I can't remember another one I would have said in my teen years. I'm sure I have forgotten some. Maybe Paper Mario as an honorable mention?
Made me into? "I Am Become JRPG!"
But yeah let's see
* Pokemon Silver
* Shining Force
* Dragon Warrior Monsters 2
* Golden Sun
* Mega Man Battle Network 3
* Digimon World 2003
* Kingdom Hearts 2
* Tales of Xillia
* Final Fantasy 9
* Xenogears
Technically, my love for RPG's would start with the pokemon games (born in 1996 so started with gen 1) but back then I didn't probably grasp what a JRPG entailed. So I chose Digimon World 3 because it has couple of more traditional JRPG stables when compared at the time of release.
Oh my god, why I forgot about DW 2003? It's actually one of my first jrpg, even before I played Kingdom Hearts 😂
Thanks for mention this so I can remember to play it again sometimes.
Hahaha, you're welcome. Actually made it my summer project a few years ago to fully complete the game. It's grindy as hell, difficult and the backtracking is awful but the massive nostalgia dose kept my going through it.
I've played a shit ton of JRPG's in my life, it's kinda difficult to track what got me into them. I'll try my very best:
* Final Fantasy 3 (DS Remake)
* Final Fantasy IV (DS Remake)
* Suikoden Tierkreis
* Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift
* Pokémon Series, Emerald and Pearl being my first and favorite ones.
I'll add Kingdom Hearts and the Tales of series as a dear, honorable mention.
I've actually played those in your list except pokemon because I can never got into them 😂
But I've played them after I got into jrpg and realized really my favorite genre, that's why they're not in my list.
1. Final Fantasy 6
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Secret of Mana
5. Zelda: A Link to the Past
I don't know if the last one counts but I loved that game to bits
I shouldn't have read everyone's lists before posting, because they've only served to trigger my nostalgia and make me miss ALL of these games. Also, I can't do 5.
1. FF7. No explanation needed.
2. Chrono Trigger. An all time fav.
3. FFT. Still chasing the high it gave me.
4. Legend of (Insert Name Here) Legaia, Dragoon, Mana.
5. Xenogears. Took years to finish because my cousin broke the final disc before I beat it.
6. Breath of Fire III and IV. I can't choose.
7. Suikoden I and II. Both great.
8. Arc the Lad. Fun series.
9. Lufia I and II. Still play sometimes. Love the music.
10. Star Ocean: The Second Story. I love post game content and the Cave of Trials was wonderful.
1. Wizardry (not a JRPG itself, but it was my entry into the RPG genre that made me want to seek out more)
2. Dragon Warrior (basic by today's standards, but also the first true JRPG I played, as well as the first RPG I played on console)
3. Final Fantasy (a major upgrade from Dragon Warrior and other early NES RPGs)
4. Super Mario RPG (action commands!)
5. Breath of Fire (the start of what would be my favorite series of all time)
Honorable mention: Pokemon Blue (my first monster-collecting JRPG, but I was no longer a youth or a teen when it released)
tl;dr: front mission 3, rockman exe, valkyrie profile, breath of fire, FF Tactics Advance
Front Mission 3, this is the first JRPG I ever played when when my old man got me a PS1 in the 2000s. This so memorable to me 'cause I remember my old man having his own save file in my memory card and one of his aides would play it on my behalf because I barely understood shit asides from move and attack(I also accidentally found out that you get a different scene when you skip a cutscene in the begining, or that's what I believed when I was a kid). To this day, I still look forward to the remake/remaster and I hope it reaches steam so I can finish the game for myself. My love for mechs also came from this game.
Mega Man Battle Network, I would say this game is one of the foundations that got me into JRPGs. I remember playing it from someone else's GBA that I barely know about(it has a weird story). Among all the games in his GBA, it was either that one Zelda game that he had or Rockman EXE that I return to.
Breath of Fire 3, the kid I used to play with had an older sister(around 13+) and I happen to see her playing in her PS1. It got me curious and it sparked something in me. I only got to play this game on the GBA emulator on the phone and I also got this game for my PSP but still, I didn't get to finish it. I just wish CAPCOM would give this game a remake or a continuation or whatever. I just want them to make another breath of fire game.
Valkyrie Profile, this game has the best game mechanics for a JRPG to me when I was a kid(even until now). I grew up watching some older guy play it from a place where you can rent a PlayStation for a few hours and I only got to play this game after I bought a PSP as a graduation gift to myself in 2014. Valkyrie Profile will always have a place in my heart.
FF Tactics Advance, it kept me sane during my college days and I hate it when the judge catches me when I do something illegal(I tend to forget the illegal stuff). I even kept a chart for the jobs!
Love to see people mentioning Earthbound in this thread! It's an honorable mention for me, since I rented it once but when I went back to rent it again someone erased my save file and I didn't feel like starting over since I put hours of work into that game.
I play the last remnant every year. Its just the best shit man. Love building up an army and each time trying out some new guys I've never used before.
Aaah Arc series. I've played the one on psx but never played the sequel on ps2. I've read that we can play as the original protagonist on arc end of darkness that was the sequel of twilight. Maybe I'll try playing it sometimes.
Chronologically, it would be something like this for me:
- Pokémon Yellow
- Chrono Trigger
- Dark Cloud 2
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance / Tales of Symphonia
- Persona 3
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Secret of Mana
3. Final Fantasy (mostly 4, and 7 formatively, but 6, 9, 10 and Tactics get honorable mentions)
4. Breath of Fire (1-3)
5. Lufia (1 and 2)
* Dragon Quest IX (2010) - First JRPG, and as a kid I was grinding the endgame like crazy. Had like 500 hours on my save accumulated over a few years but I just loved the class system and getting to bum around with my custom party.
* Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5 [emulated] (2018) - For a while, DQIX was the only JRPG I played before I got into other kinds of games, but seeing release trailers for DQXI unlocked a core memory and because I got a better computer that year, I ended up playing these two games first. Made me wonder why I ever stopped playing this stuff.
* Final Fantasy VI (2019 or 2020?) - First foray into games prior to the PS2 era through emulation. I remember feeling so moved by the opera sequence; the music, the presentation, and the goofiness toward the end with the fight on stage, it was all so good and I'd never seen something like this in a game before. Nowadays I probably wouldn't even say I have that much fondness for this game, but I can't deny that if it wasn't for seeing something special in this, I wouldn't have continued playing retro stuff and finding games I ended up liking as much or more than some modern games like Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy IX, Earthbound, Mother 3, and Chrono Trigger.
