Reviewing every single JRPG from the Top 55 JRPGs from the Codex.

[Capybara]

The JRPG sub-forum is pretty dead, so let's give it some love. I'll review every single game from the top 55 JRPGs list from the Codex that @Gastrick did, starting from the last game.

► Show Spoiler

I'll replay those games I've played in the past too, always prioritizing the latest re-release because as much as I like the original Persona 4, 90% of the people have played the Golden release. For some games that had localizations that changed the whole story, I plan to play both the JP original and the EN translation, yes, I'm talking about Working Designs.

First game on the list it's Valkyria Chronicles

► Review

Developed by Sega, with veteran members who worked in franchises like Sakura Wars or Skies of Arcadia (some of the characters from the latter are playable units) Valkyria Chronicles is a real-time tactic RPG. The game's setting is notWorldWarII, in which we control a small quad from a little country called Gallia that's in the middle of the war between two behemoths The Atlantic Federation (western Europe) and the Empire in the west (a mix of Nazi Germany and the URSS).

The game is separated into chapters, each of them has a battle of two and then a story segment. During battles, you move your units around the battlefield looking to capture the flag of the enemy camp, except for a few maps that play more like a puzzle game. Units are divided into multiple classes but you're going to usually use the scout to rush to the enemy flag and finish the map as fast as possible because the game's rank system prioritizes how fast you finish a map above everything else, which makes scouts completely break the game as they have the most AP (action points) to reach the enemy flag.

The story is nothing to write home about, it's the typical story about defeating the big bad empire, with some "racism bad" against not Jews called "Darksen" liberating a concentration camp along the way. But because you've cute anime girls doing cute poses after killing the enemy or Selvaria flapping her massive tits around, it's hard to take its themes about "war bad" seriously.

The original PS3 release was a commercial failure, going as far as never patching trophies for it. The game's popularity took off once the remastered version was released on PS4 and later in 2016 on PC via Steam.

The translation makes seem Alicia a bit more bitchy than she is, probably because localizers think that a strong female character has to be mean to be strong I guess, but besides that the Western release it's okay.

Despite the scout rush thing, it's a game worth playing because there's nothing like it out there that manages to mix fantasy, guns, and real-time tactics as Valkyria Chronicles does.

The next game is Suikoden 3. I've never played a Suikoden game so this will be my first time playing something from that series.

[Oyster Sauce]

Are you beating these games? Looking forward to your final review in 2038.
Hey wait, you're not Anon!

[Vergil]

I appreciate the effort and desire to add some meaty content to the forum but beating all 55 of these feels like a lot more than you can chew unless you're like a turbo NEET.

[Anon]

Are you beating these games? Looking forward to your final review in 2038.
Hey wait, you're not Anon!

Imagine assuming I'd do something this useful for the forum

[Oyster Sauce]

I appreciate the effort and desire to add some meaty content to the forum but beating all 55 of these feels like a lot more than you can chew unless you're like a turbo NEET.

At long last it's the Oriental Adventurer's Guild time to shine.

[Capybara]

There's no time limit so I don't feel like I need to rush it, it will take me around 5 years or so. I'm worried about DQ VII, Persona games and Monster Hunter.

[rusty_shackleford]

Add Anachronox, @Gastrick wouldn't allow it to be on the list

[Capybara]

I am currently extremely busy with work, so I will have to postpone the game review. I haven't even started playing Suikoden III, but I plan to complete the game in about a month.

[BobT]

Suikoden 1 was a lovely game, too.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The next game is Suikoden 3. I've never played a Suikoden game so this will be my first time playing something from that series.

I would not recommend playing Suikoden 3 by itself.

Suikoden was one of the first JRPG series to have an ongoing continuity (pretty much the precursor to the current Trails series with its focus on local geopolitical conflicts), with characters from one gaming showing up in the next. The chronology is Suikoden 1 > 2 > Suikogaiden > 3. Suikogaiden begins setting up an overarching storyline (a civil war is brewing within the Harmonian Empire, plot about the Church and shenagains going on with Lord Hikusaak and an incoming nothingness/apocalypse that is due to the existence of the 27 True Runes) that continues in 3, but is never concluded as the creator of the series, Murayama, left Konami and the Suikoden team was disbanded. 4 and 5 are in name only sequels made by a completely different dev team, set in far away lands and in different time periods and do not advance the story, and eventually that team just started doing completely different games with the Suikoden name slapped onto it that weren't even set in the same world.

