This Is the best Action JRPG list video. I immediately added it to my Game Backlog playlist. A lot of other channels have difficulty deciding what is an Action JRPG!
@@PersonWhoIsTired Mainly putting this here for folks who expect a continuation from the Third semester with the events and new characters referenced, which they're not iirc.
Most of these titles have a fairly large followings, even the niche ones but I feel like Scarlett Nexus is by far the most overlooked one here since it was a new IP with no followup games in the franchise. I think it's a shame that more people don't check it out considering it has great action combat and awesome enemy designs among many other qualities. If people only pay attention to established franchises in the RPG genre less publishers will take risks making new experiences, especially one-and-done games like Scarlett Nexus and their previous game Code Vein.
I felt SN was just meh by the end. The fighting was just too repetitive for my taste. The story and cut scenes were cool. I would make a good anime. But the gameplay just couldn't keep me hooked. I beat it with the guy as the main playable character and have no intention of going through it again with the girl lead character.
Loved it, would be perfectly fine with it not staying a single-game franchise. :D I want to see some exploration of stage obstacles instead of just battlefields, and I want to see where they take the combat past this.
I played SN and ToA back to back and honestly, I enjoyed SN much more. From the combat and story, SN pulled me in more. Overall I really liked both but I got kinda bored of ToA by the end. 😬
I think Nier Automata is not really an rpg. If it is an rpg, you can consider Horizon, or God of War as rpg as well. I think it is more like action adventure.
Great Video... I just realized that Action JRPG is my favorite genre, thanks to YS VIII and YS IX. Thanks a lot for this list. Now I know where to look for enjoyable games. Subscribed !
So happy you gave the shout-out to NEO TWEWY and the Trials of Mana remake, those are both really can't-miss action RPGs. Of course, I have to do my usual shilling for Star Ocean The Divine Force for PS4|5, Xbox One, Series S|X and PC. The exploration is a joy, the movement abilities are a ton of fun, the combat is great and best of all, some US retailers have it as low as $10 right now!
I used to love turn-based JRPGs growing up in the 8 and 16 bit eras, but more and more I find myself preferring the action ones. I've got a backlog of about 75% of this list sitting on my shelf that I either haven't played or haven't finished. I will give another recommendation to Trials of Mana though, which I played last year and absolutely loved (still need to go through it again with a different party make up). I'm currently playing The Legend of Nayuta on my PS5 and having a great time with that as well. Highly recommend!
I swear, I had a REAL blast with Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, combat was amazing, mixing between different jobs and skills made the whole action feel good. Yes, writing isn't at it's finest right here, but after playing through the game and beating the last boss, I found this game to be HIGHLY underrared enjoyable gem. If you love action role playing games, check out Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.
SoP is really underappreciated. Fun jobsystem, challenging Nioh-light gameplay, Jack with his whacky 90s oneliners - I had an awesome time getting this to plat.
I got 100% achievements in 70 hours, yet I have over 400 now just because the game is so goddamn fun. Making builds with any job combo you can think of is so cool
Also a shoutout to Astlibra. An amazing passion project made by one person over the course of 14 years. Great combat, lovely characters and amazing story with more twists than you can imagine.
I got it because it seemed great. Sadly I can't get into 2D sidescrollers easily, so after 5h or so it's been sitting in backlog (just like all the other acclaimed sidescrollers like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous). The only one I've really gotten hooked by is Cuphead
Got excited when you said strangers paradise was coop, thought it was local for a second the way you where going on! Persona 5 strikers was a ball! Scarlet Nexus is one to move fruter up the backlog to play! I couldn't get into xenoblade chronicles and that soured me to 2 and 3, something about it's gameplay just didn't click with me! As for an action JRPG i'd recommend, i'd say Tales of the Abyss! Such a bloody good game!
I'd also give a mention to Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ and Star Ocean: The Divine Force. Also, is CrossCode considered an action JRPG ? Because if it does it should be in the conversation too as it is a great game.