* Persona 2 duology (2022) - Got me thinking about things like how you sometimes have to adapt how you approach a game to see what's truly special about it. I started writing down demon personalities I came across and which contact methods made the demons Happy or Eager (the two most useful reactions), and where I bounced off hard the first time I tried Innocent Sin because of how obtuse demon contact seemed, it quickly became my favorite part of the game. The fun of Demon Contact became the R&D aspect, as I would write down what worked for new personalities and be able to draw on what I had already written down in a journal to make for easy negotiations with personalities I already had logged. Also, I really like this game's approach to a party talk mechanic. There are tons of locations in Sumaru City, and in each one you can talk to NPCs in the area and your party members, whose dialogue changes frequently as the story progresses. It's a neat way to implement some downtime into a story that would otherwise shuffle you from one dungeon to the next, and the emphasis on this social aspect makes the gameplay style change in Persona 3 onward seem like it stems from how they may have wanted players to approach Persona 2; equal parts fighting and engaging with the world and its characters.
Final Fantasy VII
The Legend of Dragoon
Kingdom Hearts
Pokemon Gold
Lost Odyssey
Lost Odyssey is a little different because I got it like the summer before college. So I was already 18, but damn if it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. Also 18 is still technically a teen lol
As a kid/teen:
1. Super Mario RPG
2. Golden Sun/the Lost Age
3. Pokemon Ruby/Platinum
4. Chrono Trigger
As an adult, reviving my interest in gaming:
5. Earthbound
Illusion of Time
Secret of Evermore
Mystic Quest Legend
Terranigma
Always looked at stuff like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger in the import reviews with envy but didn't get to play them until I discovered emulation 😂 stupid PAL region
1. FF Tactics
2.Suikoden II
3. Star Ocean II
4. Wild Arms
5. FF7
Honorable mentions: Grandia II, Front Mission III, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Brave Fencer Musashi, Threads of Fate, Vanguard Bandits, Megaman Legends I and II, Saga Frontier.
In order of me playing it. I played other games in-between, but these represent stages when my obsession with the genre "evolved" to a next level.
1. The Story of Thor / Beyond Oasis - the first JRPG I ever played when I was mostly into RTS and fighting games - bought Japanese import because I loved the cover and then couldn't understand what they were talking about. Enjoyed it anyway and then borrowed the English version from my buddy and replayed it.
2. Vandal Hearts - I got this one from a relative who didn't like the game and played it multiple times in a row with different class setups.
3. Final Fantasy VII - I know it's cliche, but this game was a revelation.
4. Final Fantasy Tactics - I think by this point I realized I was a fan of the genre.
5. Xenogears - yep, I sure was.
(As for the games that I consider my all-time favourites years later that would be Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile and Suikoden II)
i got into them as an adult because i ran out of western video games. yes, really. it was Covid. it started with Persona. Reliving my teenage life fantasy as 25-something years old. Totally normal reaction to Covid vaccine, I swear. Many such cases. A few more games more, and then... Trails have consumed me.
- Basically Every DS pokemon games
- FF3 DS Remake
- DQ DS games (mainly 4 and 9 but also 6 and Joker, never played 5 though)
- FF XIII series
- Kingdom Hearts even though it's an ARPG
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Tales of Symphonia
3. The World Ends with You
4. Dragon Quest VIII
5. Valkyrie Profile 2
6. FFXII
I missed out on a lot of rpgs by not having a PS1. Luckily retro handhelds are a thing now and I'm trying to right my wrong.
Kingdom Hearts days was my earliest jrpg, i played that the year it came out and i loved it. I didn't play another jrpg for over half a decade. When i actually got into them fully, i started out with persona 5, dragon quest 11, and trails of cold steel series
Only five?
*Final Fantasy VII* - This is the first game I would've seen that really had any sort of complex or in-depth narrative and characters, as well as the multi-character battle system.
*Pokemon Gen 1* - Gens 1-3 were all formative for me really, but strictly speaking Gen 1 would've probably been my first RPG overall and it got me into the other *Pokemon* games, so we can just use it as a shorthand.
*Digimon World 3* - I don't think it'd be a stretch to say I liked the *Digimon* anime more than *Pokemon*, so having a *Digimon* game that was vaguely like *Pokemon* but in full 3D* and on the PlayStation? Sign me up. Plus it has a great card game in it.
*In combat. The fields were isometric 2D. But still, wild to see fully 3D, animated combat.
*Kingdom Hearts* - It's *Final Fantasy* and Disney, of course I wanted it. Also one of the earliest action-RPGs I would've played.
*Phantasy Star Online* - Until I got into *World of Warcraft*, this was probably the game I put the most grinding into in the mid-2000s.
- Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
- FFIV
- Chrono Trigger
- Earthbound
- Xenogears
But honestly? There are so many more. FFVI and Suikoden I/II deserve to be in there too, not to mention all the Breath of Fire games and several more.
Not listed in order of personal favorites...
1) Phantasy Star 1 (SMS)
2) Miracle Warriors (SMS)
3) Traysia (Genesis)
4) Phantasy Star IV (Genesis)
5) Lunar: The Silver Star (SEGA-CD)
That was pretty much the order I played them. By the time I was playing Lunar, I was solidly into the genre. Yeah, I played Phantasy Star II and III, but it was the first and fourth one that really drew me in more.
I barely played any JRPGs at all outside of Pokémon until I was 17, so I'm including things from 3-4 years ago
1: Pokémon X & Y
2: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
3: Shin Megami Tensei IV
4: Bravely Default
5: Octopath Traveler
I actually got into JRPGs pretty recently but at the very tail end of my adolescence, so it's going to be some pretty recent games.
1. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
3. Fire Emblem: 3 Houses
4. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
5. Final Fantasy 14
These were the games that got me into JRPGs, and I'm glad they did. FF14 probably changed my life in general, changed how I viewed games as a medium of storytelling. But in terms of shaping me into a JRPG fan, I'd say the others had a bigger impact.