Suikoden 3 also suffers from FF12 syndrome, in that you get an awesome first 40 hours that is shaping up to be the most ambitious game in the series yet, and then the creator leaves halfway through development and then the game hastily wraps up. You have a 40 hour long prologue with rotating POVs and with different protagonists fighting each other, and then you finally get your castle and your army and you're ready to embark on a long epic war just like in the first two games... and then the game just ends 10 hours later.

The gameplay of Suikoden 3 is not very enjoyable compared to the first two games. First of all, the battles take too long. There is also no world map to traverse, and instead you have to run through long corridor levels to get anywhere. The game was unfinished, so there aren't many locations, so you're backtracking through the same corridors a lot and getting accosted by long random encounters. This is compounded by the multiple PoVs thing so you're running through the same levels dozens of times. The actual combat and character building does not have depth like the later Trails games. Suikoden 3 introduces a skill system which promises you the idea of character customization, but it isn't actually there and the sequels never fix that. Unless a character has an A rank in evade, they will never become a good parry tank. Suikoden 3 is particularly disappointing in this regard, as if you pick a certain character to get the big True Rune of the game, she sucks at using it because her magic skill for that school of magic is too low and can never be raised enough to make more worthwhile than having her basic attack with her sword. Pretty disappointing given how awesome the heroes' True Runes of the prior two games were to use.

This was also the first Suikoden game not to be scored by Miki Hagishino, and it shows. I cannot recall any songs from Suikoden 3 (or 4). The music gets a little better again in 5 but still nowhere near the quality of the franchise had from S1 through Suikogaiden. The game also does not look aesthetically rich like the 2D Suikodens.




So what you're left with is a game that you're mainly playing for the merits of its story, which is again very interesting but you will be more invested if you had played the prior games first.

Suikoden 1 was a lovely game, too.

S1 is my favorite of the series. It's 20 hours and it is fun for almost the entire duration. There is a high number amount of major character deaths, so by the end you feel like you've been through a harrowing war. I know that S2 is the golden cow of the JRPG fandom, but to me the game was too light on casualties and diluted across a 40 hour runtime, and paradoxically not only began to outstay its welcome, but also felt rushed (the counterattack push into Highland is skimmed over in a matter of an hour).


@Capybara if you finished VC1 and enjoyed it, I would recommend that you check out Sakura Wars 5 and VC4. You get more of the same interesting battle system and level design. VC4 remedies VC1's flaws by making scout rushing much more difficult (the road to enemy bases is defends by lots of heavy assault units, and the new grenadier class that can provide indirect fire with their mortars). The amount of heavily armed enemies you face forces you to rely much more on your assault troops to push, as well as your vehicles to provide cover to hide behind.

[Oyster Sauce]

@Val the Moofia Boss how are the PSP Valkyria Chronicles? I'm planning on hitting them before 4,but nobody ever talks about them.

[Capybara]

The next game is Suikoden 3. I've never played a Suikoden game so this will be my first time playing something from that series.

I would not recommend playing Suikoden 3 by itself.

Suikoden was one of the first JRPG series to have an ongoing continuity (pretty much the precursor to the current Trails series with its focus on local geopolitical conflicts), with characters from one gaming showing up in the next. The chronology is Suikoden 1 > 2 > Suikogaiden > 3. Suikogaiden begins setting up an overarching storyline (a civil war is brewing within the Harmonian Empire, plot about the Church and shenagains going on with Lord Hikusaak and an incoming nothingness/apocalypse that is due to the existence of the 27 True Runes) that continues in 3, but is never concluded as the creator of the series, Murayama, left Konami and the Suikoden team was disbanded. 4 and 5 are in name only sequels made by a completely different dev team, set in far away lands and in different time periods and do not advance the story, and eventually that team just started doing completely different games with the Suikoden name slapped onto it that weren't even set in the same world.