Your selection of favorites is so good. You have lovely taste. From Odin Sphere, to YsVIII, both Tales, Persona 5 Strikers, Scarlet Nexus and NieR Automata. I adore them. Action JRPGs are my favorite genre. I would add for myself, Bloodborne(I know people don't include it for having western influence, but it was made in Japan), Kingdom Hearts(more specifically KH2, KH3 and KH BBB), Final Fantasy 16 and Ni No Kuno 2. I would have added Yakuza games before Yakuza 7. Because when it started on the PS2. It was supposed to be labeled Action Brawler Role Playing Game. But the media and fans, just kept calling it Japanese GTA over the years. So they label the non-Ichiban games as something else. Very sad since they do have so much RPG ingrained in them. They don't feel like the description "rpg elements" at all. They feel like full blown RPGs. So sad only 7 and Infinite Wealth get to be called that because of turn-base. On Xenoblade, I don't include any of them as mych as I love them. I understood your explanation for the purpose of the video. But combat from Xenoblade feels more real-time MMO than full on action. The first Ni No Kuni also shares this, while the sequel is more on line with full action. That me, of course. Everyone has their own perspective(hopefully I didn't come out strong). Overall, I feel most Tales games are my favorites for action combat in JRPGs. They just feel incredible and addictively fun. Sometimes I forget to go through the story cause of their battle systems(I am a gameplay game first and foremost). I share the same sentiment with what you describe Arise. About the changing of characters, but with Berseria. Cause is so fluid and the switch feature in Berseria has many hidden mechanics that triumphs over Arise for me. But regardless, I immensely adore both, including: Graces F, Vesperia, Zestiria, Hearts R and Xillia 2 as my favorite battle system in the series. Also, sorry about Berseria fans pestering you whenever you do lists for favorite or your most impactful JRPGs. I assure you, we are not all crazy. 😭 A honorable mention is Oninaki. I am one of the few that truly enjoyed the game a LOT. Plus, the designs of the characters are incredible. Cosplay worthy. I was gonna add Genshin Impact... BUT that is a Chinese RPG. Lmao so, scratch that. Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. Wonderful list and explanations as to why. And always a pleasure to listen to your radio voice. ✨️
If Square Enix didn't have such insane expectations for their game's sales we might actually get something like a reimagining of the DrakenGuard franchise given NieR Automata's success or a port/remaster of the Xenosaga trilogy given how successful the last few entries in the Xeno games have been(I know Nintendo owns the Xenoblade games but Square Enix still owns Xenogears & Xenosaga). For God's sake Neo the world ends with you was considered a failure by Square Enix even though it actually sold well because they expected it to sell as well as their original sales projections for a main line Final Fantasy games like FF15 and FF7 remake. Keep in mind that both FF15 & 16 underperformed by Square Enix's standards.
FFXV is the highest selling game in the franchise at the moment regardless of reception. Also Squeenix owns the Xenogears brand and BandaiNamco own Xenosaga Trilogy. Personally, the only thing I would like from Squeenix is a re-release of Vagrant Story with a revamped system. As it stands, Vagrant Story is an amazing yet obtuse experience.
@@sebbyterasu78 You can put that re release right next to the Parasite Eve remake and everything else they refuse to remaster or remake. It's crazy that even with those sales they were somehow still disappointed in it's sales. I know they spent a fortune on FF15 do to it's massive marketing and development hell but they still expect to much.
With how much I loved Scarlet Nexus and Tales of Arise, and how high they are on my list, it's hard to believe they came out in the same year. XD Excited to go back to Arise soon. :) I did feel like Berseria's depth was held back by some of its gameplay issues though. It felt like Tales was dealing with some identity issues where it tried too hard to split itself between casual and hardcore audiences, but lacked steps in between, which I feel is a pretty common problem with gaming in the age of the internet. I appreciated Arise's step back toward visually represented game mechanics, despite its reduction in the number of mechanics. While I'd like more to be added in the future, I hope they add less invisible and cryptic features going forward.
@@EmperorXirco yeah I’m actually thinking about getting it to play it on my laptop using Xbox controller. It has xenoblade vibes but it feels more unique
I just finished Tales of Arise yesterday after month of playing. Now it's my the most favorite game of all time. The game is really good especially if you are ok with romantic stuff. Story is so good and all dialogues were really well written. All characters play their roles through out the game and are well written. Even if you feel like they lacking smth in the beginning, everything will be explained later in game.
Addition, people shouldn't sleep on Nayuta boundless trails, it's a really great action rpg by falcom. If you like YS you will probably love this as well
Great video! I would love a list of great *easy* action JRPGs some time - I'm really bad at action JRPGs, but I know that some of them tell really excellent stories that I'd love to experience.
P5 Strikers is amazing. My GOTY for 2021. And finally someone who doesn't call it a musou a game. I'm huge musou fan, and P5S doesn't feel like musou game at all. There are small arenas which start by attacking a single enemy in the map, four party member at once, skills that you can miss forever if you don't learn them; If anything it is more similar to Tales formula and not musou.
I love XBC3 but my biggest issue is the switch. I feel bad about how amazing the art direction is, the combat can be ect. but it's all held back by the Switch's power. I never beat it because I got too much of a headache from it. I've had YS8 on my shelf for a while just haven't booted it up to play yet, I think this video finally has given me the kick to do it!
It surprised me how much I enjoyed the remake of Trials of Mana, in my opinion the original game still looks miles better, but the changes in gameplay make the remake more fun to play nowadays. While not everyone enjoyed Star Ocean The Divine Force, it became my favorite in the franchise and I higly recommend it. I'm also a fan of the Rune Factory series, is a cross between Action RPGs and farming games, check the franchise if you like those genres.
Great list! I saw a lot of my favorites here :) what’s cool about P5S is I feel like they really thought about the fans. It really felt like a summer road-trip with my frands :)
Totally forgot Odin Sphere, bought it on my PS3's PSN account 10+ years ago. Just tried PS3 emulation on my old Linux laptop and the game runs great. Thanks for the vid.
Yakuza (+Judgment) is simply the greatest series of action JRPGs ever. Nier Automata stands apart for its story, and also for its 3D bullet hell style. FF7R, for all that it gets dumped on by people mad about the story changes, has done something truly amazing with its fusion of party based combat and action combat - I think its combat system is what Tales of has always been striving for but never reached.
I'm primarily a turn based jrpg fan as my reflexes are terrible. However, I really enjoyed Tokyo Xanadu Ex+, it's the only action jrpg that I've completed and I'm also currently playing Crystar which I'm enjoying.