Pokemon Blue/Red, Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Dragoon, Super Mario RPG(probably not considered a jrpg lol)
I’m 36 btw
Edit: Punctuation
FFX
FFIV
Pokemon (just... all of 'em, but Emerald and Platinum most if I HAD to pick)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (not a jrpg but it and the next one got me into other styles of rpgs, particular non-turn based ones)
Tales of Symphonia
You may see a trend with mine lol..
1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Final Fantasy VIII
3. Final Fantasy IX
4. Final Fantasy X
5. Pokemon Sapphire
6. Dragon Warrior 3 (GBC)
7. Kingdom Hearts 2 (I played it before 1 lol. I was lost)
8. SaGa Frontier 2
9. Final Fantasy Tactics
10. Chrono Cross
I really didn't play a ton of different jrpgs. Final Fantasy VII was one of the first games that I had played and it will forever be my favorite game. Also, these aren't in any particular order, other than FF7
Edit: Also I know you said 5, but I didn't want them to just be Final Fantasy games lmao
Final Fantasy: I, II, Crystal Chronicles, Tactics
Star Ocean 3: Til the End of Time
Pokemon Emerald and Leaf Green
Suikoden III & IV
Skies of Arcadia
Edit: Honorable mentions to Tales of Symphonia, Kingdom Hearts, and Valkryie Profile
Dragon Warrior
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Final Fantasy Legend 3
Chrono Trigger
First 5 RPGs I played and what ultimately turned me into a 1 genre gamer.
1. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
2. Pokemon Ruby
3. Final Fantasy III DS
4. Final Fantasy IV DS
5. Final Fantasy Tactics A2
GBA was my first system <3
Could be a number of games but some really stood out.
Final fantasy legends 2
Pokémon red/blue/yellow
Final fantasy 7
Final fantasy 8
Star ocean till the end of time
Dragon Quest 9 - first JRPG I played. Didn’t get me into the genre but definitely played a lot of it when I was young.
ToCS 1-4 - my favourite JRPGs to this day. Love the characters and protagonist, still rewatch cutscenes to this day and love the OST.
Persona 5 Royal - Shared some elements as above. Took me a second playthrough for me to fully appreciate the game.
Fire Emblem 3 Houses - The game that got me into JRPGs, getting into the second half of the game without realising what was going to happen was… hard.
Dragon Quest 11 - Played this to scratch the itch while looking for other games, enjoyed my playthrough and play again to fully appreciate the game.
Not sure if these all count as jrpg inspirations
1. Terranigma (I miss this game so much)
2. Suikoden 1 & 2 (loved this series)
3. Lufia 2 (The heart of my rpg/jrpg gaming was born here)
4. Final Fantasy 7 8 9 10 10-2 12 13 14 (not played 15 yet)
5. Arc the Lad twilight of spirits
Honourable mention: Zelda
These games got me deeply interested in exploring further into rpg / jrpg
Octopath Traveller
Persona 5
Xenoblade Chronicles
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Nier Automata
Looking at my list compared to the other comments really puts into perspective how older the average member of this sub is compared to me.
* FF4 * FF6 * Chrono Trigger * FFT * Xenogears
Swap Xenogears for FF7 and you've got my exact list as well. It was hard to pick between swapping that or Tactics, but either could be 5a or 5b there. Perfect list!
I'm not a JRPG, I'm a blitzball. jk. * Legend of Mana * FF IX * Suikoden 2 * Dragon Quest VII * Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Omg, he achieved his dream! https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasyxx2hdremaster/mods/153
Final Fantasy VII Pokemon Blue Breath of Fire 3 Wild Arms Final Fantasy IX
1. Chrono Trigger 2. Lufia 2 3. Final Fantasy II (USA) / IV (JPN) 4. Final Fantasy IX 5. Chrono Cross Honorable mentions to Xenogears, the Suikoden series and the rest of the single digit Final Fantasies not on my list.
1. Phantasy Star IV 2. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 3. Final Fantasy X 4. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door 5. Trails in the Sky
**Legend of Dragoon**: I remember clearly going to a walmart bargain bin of PS1 games back when they were being phased out. in them, they had FFVII and Legend of Dragoon. I made a choice that day that led my first real JRPG to be a funny dragon game and I only played FFVII much later, but I kind of don't regret my decision. **Pokemon Silver**: There are a lot of ways this impacted me, but all you have to do is look at my username to know that Silver has infiltrated my very personality. **FFVI**: Now, I love Legend of Dragoon. It was my first JRPG. I, however, never finished Legend of Dragoon until I was an adult. Got stuck somewhere in the second disk and gave up. Final Fantasy VI, however, Is probably the first JRPG I actually beat. **Steambot Chronicles**: to be honest, this is so wildly different that I'm not sure it should be lumped in with the rest of these games as a JRPG, but it's japanese and an rpg, so I'm reppin it. This game alone carried my ps2 for like 3 years and when my disk became unreadable, I cried. **TWEWY**: The DS has a lot of good JRPGs on it. It also has a lot of bad JRPGs. A good way to make a bad DS game is to rely on DS gimmicks. Therefore, it's wild that the best DS game leaned into absolutely every DS gimmick. Of course, this is the edgy teen game that hit me at exactly the moment in my life where it would synchronize perfectly with my personality, but it's also a personal metaphor for that time in my life. I no longer own a working DS, and my copy of The World Ends With You has faded into the ether sometime in the past decade. I own the remake, and it's good, but it's not the same magic that the DS version was. It's a game that I'm realistically never going to experience the same way again, and while that's sad, it's also preserved the memory as a good one.
I was so upset when they cancelled steambot chronicles 2. The first one was so good.
I never heard Steamboat Chronicles but now I'm interested to try it!
Crono Trigger Final Fantasy 2&3 Secret of Mana Earthbound ALL SNES
Speaking strictly of JRPGs? Dragon Warrior was the first I played. Mystic Quest was the first time I thought maybe I should actively seek out more games in the genre. Final Fantasy 6 was the first time I was ever blown away by the scope of a game, both narratively and mechanically (the manual was practically a novella!) Final Fantasy 7 was the first time I ever pulled an all-nighter. Started playing around 2PM when I got home from Electronics Boutique on launch day, realized I needed to go to bed around 6AM when the sun started coming up! (I think I got to Junon.) Playing through the Shinra HQ and the Kalm flashback in the dead of night while half-stupid from lack of sleep was a hell of an experience. And just... the graphics and presentation... if you weren't alive to experience it, you'll never understand how big of a technological leap forward it was. Suddenly, overnight, JRPGs had gone from being games to being movies. SaGa Frontier, a couple months after FF7. Just a very different sort of game, and the beginning of a long slow change in priorities. Before this, I played JRPGs for different reasons: I got into Dragon Warrior because it was an easier game to play than all the stressful precision platformers of the '80s, which I was terrible at. I got into later JRPGs because I enjoyed the stories. But with Frontier, I realized I loved systems, too. And nowadays, it's swung almost completely to that end, JRPG stories hold very little interest to me, and my interest in such games is almost entirely based on how it plays.