Suikoden 3 also suffers from FF12 syndrome, in that you get an awesome first 40 hours that is shaping up to be the most ambitious game in the series yet, and then the creator leaves halfway through development and then the game hastily wraps up. You have a 40 hour long prologue with rotating POVs and with different protagonists fighting each other, and then you finally get your castle and your army and you're ready to embark on a long epic war just like in the first two games... and then the game just ends 10 hours later.

The gameplay of Suikoden 3 is not very enjoyable compared to the first two games. First of all, the battles take too long. There is also no world map to traverse, and instead you have to run through long corridor levels to get anywhere. The game was unfinished, so there aren't many locations, so you're backtracking through the same corridors a lot and getting accosted by long random encounters. This is compounded by the multiple PoVs thing so you're running through the same levels dozens of times. The actual combat and character building does not have depth like the later Trails games. Suikoden 3 introduces a skill system which promises you the idea of character customization, but it isn't actually there and the sequels never fix that. Unless a character has an A rank in evade, they will never become a good parry tank. Suikoden 3 is particularly disappointing in this regard, as if you pick a certain character to get the big True Rune of the game, she sucks at using it because her magic skill for that school of magic is too low and can never be raised enough to make more worthwhile than having her basic attack with her sword. Pretty disappointing given how awesome the heroes' True Runes of the prior two games were to use.

This was also the first Suikoden game not to be scored by Miki Hagishino, and it shows. I cannot recall any songs from Suikoden 3 (or 4). The music gets a little better again in 5 but still nowhere near the quality of the franchise had from S1 through Suikogaiden. The game also does not look aesthetically rich like the 2D Suikodens.




So what you're left with is a game that you're mainly playing for the merits of its story, which is again very interesting but you will be more invested if you had played the prior games first.

Suikoden 1 was a lovely game, too.

S1 is my favorite of the series. It's 20 hours and it is fun for almost the entire duration. There is a high number amount of major character deaths, so by the end you feel like you've been through a harrowing war. I know that S2 is the golden cow of the JRPG fandom, but to me the game was too light on casualties and diluted across a 40 hour runtime, and paradoxically not only began to outstay its welcome, but also felt rushed (the counterattack push into Highland is skimmed over in a matter of an hour).


@Capybara if you finished VC1 and enjoyed it, I would recommend that you check out Sakura Wars 5 and VC4. You get more of the same interesting battle system and level design. VC4 remedies VC1's flaws by making scout rushing much more difficult (the road to enemy bases is defends by lots of heavy assault units, and the new grenadier class that can provide indirect fire with their mortars). The amount of heavily armed enemies you face forces you to rely much more on your assault troops to push, as well as your vehicles to provide cover to hide behind.

Maybe it wouldn't be fair to review Suikoden III until I play Suikoden I and II. I isn't on the list, so I'll play Suikoden II and III back to back instead of reviewing them in a vacuum. It'd be like playing Trails of Cold Steel 4 as your first game in the series.

I'll skip Suikoden III for now and go back to it once I play the rest of the games.

@Capybara if you finished VC1 and enjoyed it, I would recommend that you check out Sakura Wars 5 and VC4. You get more of the same interesting battle system and level design. VC4 remedies VC1's flaws by making scout rushing much more difficult (the road to enemy bases is defends by lots of heavy assault units, and the new grenadier class that can provide indirect fire with their mortars). The amount of heavily armed enemies you face forces you to rely much more on your assault troops to push, as well as your vehicles to provide cover to hide behind.

I dropped 4 halfway through, but because it's on the list I'll eventually go back to finish it.

I'll skip Suikoden III for now and move on to Parasite Eve which is next on the list.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

how are the PSP Valkyria Chronicles? I'm planning on hitting them before 4,but nobody ever talks about them.

I haven't played them. From what I've heard, VC2 and VC3 are very different in tone from VC1 and VC4, to the point that the feel like different games with the VC name slapped on. Very outlandish character designs. VC2 is set at a high school. VC3 does not have an official English translation. There might be a fan translation patch that you would have to dig around for.