This is a great list! Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is one of the first games I got for my PS5 just recently and I look forward to getting to play this version. The PS2 version is one of my favorite games, so I'm very excited to get to experience it in an even better way. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is another of my favorites, it's just such a joy to play and I catch myself smiling while playing it because I'm having so much fun. Persona 5 Strikers was a pleasant surprise in how it felt like a Persona game adapted into an action RPG format. Tales of Arise is great and I just started Tales of Berseria for the first time and I'm enjoying it so far. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a truly excellent game and I now want to check out the rest of the series. I haven't yet played the others, but I own a couple of them and I would like to play all of them in the future.
@@yass3425i personally liked the graphics. Unfortunaly the lack of direction put me off. Played it a few years back and then had to take a break. After picking it up again I could not progress any further since I didnt know where to go and what to do next. Never played it again since I couldnt get over the fact to replay 30ish hours
I'm very much into norse mythology and vanillaware games are so beautiful so I got the original on the PS2 and just couldn't get into it. I'm a more mature gamer and the remake looks pretty great so I think I'll pick it up. I was definitely a bit biased against action RPGs up until recently for some reason so I haven't played that many on this list. I did play Ys VIII and loved it. I own Tales of Arise and I just bought Scarlet Nexus on super sale so I'll have to pepper them in amongst the turn based games I play. Great video!
Thank you for this list was a fun watch as 3 were new to me. Tho I prefer turn based (Im a 50 year old gamer lol) the really good action jrpg's have grown on me. You remain my go to channel for the jrpg genre
Same. I didn’t care for 3 unfortunately(loved Future Redeemed battle system though). 2 just never gets old for me. It’s the diversity of the battle system and I find it to be just so satisfying. Even the gotcha system keeps me going play-through after play-through.
I LOVED trials of mana and am currently playing Ys 8! Next on my list is definitely tales of arise when I finally get a PS5! I personally am not a huge fan of turn based RPGs and I find there’s very minimal good action JRPGs out there. I recently played Harvestella which was also really fun actually!
You might want to check out my Top 10 Most Anticipated RPGs video! A huge chunk of it is turn-based, but the Top 2 are doing something completely different that no one's ever done before!
@@BacklogBattle I’ll definitely check it out! Final fantasy is another one I’m looking forward to, I’ve always wanted to experience the game but never had a PlayStation! I feel my options are definitely limited on switch
Ys 8 is one of the most fun games I have ever played! In fact, I got depressed the moment I completed it, it was THAT good! Honestly underrated, and I recommend anyone to play it, it is simply a Ys game done perfect! I love it. 9 was...bad sadly, I hope 10 is done right and goes back to what made 8 a great Ys game.
It is such a waste that Bandai Namco have yet to give us a sequel of Scarlet Nexus and Code Vein, those two franchises have so much potential that you know a sequel could knock it out of the park.
My initial thoughts of Ys VIII was cheesy music with generic action/story. After completing the game I can whole Heartedly say it’s an absolute masterpiece and the music HITS! Enjoyed it so much I dived straight into Ys IX and although not as good as VIII I loved it so much. Can’t wait to play some of The older titles and BRING ON Ys X!
Prob my favourite genre in gameplay I’ve played almost all off these titles. Some of the stories are meh but the gameplay is key especially for scarlet nexus
I have beaten 7 of the games on this list, and I own 2 more. Yeah, I agree with this list. And the only reason I don't have Odin Sphere is because I don't have any Playstations.
Great vid!!! Some people regard Astral Chain as an action rpg. Tbh I think it has better systems than FFXVI. Anyways, that’s a god tier game imo. I’m enjoying FFXVI but am not thrilled over its super shallow rpg system. God of War 2018/Ragnarok has deeper elements than it does… I wonder by that fact should it be considered an action rpg. I think so. It’s a bit hard to swallow but I’m having that epiphany now👍🏾
Shoutout to the Monster Hunter franchise. Rise is a blast on the switch and the game I have put more hours into than any other. I definitely bounced off of it the first time and the story is nothing stellar, but boy howdy that gameplay is addictive once it clicks!!
Half of these games you've mentioned are games I either have already been and currently working on a second play through of or third Play through or there are games that I'm very happy Finally are getting DLC namely tales of arise for one. I will definitely say that a good chunk of these games are pretty much all in a very very good ballpark but I still stand by the fact that YS8 is easily a solid game one that I'm currently going through it I think and a harder run in new game plus. To be honest now that I know about automatus plot thanks to every single person in their grandmother nor shutting up about the story the anime that came out that basically tells the story again only this time it's from the perspective of a bit more details it makes me more appreciate the fact that thanks to 2B's popularity we now have the girl as a sexy chocolate alternate color skin in soul caliber 6 which I wish to see more of by the way, she was in Fallguys and more importantly she is in NIKKE: The Mobile game where you get to look at a girl's a** as they're shooting at things which is perfect lol. All joking aside a really good salt list all things considered though seeing scarlet Nexus really makes me want to go back and beat the second character story that I haven't gone around to beating yet. Great job Alex!
Is there a list of Action RPGs with JRPG flair that also has "loot"? That seems more of a diablo western thing. Alot of JRPG stuff usually does it through shops and boss drops with monster drops here and there.