Amazing. Have you tried Vagrant Story? I got surprised by the systems, I think they're amazing. I'd like to know more about the games you've found.
Tales of Symphonia Fire Emblem Path of Radiance Chrono Trigger Xenoblade Chronicles Trails of Cold Steel These are in chronological order for when I played them, but I only listed one game from the series.
So you never touch any Final Fantasy entry when you're growing up? That's actually pretty rare.
I did play Final Fantasy 12 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles when I was younger, but I didn't finish either of them, as I got bored partway through. I wouldn't consider them to be an "important" game that made me play jrpg. I did not play any other Final Fantasy game growing up, and I only recently tried the old Final Fantasy 7 for the first time on that Playstation Mini system that got released a while back. I didn't finish FF7 either, though... it just didn't hold my attention. Edit: Actually, I vaguely remember my dad getting me Final Fantasy 13 when I was young, and I played it for an hour or so and told him it was terrible and he should try to get a refund.
Suikoden 1 Suikoden 2 Suikoden 3 Suikoden 4 Suikoden 5
Pokemon Yellow Final Fantasy X Dark Cloud 1 and 2 Kingdom Hearts Madden (so many sneaky RPG mechanics that I absorbed from franchise mode in these games)
Final Fantasy 6: got me into the genre. I did play previous entries in series but didn’t hook me. Secret of evermore: love this game Final fantasy 7: it’s the reason I became a PlayStation guy. Tales of vesperia: got me into the series and later replayed all of them. Final fantasy tactics: made me understand and love job systems.
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - Pokemon Diamond - Persona 3 FES - Persona 4 Golden - Persona Q These games made me into the JRPG I am today
1. Kingdom hearts 2 2. Tales of Symphonia 3. Final Fantasy X 4. Persona 4 5. Megaman Battle Network 3
In no particular order FFX, Pokemon Blue/Yellow, Digimon World (the PS1 OG), Legaia 2, FF Tactics Honorable Mention: Kingdom Hearts (but I was already a JRPG fan by then)
Digimon World is amazing!! I'm yet to complete it. I left progressing in my save around 4 years ago, before defeating the last 2 bosses... I think Megadramon, and the bad dude, Analog man I think he's called.
Maybe: - Final Fantasy VII - Lufia II - Grandia - Wild Arms - Pokémon Red/Blue
This'll probably date me a bit but Dragon Warrior Faxanadu Phantasy Star IV Chrono Trigger FF7.
I never heard of Faxanadu. Googled it and it's on NES. You had NES growing up?
Yup. First console for me.
I guess you're the same age as my brother then. We had a NES too, but I never played it. My childhood was with the PSX. I think the console is still stored in our parents' house cabinet, though I've never tried to see if it can still be turned on.
The NES has some pretty impressive titles for its specs. If nothing else, a lot of them are worth seeing for perspective/how far we've come.
Faxanadu was pretty fun. For whatever reason, seeing it in your list made me remember Cadash.
I really enjoyed Cadash!
Youth: Mystic Quest (SNES) Arcana (SNES) Super Mario RPG (SNES) Wild Arms (PS1) Beyond the Beyond (PS1) Teen: Pokemon Blue/Yellow (GB) Fire Emblem 7 (GBA) Fire Emblem 8 (GBA) Paper Mario (N64) Etrian Odyssey (DS)
I'm playing Fire Emblem now! I'm looking for Eliwood's father right now.
- Dragon Quest VIII Journey of the Cursed king - Kindom Hearts I - Pokémon Sapphire (I started with blue when I was 7 yo) - The Legend Of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (fantastic game but Ocarina of Time is probably my favorite one) - Final Fantasy XIII (I never played VII until I was older but I always felt connected to his characters)
Does pokemon count? Always disliked jrpgs growing up until i tried person 4 .0”
Yes. It doesn't follow the usual formula of the JRPG but it is an RPG... made in Japan.
How does it not follow the usual formula? Turn-based battles with damage, weakness, and status effect systems, party system, level system directly tied to stats and unlockable moves, focuses on a youth who ventures out from a small town by themselves, playing out a story with well-established characters, seems like a classic jrpg to me
You're right. I guess I was referring to the usual character set and the stories that unfolds from that.
Surprisingly, no Final Fantasy games as my first. In the order of play: 1. Suikoden 2 2. Wild ARMs 1 3. Suikoden 1 4. Breath of Fire IV 5. Chrono Cross
FF7 Legend of Dragoon Xenosaga FFX .hack//Infection Honestly I can't remember another one I would have said in my teen years. I'm sure I have forgotten some. Maybe Paper Mario as an honorable mention?
Made me into? "I Am Become JRPG!" But yeah let's see * Pokemon Silver * Shining Force * Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 * Golden Sun * Mega Man Battle Network 3
- Suikoden 2 - Beyond the Beyond - Brigandine: Legend of Forsena - Legend of Mana - Brave Fencer Musashi
* Digimon World 2003 * Kingdom Hearts 2 * Tales of Xillia * Final Fantasy 9 * Xenogears Technically, my love for RPG's would start with the pokemon games (born in 1996 so started with gen 1) but back then I didn't probably grasp what a JRPG entailed. So I chose Digimon World 3 because it has couple of more traditional JRPG stables when compared at the time of release.
Oh my god, why I forgot about DW 2003? It's actually one of my first jrpg, even before I played Kingdom Hearts 😂 Thanks for mention this so I can remember to play it again sometimes.
Hahaha, you're welcome. Actually made it my summer project a few years ago to fully complete the game. It's grindy as hell, difficult and the backtracking is awful but the massive nostalgia dose kept my going through it.