I would pick XBC 2 because waifu collector. 🤤🤤🤤 Though I do love a lot of these games except Odin Sphere. Never could get into it no matter how hard I tried. I'd probably put Dead Cells instead of Odin Sphere.
Stranger of paradise is fun its not as good as dark soul yet its better than clunky code vein (feels so floaty and not satisfying). Ys8 the best action rpg for now, tales of arise good but the story feels rushed i like tales of berseria more. I love ff7 but idk why i cant get into this remake its good game though.
Loved all the xenoblade games until i got to the third one was hyped for it but thought game was a major letdown too easy and story was boring to me prefer first games story and second games combat was also upset at the lack of big cities to explore the second xenoblade had way better cities
Despite loving secret of mana on SNES, what we got on the PS4, it janky unplayable trash that crashed every 30 minutes, it annoyed me so much i went and got a refund, something i thought was impossible for a fan of the series!
Zesteria's story isn't very good IMO. However... it is one of my favorite Tales games thanks to the combat. The fusion mechanic is just crazy and so much fun.
Thanks for the comment! But the combat system for both games is dramatically different, which very different focuses for each. Can't really compare the two unless you had an expectation that Xenoblade would be more like Ys' combat system.
@@BacklogBattle I went in xenoblade expecting it to be a fast paced action combat similar to ys8 from the gameplay vids that I've seen so yeah it's definitely on me for setting these expectations but I didn't expect it to be that much different. It almost feels like a turn based combat but it's not even that. It's just very weird to me personally. I'm sure that these games probably have a really good story and characters but the gameplay of Xenoblade 1 just didn't click with me. But I may go back and give it another try after I finish Star Ocean Second Story R
I do think that marketing needs to be better at setting expectations to interested people, so it's not just on you to do that. That said, I feel like its our job as CZcamsrs to try and make sure that we can showcase how a game is played so that people know what they're getting into as well!
Xenoblade as a whole does not belong in ARPG lists. Its not an action RPG. Its a single player mmo through and through. It doesn't have the things needed to be considered an action RPG by any means. Aside from that this is a pretty solid list but i would replace YVIII with YSIX personally. Scarlet Nexus is super underrated. Really fun game and great cast of characters.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Nuff said, go play it.
This Is the best Action JRPG list video. I immediately added it to my Game Backlog playlist. A lot of other channels have difficulty deciding what is an Action JRPG!
Wow, thank you so much!
FYI to all: P5 Strikers is a sequel to Persona 5 Vanilla. It does not include the new Royal content or characters in its story.
Idk why this had to be here. It can be a sequel to Royal as well. Heck, Sumire is competing. So her not being in the game is justify.
@@PersonWhoIsTired Mainly putting this here for folks who expect a continuation from the Third semester with the events and new characters referenced, which they're not iirc.
Most of these titles have a fairly large followings, even the niche ones but I feel like Scarlett Nexus is by far the most overlooked one here since it was a new IP with no followup games in the franchise. I think it's a shame that more people don't check it out considering it has great action combat and awesome enemy designs among many other qualities. If people only pay attention to established franchises in the RPG genre less publishers will take risks making new experiences, especially one-and-done games like Scarlett Nexus and their previous game Code Vein.
Aside from the limited enemy variety/design, Scarlet Nexus was a GREAT addition to the Action rpg lineup
I felt SN was just meh by the end. The fighting was just too repetitive for my taste. The story and cut scenes were cool. I would make a good anime. But the gameplay just couldn't keep me hooked. I beat it with the guy as the main playable character and have no intention of going through it again with the girl lead character.
@@donmerrigan2362 Funny enough it has an anime adaptation and it's awful.
Loved it, would be perfectly fine with it not staying a single-game franchise. :D I want to see some exploration of stage obstacles instead of just battlefields, and I want to see where they take the combat past this.
I played SN and ToA back to back and honestly, I enjoyed SN much more. From the combat and story, SN pulled me in more. Overall I really liked both but I got kinda bored of ToA by the end. 😬
I think Nier Automata is not really an rpg. If it is an rpg, you can consider Horizon, or God of War as rpg as well. I think it is more like action adventure.
Or Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, none of those are RPGs.
Horizon _is_ an RPG, I'd argue.
@@hododod246 horizon is rpg, god of war isnt
Odin Sphere is my wife's favorite game, and Ys 8,9, NEO: The World Ends With You, Scarlet Nexus, and Neir Replicant are my top favorite AJRPGs.
Great Video... I just realized that Action JRPG is my favorite genre, thanks to YS VIII and YS IX.
Thanks a lot for this list. Now I know where to look for enjoyable games. Subscribed !
So happy you gave the shout-out to NEO TWEWY and the Trials of Mana remake, those are both really can't-miss action RPGs.
Of course, I have to do my usual shilling for Star Ocean The Divine Force for PS4|5, Xbox One, Series S|X and PC. The exploration is a joy, the movement abilities are a ton of fun, the combat is great and best of all, some US retailers have it as low as $10 right now!
The world ends with you on the ds is work of art. The fighting, music, style, the mini game. Such a work of freaking art
I used to love turn-based JRPGs growing up in the 8 and 16 bit eras, but more and more I find myself preferring the action ones. I've got a backlog of about 75% of this list sitting on my shelf that I either haven't played or haven't finished. I will give another recommendation to Trials of Mana though, which I played last year and absolutely loved (still need to go through it again with a different party make up). I'm currently playing The Legend of Nayuta on my PS5 and having a great time with that as well. Highly recommend!
Ys 8 is amazing! Odin Sphere is beauuuuutiful!
I swear, I had a REAL blast with Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, combat was amazing, mixing between different jobs and skills made the whole action feel good.
Yes, writing isn't at it's finest right here, but after playing through the game and beating the last boss, I found this game to be HIGHLY underrared enjoyable gem.
If you love action role playing games, check out Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.
SoP is really underappreciated. Fun jobsystem, challenging Nioh-light gameplay, Jack with his whacky 90s oneliners - I had an awesome time getting this to plat.
I got 100% achievements in 70 hours, yet I have over 400 now just because the game is so goddamn fun. Making builds with any job combo you can think of is so cool
Also a shoutout to Astlibra. An amazing passion project made by one person over the course of 14 years. Great combat, lovely characters and amazing story with more twists than you can imagine.
Also very generous in term of content for a pretty decent price.
I got it because it seemed great. Sadly I can't get into 2D sidescrollers easily, so after 5h or so it's been sitting in backlog (just like all the other acclaimed sidescrollers like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous). The only one I've really gotten hooked by is Cuphead
Fantastic game.
Played most of these games and many of them are some of my favorite modern games.
Got excited when you said strangers paradise was coop, thought it was local for a second the way you where going on! Persona 5 strikers was a ball! Scarlet Nexus is one to move fruter up the backlog to play! I couldn't get into xenoblade chronicles and that soured me to 2 and 3, something about it's gameplay just didn't click with me! As for an action JRPG i'd recommend, i'd say Tales of the Abyss! Such a bloody good game!
9 of 10 are on the PS4, which is such an awesome console for JRPGs.
I'd also give a mention to Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ and Star Ocean: The Divine Force.
Also, is CrossCode considered an action JRPG ?
Because if it does it should be in the conversation too as it is a great game.
Crosscode is definitly an Action RPG and yeah it's very great game.
FF7 Remake Intergrade was a amazing. Can't wait for Rebirth.
Excellent list, Alex! Excited for more of these!
Your selection of favorites is so good. You have lovely taste. From Odin Sphere, to YsVIII, both Tales, Persona 5 Strikers, Scarlet Nexus and NieR Automata. I adore them. Action JRPGs are my favorite genre.
I would add for myself, Bloodborne(I know people don't include it for having western influence, but it was made in Japan), Kingdom Hearts(more specifically KH2, KH3 and KH BBB), Final Fantasy 16 and Ni No Kuno 2.
I would have added Yakuza games before Yakuza 7. Because when it started on the PS2. It was supposed to be labeled Action Brawler Role Playing Game. But the media and fans, just kept calling it Japanese GTA over the years. So they label the non-Ichiban games as something else. Very sad since they do have so much RPG ingrained in them. They don't feel like the description "rpg elements" at all. They feel like full blown RPGs. So sad only 7 and Infinite Wealth get to be called that because of turn-base.
On Xenoblade, I don't include any of them as mych as I love them. I understood your explanation for the purpose of the video. But combat from Xenoblade feels more real-time MMO than full on action. The first Ni No Kuni also shares this, while the sequel is more on line with full action. That me, of course. Everyone has their own perspective(hopefully I didn't come out strong).
Overall, I feel most Tales games are my favorites for action combat in JRPGs. They just feel incredible and addictively fun. Sometimes I forget to go through the story cause of their battle systems(I am a gameplay game first and foremost). I share the same sentiment with what you describe Arise. About the changing of characters, but with Berseria. Cause is so fluid and the switch feature in Berseria has many hidden mechanics that triumphs over Arise for me. But regardless, I immensely adore both, including: Graces F, Vesperia, Zestiria, Hearts R and Xillia 2 as my favorite battle system in the series. Also, sorry about Berseria fans pestering you whenever you do lists for favorite or your most impactful JRPGs. I assure you, we are not all crazy. 😭
A honorable mention is Oninaki. I am one of the few that truly enjoyed the game a LOT. Plus, the designs of the characters are incredible. Cosplay worthy.
I was gonna add Genshin Impact... BUT that is a Chinese RPG. Lmao so, scratch that.
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. Wonderful list and explanations as to why. And always a pleasure to listen to your radio voice. ✨️
What a list ! 😍 truly believe this is the second golden age of JRPGs - turn and action based…
If Square Enix didn't have such insane expectations for their game's sales we might actually get something like a reimagining of the DrakenGuard franchise given NieR Automata's success or a port/remaster of the Xenosaga trilogy given how successful the last few entries in the Xeno games have been(I know Nintendo owns the Xenoblade games but Square Enix still owns Xenogears & Xenosaga). For God's sake Neo the world ends with you was considered a failure by Square Enix even though it actually sold well because they expected it to sell as well as their original sales projections for a main line Final Fantasy games like FF15 and FF7 remake. Keep in mind that both FF15 & 16 underperformed by Square Enix's standards.