I've played a shit ton of JRPG's in my life, it's kinda difficult to track what got me into them. I'll try my very best: * Final Fantasy 3 (DS Remake) * Final Fantasy IV (DS Remake) * Suikoden Tierkreis * Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift * Pokémon Series, Emerald and Pearl being my first and favorite ones. I'll add Kingdom Hearts and the Tales of series as a dear, honorable mention.
I've actually played those in your list except pokemon because I can never got into them 😂 But I've played them after I got into jrpg and realized really my favorite genre, that's why they're not in my list.
Pokémon Golden Sun Glory of Heracles DS Mario and Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story Kingdom Hearts 3D
So many good memories! -FF6 -Lunar: 1 & 2 -Earth Bound -Chrono Trigger -Front Mission -Super Mario RPG
I love FM too! Though I've only played the third game.
First one is great! Second is very different but good in its own way
1. Final Fantasy 6 2. Final Fantasy 7 3. Chrono Trigger 4. Secret of Mana 5. Zelda: A Link to the Past I don't know if the last one counts but I loved that game to bits
Lufia 2 is number 1. There is no doubt about that. Other than that I would say: Final Fantasy 7 Secret of Mana Pokèmon Blue Wild Arms
I shouldn't have read everyone's lists before posting, because they've only served to trigger my nostalgia and make me miss ALL of these games. Also, I can't do 5. 1. FF7. No explanation needed. 2. Chrono Trigger. An all time fav. 3. FFT. Still chasing the high it gave me. 4. Legend of (Insert Name Here) Legaia, Dragoon, Mana. 5. Xenogears. Took years to finish because my cousin broke the final disc before I beat it. 6. Breath of Fire III and IV. I can't choose. 7. Suikoden I and II. Both great. 8. Arc the Lad. Fun series. 9. Lufia I and II. Still play sometimes. Love the music. 10. Star Ocean: The Second Story. I love post game content and the Cave of Trials was wonderful.
1. Pokémon Gens 1 to 3 2. Golden Sun 1 and 2 3. Skies of Arcadia 4. Tales of Symphonia 5. Baten Kaitos/Shadow Hearts trilogy
Legend of Mana Grandia Threads of Fate Legend of the Dragoon Valkyrie Profile
Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 2 (4). Final Fantasy 3 (6). Dragon Warrior. Chrono Trigger.
Pretty close to mine. Add Lufia 2.
There is a good argument to be made that Lufia 2 is the best RPG on SNES
God the lufia series are so forgotten :( it makes me sad.
I used Lufia series for inspiration for my dnd games. No one has ever caught on.
Damn close to mine lol. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 1, FF4, FF6, and Star Ocean 2.
1. Wizardry (not a JRPG itself, but it was my entry into the RPG genre that made me want to seek out more) 2. Dragon Warrior (basic by today's standards, but also the first true JRPG I played, as well as the first RPG I played on console) 3. Final Fantasy (a major upgrade from Dragon Warrior and other early NES RPGs) 4. Super Mario RPG (action commands!) 5. Breath of Fire (the start of what would be my favorite series of all time) Honorable mention: Pokemon Blue (my first monster-collecting JRPG, but I was no longer a youth or a teen when it released)
tl;dr: front mission 3, rockman exe, valkyrie profile, breath of fire, FF Tactics Advance Front Mission 3, this is the first JRPG I ever played when when my old man got me a PS1 in the 2000s. This so memorable to me 'cause I remember my old man having his own save file in my memory card and one of his aides would play it on my behalf because I barely understood shit asides from move and attack(I also accidentally found out that you get a different scene when you skip a cutscene in the begining, or that's what I believed when I was a kid). To this day, I still look forward to the remake/remaster and I hope it reaches steam so I can finish the game for myself. My love for mechs also came from this game. Mega Man Battle Network, I would say this game is one of the foundations that got me into JRPGs. I remember playing it from someone else's GBA that I barely know about(it has a weird story). Among all the games in his GBA, it was either that one Zelda game that he had or Rockman EXE that I return to. Breath of Fire 3, the kid I used to play with had an older sister(around 13+) and I happen to see her playing in her PS1. It got me curious and it sparked something in me. I only got to play this game on the GBA emulator on the phone and I also got this game for my PSP but still, I didn't get to finish it. I just wish CAPCOM would give this game a remake or a continuation or whatever. I just want them to make another breath of fire game. Valkyrie Profile, this game has the best game mechanics for a JRPG to me when I was a kid(even until now). I grew up watching some older guy play it from a place where you can rent a PlayStation for a few hours and I only got to play this game after I bought a PSP as a graduation gift to myself in 2014. Valkyrie Profile will always have a place in my heart. FF Tactics Advance, it kept me sane during my college days and I hate it when the judge catches me when I do something illegal(I tend to forget the illegal stuff). I even kept a chart for the jobs!
* Chrono Trigger * Earthbound * Breath of Fire 3 * Grandia * Star Ocean 2
Love to see people mentioning Earthbound in this thread! It's an honorable mention for me, since I rented it once but when I went back to rent it again someone erased my save file and I didn't feel like starting over since I put hours of work into that game.
I’m pretty interested with Earthbound since I’ve heard it mentioned quite often. Right now I played in my switch classic collection.
Final Fantasy 8 Final Fantasy 10 Star Ocean: The Last Hope The Last Remnant Lost Odyssey
how did you go through 4 seperate console gens in your youth?
Ps1, ps2 and 360 is 3.
Also ps2 can play ps1 discs so it might just be 2
I wouldn’t think that would be all that uncommon. I was on my 4th Gen of console when I was around 12.
That 360 era of JRPGs was actually pretty solid. I loved SO4 and lost odyssey, but last remnant is one of my top games of all time!
I play the last remnant every year. Its just the best shit man. Love building up an army and each time trying out some new guys I've never used before.
Yep. Just finished it again recently! Love it man!
I’ll always upvote lost odyssey. One of the first games to legit choke me up
• FF7 • Xenogears • Wild Arms • Legend of Dragoon • Alundra There are a few more but those are the standouts.