FFXV is the highest selling game in the franchise at the moment regardless of reception. Also Squeenix owns the Xenogears brand and BandaiNamco own Xenosaga Trilogy. Personally, the only thing I would like from Squeenix is a re-release of Vagrant Story with a revamped system. As it stands, Vagrant Story is an amazing yet obtuse experience.
@@sebbyterasu78 You can put that re release right next to the Parasite Eve remake and everything else they refuse to remaster or remake. It's crazy that even with those sales they were somehow still disappointed in it's sales. I know they spent a fortune on FF15 do to it's massive marketing and development hell but they still expect to much.
And now they just want to make more AAA titles no?
With how much I loved Scarlet Nexus and Tales of Arise, and how high they are on my list, it's hard to believe they came out in the same year. XD Excited to go back to Arise soon. :)
I did feel like Berseria's depth was held back by some of its gameplay issues though. It felt like Tales was dealing with some identity issues where it tried too hard to split itself between casual and hardcore audiences, but lacked steps in between, which I feel is a pretty common problem with gaming in the age of the internet. I appreciated Arise's step back toward visually represented game mechanics, despite its reduction in the number of mechanics. While I'd like more to be added in the future, I hope they add less invisible and cryptic features going forward.
Haven't played most of these games on the list but Tales of Arise actually looks pretty good
Arise is an amazing game, its also got a DLC releasing on the 20th of November I think it is
@@EmperorXirco yeah I’m actually thinking about getting it to play it on my laptop using Xbox controller. It has xenoblade vibes but it feels more unique
I just finished Tales of Arise yesterday after month of playing. Now it's my the most favorite game of all time. The game is really good especially if you are ok with romantic stuff. Story is so good and all dialogues were really well written. All characters play their roles through out the game and are well written. Even if you feel like they lacking smth in the beginning, everything will be explained later in game.
Xenoblade 3 is a masterpiece
Addition, people shouldn't sleep on Nayuta boundless trails, it's a really great action rpg by falcom. If you like YS you will probably love this as well
Been playing it lately. I dunno it feels more like Zwei than Ys. So it's good, but not great. At least it hasn't hooked me like Ys games did
Great video! I would love a list of great *easy* action JRPGs some time - I'm really bad at action JRPGs, but I know that some of them tell really excellent stories that I'd love to experience.
P5 Strikers is amazing. My GOTY for 2021. And finally someone who doesn't call it a musou a game. I'm huge musou fan, and P5S doesn't feel like musou game at all. There are small arenas which start by attacking a single enemy in the map, four party member at once, skills that you can miss forever if you don't learn them; If anything it is more similar to Tales formula and not musou.
I love XBC3 but my biggest issue is the switch. I feel bad about how amazing the art direction is, the combat can be ect. but it's all held back by the Switch's power. I never beat it because I got too much of a headache from it.
I've had YS8 on my shelf for a while just haven't booted it up to play yet, I think this video finally has given me the kick to do it!
The music in Ys VIII is amazing as well. Truly the highlight of the series.
It surprised me how much I enjoyed the remake of Trials of Mana, in my opinion the original game still looks miles better, but the changes in gameplay make the remake more fun to play nowadays.
While not everyone enjoyed Star Ocean The Divine Force, it became my favorite in the franchise and I higly recommend it.
I'm also a fan of the Rune Factory series, is a cross between Action RPGs and farming games, check the franchise if you like those genres.
Great list! I saw a lot of my favorites here :) what’s cool about P5S is I feel like they really thought about the fans. It really felt like a summer road-trip with my frands :)
Love the list! Love Xenoblade Chronicles, Vll remake was like playing a movie, Nier absolutely floored me, but no Kingdom Hearts? 😭
Totally forgot Odin Sphere, bought it on my PS3's PSN account 10+ years ago.
Just tried PS3 emulation on my old Linux laptop and the game runs great. Thanks for the vid.
Yakuza (+Judgment) is simply the greatest series of action JRPGs ever. Nier Automata stands apart for its story, and also for its 3D bullet hell style. FF7R, for all that it gets dumped on by people mad about the story changes, has done something truly amazing with its fusion of party based combat and action combat - I think its combat system is what Tales of has always been striving for but never reached.
I'm primarily a turn based jrpg fan as my reflexes are terrible. However, I really enjoyed Tokyo Xanadu Ex+, it's the only action jrpg that I've completed and I'm also currently playing Crystar which I'm enjoying.
This is a great list! Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is one of the first games I got for my PS5 just recently and I look forward to getting to play this version. The PS2 version is one of my favorite games, so I'm very excited to get to experience it in an even better way. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is another of my favorites, it's just such a joy to play and I catch myself smiling while playing it because I'm having so much fun. Persona 5 Strikers was a pleasant surprise in how it felt like a Persona game adapted into an action RPG format. Tales of Arise is great and I just started Tales of Berseria for the first time and I'm enjoying it so far. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a truly excellent game and I now want to check out the rest of the series. I haven't yet played the others, but I own a couple of them and I would like to play all of them in the future.
Ys VIII isn't just one of the top-tier action RPGs... it's one of the best, most top-tier video games I've ever played.