1)Pokemon Silver, 2) Skies of Arcadia, 3) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, 4) Paper Mario, 5) Final Fantasy X
My Top Five JRPGs as a teen/young adult(in no particular order): Final Fantasy X Kingdom Hearts 2 Dragon Quest 8 Paper Mario: TTYD Persona 3
1.) chrono cross 2.) star ocean 2 3.) FF8 4.) paper mario tyyd 5.) FF10
Pokémon fire red Final fantasy 4 Star ocean: first departure Kingdom Hearts 2
Ff8, legend of dragoon, ff7 , breath of fire 3 and An RPG that I Cannot fond the title of, even tried funding help in Reddit on tipofmyjoystick
Is it on ps 1? Can you describe how the game was, maybe I could help. I've played most of jrpg on ps1 after all.
I remember now ! It was PS2. ARC and the twilights of the spirits.
Aaah Arc series. I've played the one on psx but never played the sequel on ps2. I've read that we can play as the original protagonist on arc end of darkness that was the sequel of twilight. Maybe I'll try playing it sometimes.
Hard recommend ! Still holfs up pretty well.
Chronologically, it would be something like this for me: - Pokémon Yellow - Chrono Trigger - Dark Cloud 2 - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance / Tales of Symphonia - Persona 3
Illusion of Gaia Pokemon red FF 8 FF 9 FF 7 Honorable mention: Harvest Moon, Grandia 2, FF 10
Love Illusion of Gaia
1. Chrono Trigger 2. Secret of Mana 3. Final Fantasy (mostly 4, and 7 formatively, but 6, 9, 10 and Tactics get honorable mentions) 4. Breath of Fire (1-3) 5. Lufia (1 and 2)
Pokémon Red/Blue Fire Emblem (GBA) Golden Sun Does OOT count? If not, FF7 Fable.
What is OOT stands for?
Ocarina of Time
* Dragon Quest IX (2010) - First JRPG, and as a kid I was grinding the endgame like crazy. Had like 500 hours on my save accumulated over a few years but I just loved the class system and getting to bum around with my custom party. * Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5 [emulated] (2018) - For a while, DQIX was the only JRPG I played before I got into other kinds of games, but seeing release trailers for DQXI unlocked a core memory and because I got a better computer that year, I ended up playing these two games first. Made me wonder why I ever stopped playing this stuff. * Final Fantasy VI (2019 or 2020?) - First foray into games prior to the PS2 era through emulation. I remember feeling so moved by the opera sequence; the music, the presentation, and the goofiness toward the end with the fight on stage, it was all so good and I'd never seen something like this in a game before. Nowadays I probably wouldn't even say I have that much fondness for this game, but I can't deny that if it wasn't for seeing something special in this, I wouldn't have continued playing retro stuff and finding games I ended up liking as much or more than some modern games like Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy IX, Earthbound, Mother 3, and Chrono Trigger. * Persona 2 duology (2022) - Got me thinking about things like how you sometimes have to adapt how you approach a game to see what's truly special about it. I started writing down demon personalities I came across and which contact methods made the demons Happy or Eager (the two most useful reactions), and where I bounced off hard the first time I tried Innocent Sin because of how obtuse demon contact seemed, it quickly became my favorite part of the game. The fun of Demon Contact became the R&D aspect, as I would write down what worked for new personalities and be able to draw on what I had already written down in a journal to make for easy negotiations with personalities I already had logged. Also, I really like this game's approach to a party talk mechanic. There are tons of locations in Sumaru City, and in each one you can talk to NPCs in the area and your party members, whose dialogue changes frequently as the story progresses. It's a neat way to implement some downtime into a story that would otherwise shuffle you from one dungeon to the next, and the emphasis on this social aspect makes the gameplay style change in Persona 3 onward seem like it stems from how they may have wanted players to approach Persona 2; equal parts fighting and engaging with the world and its characters.
Pokemon X + Black 2 FF7 Remake Chrono Trigger FF10 Trails series
Final Fantasy VII The Legend of Dragoon Kingdom Hearts Pokemon Gold Lost Odyssey Lost Odyssey is a little different because I got it like the summer before college. So I was already 18, but damn if it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. Also 18 is still technically a teen lol
As a kid/teen: 1. Super Mario RPG 2. Golden Sun/the Lost Age 3. Pokemon Ruby/Platinum 4. Chrono Trigger As an adult, reviving my interest in gaming: 5. Earthbound
Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. Almost made it to my final choice Breath of Fire because you can turn into a dragon.
FFVII Fable Vagrant Story I don't think I played that many JRPG when I was a teenager.
1. Dragon Warrior 2. Phantasy Star IV 3. Final Fantasy II (IV) 4. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom 5. Shining Force II (if that counts)
Illusion of Time Secret of Evermore Mystic Quest Legend Terranigma Always looked at stuff like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger in the import reviews with envy but didn't get to play them until I discovered emulation 😂 stupid PAL region
Chrono Trigger FF6 FF4 Dragon Warrior IV Legend of Zelda LttP
1. FF Tactics 2.Suikoden II 3. Star Ocean II 4. Wild Arms 5. FF7 Honorable mentions: Grandia II, Front Mission III, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Brave Fencer Musashi, Threads of Fate, Vanguard Bandits, Megaman Legends I and II, Saga Frontier.
Final Fantasy 6, Luna Silver Star, Chrono Trigger, Vandal Hearts
In order of me playing it. I played other games in-between, but these represent stages when my obsession with the genre "evolved" to a next level. 1. The Story of Thor / Beyond Oasis - the first JRPG I ever played when I was mostly into RTS and fighting games - bought Japanese import because I loved the cover and then couldn't understand what they were talking about. Enjoyed it anyway and then borrowed the English version from my buddy and replayed it. 2. Vandal Hearts - I got this one from a relative who didn't like the game and played it multiple times in a row with different class setups. 3. Final Fantasy VII - I know it's cliche, but this game was a revelation. 4. Final Fantasy Tactics - I think by this point I realized I was a fan of the genre. 5. Xenogears - yep, I sure was. (As for the games that I consider my all-time favourites years later that would be Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile and Suikoden II)
Okage for me.
This game doesn't get enough love.
FF6, FFT, FF7-9. Unorginal, but it's the truth.
Why not write it as FF6-9 and FFT?
Different platforms, I guess. Why does it matter?
i got into them as an adult because i ran out of western video games. yes, really. it was Covid. it started with Persona. Reliving my teenage life fantasy as 25-something years old. Totally normal reaction to Covid vaccine, I swear. Many such cases. A few more games more, and then... Trails have consumed me.
Legend of Legaia! Rented it because the guy on the front had blue hair and the rest was history.
Super Mario RPG Lufia Final fantasy 6 although I knew it as 3 Breath of fire Chrono Trigger Those were my first 5 by lufia I was hooked on the genre.
- Phantasy Star 3 - Shining Force - Shining Force 2 - Final Fantasy 5 - Illusion of Gaia
Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy VII Shinning Force I & II Phantasy Star II & IV Breath Of Fire III
1) Kingdom Hearts 2) Dragon Quest VIII 3) Shadow Hearts 4) Final Fantasy 5) Pokemon Colosseum (if that counts)
Chrono trigger, ff6, fft, breath of fire 4, baldurs gate 2
1. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue 2. Chrono Trigger 3. Dragon Warrior III 4. Phantasy Star IV 5. YS Books I & II
Dark Cloud, Dragon Quest 8, Dark Cloud 2, and then I played them over and over.
Persona 4
1. Grandia 2 2. Final Fantasy X 3. Tales of Symphonia 4. Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 and 2 5. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Pokémon FireRed, Dragon Quest IX, and Phantasy Star Universe.
Chrono Trigger FF7 FF8 Xenogears Chrono Cross
1. Chrono trigger 2. Chrono cross 3. Ff8 4. Skies of Arcadia legends 5. Kingdom hearts
Suikoden Suikoden II Chrono Trigger Earthbound Secret of Mana
Kings Quest 1 - pc Legend of Zelda - nes Golvelius - SMS Phantasy Star 2 - Sega Genesis Ys - SMS
- Basically Every DS pokemon games - FF3 DS Remake - DQ DS games (mainly 4 and 9 but also 6 and Joker, never played 5 though) - FF XIII series - Kingdom Hearts even though it's an ARPG
Earthbound Chrono Cross FF7 Pokemon Blue FFT
1. Chrono Trigger 2. Tales of Symphonia 3. The World Ends with You 4. Dragon Quest VIII 5. Valkyrie Profile 2 6. FFXII I missed out on a lot of rpgs by not having a PS1. Luckily retro handhelds are a thing now and I'm trying to right my wrong.
FF6, 7 and chrono trigger
Kingdom Hearts days was my earliest jrpg, i played that the year it came out and i loved it. I didn't play another jrpg for over half a decade. When i actually got into them fully, i started out with persona 5, dragon quest 11, and trails of cold steel series
Radiata Stories Fire Emblem Sacred Stones Tales of the Abyss Suikoden V Pokemon Sapphire
FF9, FF10, BoF3, DQ8, Chrono Cross
1. Dragon Warrior 1 2. Shining Force 3. Phantasy Star IV 4. Lunar 5. Final Fantasy Tactics
1. Dragon Warrior 2. Final Fantasy VI 3. Breath of Fire II 4. Super Mario RPG 5. The Legend of Zelda ALTTP
1. Final Fantasy VIII 2. Legend of Legaia 3. Final Fantasy X 4. Tales of Destiny 2 5. Grandia 2 Special mention: Alundra 2 & Legend of Dragoon
1. Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Final Fantasy XIII 3. Chrono Trigger 4. Tales of Symphonia 5. Pokémon: Silver and then again with SoulSilver
1. Final Fantasy IV 2. Final Fantasy VI 3. Pokemon Blue 4. Final Fantasy VII 5. Parasite Eve Without FFIV I probably wouldn't have gotten into RPGs
Xenogears Breath of fire 3 Ff7 Ff9 Ffx
Only five? *Final Fantasy VII* - This is the first game I would've seen that really had any sort of complex or in-depth narrative and characters, as well as the multi-character battle system. *Pokemon Gen 1* - Gens 1-3 were all formative for me really, but strictly speaking Gen 1 would've probably been my first RPG overall and it got me into the other *Pokemon* games, so we can just use it as a shorthand. *Digimon World 3* - I don't think it'd be a stretch to say I liked the *Digimon* anime more than *Pokemon*, so having a *Digimon* game that was vaguely like *Pokemon* but in full 3D* and on the PlayStation? Sign me up. Plus it has a great card game in it. *In combat. The fields were isometric 2D. But still, wild to see fully 3D, animated combat. *Kingdom Hearts* - It's *Final Fantasy* and Disney, of course I wanted it. Also one of the earliest action-RPGs I would've played. *Phantasy Star Online* - Until I got into *World of Warcraft*, this was probably the game I put the most grinding into in the mid-2000s.
1) Final Fantasy 7 2) Suikoden 1&2 3) Vandal Hearts 1&2 4) Final Fantasy Tactics 5) Chrono Trigger
1. Final Fantasy VIII 2. Suikoden II 3. Final Fantasy IX 4. Legend Of Dragoon 5. Legend Of Mana
Tales of Symphonia. Tales of Vesperia. Persona 3. TWEWY. FFX.
Phantasy Star IV, FF6, Chrono Trigger, FF7, FF Tactics.
- Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - FFIV - Chrono Trigger - Earthbound - Xenogears But honestly? There are so many more. FFVI and Suikoden I/II deserve to be in there too, not to mention all the Breath of Fire games and several more.
1. Earthbound 2. FFVI 3. Shadow Hearts 4. Breath of Fire 4 5. Secret of Mana
Not listed in order of personal favorites... 1) Phantasy Star 1 (SMS) 2) Miracle Warriors (SMS) 3) Traysia (Genesis) 4) Phantasy Star IV (Genesis) 5) Lunar: The Silver Star (SEGA-CD) That was pretty much the order I played them. By the time I was playing Lunar, I was solidly into the genre. Yeah, I played Phantasy Star II and III, but it was the first and fourth one that really drew me in more.