Sadly alot of people ignoring it based on its graphics alone lol
@@yass3425i personally liked the graphics. Unfortunaly the lack of direction put me off. Played it a few years back and then had to take a break. After picking it up again I could not progress any further since I didnt know where to go and what to do next. Never played it again since I couldnt get over the fact to replay 30ish hours
@@DerMotze yeah to be honest I find the map design quite annoying myself lol and the quest marker doesn't provide a good sense of direction
I'm very much into norse mythology and vanillaware games are so beautiful so I got the original on the PS2 and just couldn't get into it. I'm a more mature gamer and the remake looks pretty great so I think I'll pick it up.
I was definitely a bit biased against action RPGs up until recently for some reason so I haven't played that many on this list. I did play Ys VIII and loved it. I own Tales of Arise and I just bought Scarlet Nexus on super sale so I'll have to pepper them in amongst the turn based games I play.
Great video!
I still need to play half of these games
Neir feels so good within the first few minutes
Thank you for this list was a fun watch as 3 were new to me. Tho I prefer turn based (Im a 50 year old gamer lol) the really good action jrpg's have grown on me. You remain my go to channel for the jrpg genre
More chinese than japanese action rpgs, but I really liked Xuan Yuan Sword VII and Sword and Fairy 7: Together Forever.
Sword and Fairy Together Forever was such a neat surprise. Bought in on a whim and really loved it
I'm glad Xenoblade 3 made the list. Personally my favorite battle system is Xenoblade 2's. I never got tired of 2's battle system
Same. I didn’t care for 3 unfortunately(loved Future Redeemed battle system though).
2 just never gets old for me. It’s the diversity of the battle system and I find it to be just so satisfying. Even the gotcha system keeps me going play-through after play-through.
Yeah... The xeno 3 battle got me tired too....
Xeno 1 and 2 are better games. Xeno 3 is a great game though
Super thank you for your recommendation. All of them are fun to play :)
I LOVED trials of mana and am currently playing Ys 8! Next on my list is definitely tales of arise when I finally get a PS5! I personally am not a huge fan of turn based RPGs and I find there’s very minimal good action JRPGs out there. I recently played Harvestella which was also really fun actually!
You might want to check out my Top 10 Most Anticipated RPGs video! A huge chunk of it is turn-based, but the Top 2 are doing something completely different that no one's ever done before!
@@BacklogBattle I’ll definitely check it out! Final fantasy is another one I’m looking forward to, I’ve always wanted to experience the game but never had a PlayStation! I feel my options are definitely limited on switch
Stranger of Paradise mentioned
Stranger of Paradise mentioned
Ys 8 is one of the most fun games I have ever played!
In fact, I got depressed the moment I completed it, it was THAT good!
Honestly underrated, and I recommend anyone to play it, it is simply a Ys game done perfect! I love it.
9 was...bad sadly, I hope 10 is done right and goes back to what made 8 a great Ys game.
So much good Games on this List 😍
Odin Sphere is so addictive
scarlet nexus was a blast to play through, tales of arise as well
Star Ocean series for the win !
Great vid just subbed
I love turn based but am starting to open up to try some of these. Ganna give some of these a try
NEO TWEWY is so based man, one of the better action jrpg of the generation and only like 6 people played it
It is such a waste that Bandai Namco have yet to give us a sequel of Scarlet Nexus and Code Vein, those two franchises have so much potential that you know a sequel could knock it out of the park.
Those two just came out in 2021. Give them time. Yeah, it is very unlikely for Scarlet Nexus as it sold terribly, but still.
hey nice list!
Tales of Arise is my the most favorite game. It's almost perfect.
My initial thoughts of Ys VIII was cheesy music with generic action/story. After completing the game I can whole
Heartedly say it’s an absolute masterpiece and the music HITS!
Enjoyed it so much I dived straight into Ys IX and although not as good as VIII I loved it so much.
Can’t wait to play some of
The older titles and BRING ON Ys X!
Prob my favourite genre in gameplay I’ve played almost all off these titles. Some of the stories are meh but the gameplay is key especially for scarlet nexus
Still need play Nier
don't sleep on stranger of paradise . that game is soooo good!
Surprised not to see the Kingdom Hearts games mentioned here
I have beaten 7 of the games on this list, and I own 2 more. Yeah, I agree with this list. And the only reason I don't have Odin Sphere is because I don't have any Playstations.
note that Trials of Mana Remake is also on Android & iOS
Great vid!!! Some people regard Astral Chain as an action rpg. Tbh I think it has better systems than FFXVI.
Anyways, that’s a god tier game imo.
I’m enjoying FFXVI but am not thrilled over its super shallow rpg system. God of War 2018/Ragnarok has deeper elements than it does…
I wonder by that fact should it be considered an action rpg. I think so. It’s a bit hard to swallow but I’m having that epiphany now👍🏾
God odin sphere needed that update so bad. The fps dropped to 1fps during the spider queen boss
Stranger of Paradise is by far the best one. I love Ys 8 but goddamn SOP became one of my fav games of all time
Good list.
i cant believe you missed ni no kuni 2.
you should definitely play it on expert mode.
very rewarding.
Shoutout to the Monster Hunter franchise. Rise is a blast on the switch and the game I have put more hours into than any other. I definitely bounced off of it the first time and the story is nothing stellar, but boy howdy that gameplay is addictive once it clicks!!