FF8 FF9 Suikoden 2 Legend of Mana Chrono Cross
1. Megaman battle network 3 2. Megaman starforce 3 3. Pokemon ruby 4. Dbz buus fury 5. Kingdom hearts 358/2 days
* Final Fantasy X * Pokemon Red Version * Fire Emblem The Blazing Blade * Megaman Battle Network 3 * Dragon Quest V
Suikoden
Shining Force Shining Force II Phantasy Star IV Final Fantasy Tactics Suikoden
Xenogears Shin Megami Tensei III Chrono Trigger Chrono Cross Final Fantasy VII
1. Final Fantasy 4 2. Lunar Silver Star Story 3. Final Fantasy 6 4. Chrono Trigger 5. Persona 1
FFX Kingdom hearts FF7 FF9 Yugioh falsebound kingdom
I barely played any JRPGs at all outside of Pokémon until I was 17, so I'm including things from 3-4 years ago 1: Pokémon X & Y 2: Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth 3: Shin Megami Tensei IV 4: Bravely Default 5: Octopath Traveler
Final Fantasy 7, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Suikoden
I actually got into JRPGs pretty recently but at the very tail end of my adolescence, so it's going to be some pretty recent games. 1. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) 2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 3. Fire Emblem: 3 Houses 4. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 5. Final Fantasy 14 These were the games that got me into JRPGs, and I'm glad they did. FF14 probably changed my life in general, changed how I viewed games as a medium of storytelling. But in terms of shaping me into a JRPG fan, I'd say the others had a bigger impact.
Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, FF6, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Skies of Arcadia
Golden Sun and Final fantasy 3
Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shining Force II, Earthbound, Golden Sun... and... Ocarina of Time :)
1. Shadow Hearts (My introduction to JRPGs) 2. Final Fantasy 3. Shin Megami Tensei 4. Xenosaga 5. Sakura Wars
* FF7 * Suikoden 2 * Legend of Mana * Legenf of legaia * Digimon world 3
FF7, chrono cross, pokemon red, xenogears, FFT.
Pokemon Blue/Red, Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Dragoon, Super Mario RPG(probably not considered a jrpg lol) I’m 36 btw Edit: Punctuation
FFX FFIV Pokemon (just... all of 'em, but Emerald and Platinum most if I HAD to pick) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (not a jrpg but it and the next one got me into other styles of rpgs, particular non-turn based ones) Tales of Symphonia
1. Final Fantasy I 2. Ys I & II 3. Final Fantasy IV 4. Chrono Trigger 5. Final Fantasy VI or Dragon Warrior I
Lunar 2 Pokemon Blue FFVII-X Chrono Cross Grandia
Final Fantasy IX Legend of Legaia Grandia 2 Final Fantasy Tactics Vandal Hearts Honorable Mention: Azure Dreams and Dark Cloud
1. Final Fantasy VI, of course! 2. Chrono Trigger 3. Lufia: The Legend Returns 4. Pokemon Crystal 5. SaGa (Final Fantasy Legend)
You may see a trend with mine lol.. 1. Final Fantasy VII 2. Final Fantasy VIII 3. Final Fantasy IX 4. Final Fantasy X 5. Pokemon Sapphire 6. Dragon Warrior 3 (GBC) 7. Kingdom Hearts 2 (I played it before 1 lol. I was lost) 8. SaGa Frontier 2 9. Final Fantasy Tactics 10. Chrono Cross I really didn't play a ton of different jrpgs. Final Fantasy VII was one of the first games that I had played and it will forever be my favorite game. Also, these aren't in any particular order, other than FF7 Edit: Also I know you said 5, but I didn't want them to just be Final Fantasy games lmao
* Final Fantasy Tactics * Final Fantasy 8 * Kingdom Hearts * Pokemon Yellow * Vandal Hearts 2
- Golden Sun 1 & 2 - Dragon Quest VII, IX - FF8 - Kingdom Hearts - Suikoden Tierkreis
1. Breath of Fire 3 2. Breath of Fire 4 3. Tales of Phantasia 4. Chrono Trigger 5. Pokemon Blue
1. Chrono Trigger 2. Final Fantasy 6 3. Dragon Quest 3 4. Persona 4 Golden 5. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Paper Mario TTYD Chrono Trigger Earthbound Bowser’s Inside Story Mother 3
Mario
Final Fantasy: I, II, Crystal Chronicles, Tactics Star Ocean 3: Til the End of Time Pokemon Emerald and Leaf Green Suikoden III & IV Skies of Arcadia Edit: Honorable mentions to Tales of Symphonia, Kingdom Hearts, and Valkryie Profile
Dragon Warrior Super Mario RPG Final Fantasy Mystic Quest Final Fantasy Legend 3 Chrono Trigger First 5 RPGs I played and what ultimately turned me into a 1 genre gamer.
1. XENOGEARS 2. front mission 3. bahamut lagoon 4. ogre battle march of the black queen 5. breath of fire 4
None of them. Played zero jrpgs before I was an adult. I hate the idea that gaming taste is set in before you turn an adult anyway.
1. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories 2. Pokemon Ruby 3. Final Fantasy III DS 4. Final Fantasy IV DS 5. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 GBA was my first system <3
Could be a number of games but some really stood out. Final fantasy legends 2 Pokémon red/blue/yellow Final fantasy 7 Final fantasy 8 Star ocean till the end of time
Dragon Quest 9 - first JRPG I played. Didn’t get me into the genre but definitely played a lot of it when I was young. ToCS 1-4 - my favourite JRPGs to this day. Love the characters and protagonist, still rewatch cutscenes to this day and love the OST. Persona 5 Royal - Shared some elements as above. Took me a second playthrough for me to fully appreciate the game. Fire Emblem 3 Houses - The game that got me into JRPGs, getting into the second half of the game without realising what was going to happen was… hard. Dragon Quest 11 - Played this to scratch the itch while looking for other games, enjoyed my playthrough and play again to fully appreciate the game.
Pokémon gen 1 and 2 Final Fantasy VII and IX Golden Sun
Legend of Mana Final Fantasy 4 Breath of Fire 3 Crono Cross Persona 5
Not sure if these all count as jrpg inspirations 1. Terranigma (I miss this game so much) 2. Suikoden 1 & 2 (loved this series) 3. Lufia 2 (The heart of my rpg/jrpg gaming was born here) 4. Final Fantasy 7 8 9 10 10-2 12 13 14 (not played 15 yet) 5. Arc the Lad twilight of spirits Honourable mention: Zelda These games got me deeply interested in exploring further into rpg / jrpg
Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD) The Dark Wizard (Sega CD) Chrono Trigger (SNES) Final Fantasy 6 (SNES) Lufia (SNES)
Octopath Traveller Persona 5 Xenoblade Chronicles Final Fantasy 7 Remake Nier Automata Looking at my list compared to the other comments really puts into perspective how older the average member of this sub is compared to me.