Half of these games you've mentioned are games I either have already been and currently working on a second play through of or third Play through or there are games that I'm very happy Finally are getting DLC namely tales of arise for one. I will definitely say that a good chunk of these games are pretty much all in a very very good ballpark but I still stand by the fact that YS8 is easily a solid game one that I'm currently going through it I think and a harder run in new game plus. To be honest now that I know about automatus plot thanks to every single person in their grandmother nor shutting up about the story the anime that came out that basically tells the story again only this time it's from the perspective of a bit more details it makes me more appreciate the fact that thanks to 2B's popularity we now have the girl as a sexy chocolate alternate color skin in soul caliber 6 which I wish to see more of by the way, she was in Fallguys and more importantly she is in NIKKE: The Mobile game where you get to look at a girl's a** as they're shooting at things which is perfect lol. All joking aside a really good salt list all things considered though seeing scarlet Nexus really makes me want to go back and beat the second character story that I haven't gone around to beating yet. Great job Alex!
Is there a list of Action RPGs with JRPG flair that also has "loot"? That seems more of a diablo western thing. Alot of JRPG stuff usually does it through shops and boss drops with monster drops here and there.
One of these days I hope to see someone on CZcams give some love to Dragon Quest Heroes :(
Wait can you clarify why stranger than paradise didnt count?
NEO is incredible just like the og
I was expecting a mention of Megaman Battle network 3 hhh
If yall havent played Ni No Kuni 2 yet, it's surprisingly great action RPG.
Even though they're more action adventure instead of action RPG, the Legend of Zelda games should get an honorable mention.
If Nier is a JRPG then so is Zelda.
Is xenoblade 3 an action rpg?
No Kingdom Hearts 2?
Missing Kingdoms of Amalur :)
No Astral Chain?
I kinda think YS 7 was better than YS 8. But its also good game though.
What about mh....i think its quite in this category....big sword catchy style, goofy characters (especially old gemerations)
umm crosscode?
Not a fan of Tales games going away from turn based just like final fantasy. Its turn based system was great particularly in Trails Trilogy!
You may be talking about two different series…Tales of has always been action and the Trails series is still turn based.
Tales has never been turn based....
No Kingdom Hearts II?
Final Fantasy XVI should've been on here 😭
Tales of Arise is there instead of Tales of Symphonia, Vesperia, or Xillia 1/2, opinion disregarded (jOkE).
Tales of Arise is a perfect game not only by story but by combat system and visuals, the world.
I mean I love the classics but as far as action combat goes arise blows the older tales out of the water
Ni no kuni 2 revenant kingdom?
I would pick XBC 2 because waifu collector. 🤤🤤🤤
Though I do love a lot of these games except Odin Sphere. Never could get into it no matter how hard I tried. I'd probably put Dead Cells instead of Odin Sphere.
Star ocean the divine force
Stranger of paradise is fun its not as good as dark soul yet its better than clunky code vein (feels so floaty and not satisfying). Ys8 the best action rpg for now, tales of arise good but the story feels rushed i like tales of berseria more. I love ff7 but idk why i cant get into this remake its good game though.
Loved all the xenoblade games until i got to the third one was hyped for it but thought game was a major letdown too easy and story was boring to me prefer first games story and second games combat was also upset at the lack of big cities to explore the second xenoblade had way better cities
Despite loving secret of mana on SNES, what we got on the PS4, it janky unplayable trash that crashed every 30 minutes, it annoyed me so much i went and got a refund, something i thought was impossible for a fan of the series!
I liked Tales of Zestiria more than Berseria, in both gameplay and story. loved the character development in it.
Zesteria's story isn't very good IMO. However... it is one of my favorite Tales games thanks to the combat. The fusion mechanic is just crazy and so much fun.
I see, where is elden ring?
I made the terrible mistake of playing ys8 before xenoblade. It's crazy how much worse the combat in xenoblade is compared to ys8
Thanks for the comment! But the combat system for both games is dramatically different, which very different focuses for each. Can't really compare the two unless you had an expectation that Xenoblade would be more like Ys' combat system.
@@BacklogBattle I went in xenoblade expecting it to be a fast paced action combat similar to ys8 from the gameplay vids that I've seen so yeah it's definitely on me for setting these expectations but I didn't expect it to be that much different.
It almost feels like a turn based combat but it's not even that. It's just very weird to me personally. I'm sure that these games probably have a really good story and characters but the gameplay of Xenoblade 1 just didn't click with me. But I may go back and give it another try after I finish Star Ocean Second Story R
I do think that marketing needs to be better at setting expectations to interested people, so it's not just on you to do that. That said, I feel like its our job as CZcamsrs to try and make sure that we can showcase how a game is played so that people know what they're getting into as well!
Xenoblade as a whole does not belong in ARPG lists. Its not an action RPG. Its a single player mmo through and through. It doesn't have the things needed to be considered an action RPG by any means. Aside from that this is a pretty solid list but i would replace YVIII with YSIX personally. Scarlet Nexus is super underrated. Really fun game and great cast of characters.
Why does Nier look exactly like copied factory from FF14?
Not sure if serious
@@BacklogBattleyes serious
@@danw4437 that whole raid series is based on NieR Automata
Persona 5 lost its appeal 6 years ago, besides the badass music, i feel no reason to revisit it or play strikers. Give us a new persona game instead!
What is the point of putting your gender identity as a hashtag