10 Best RETRO Turn Based JRPGs
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- čas přidán 18. 09. 2023
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This video is sponsored by Dare Drop & XSEED Games.
What are the BEST retro turn based JRPGs? Well you're about to find out! In this video I count down the top 10 best retro turn based JRPGs of all time.
What are your favorite retro turn based JRPGs?
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You never played Xenogears. The comment about building your gear how you want is nonsense. There was no "building" or customizing your gear. Every section you had just enough money to fully upgrade all your gears defenses and attack power. If you didn't then your gears would be too weak to fight the next boss so upgrading was mandatory however there was no customizing. If you got to a shop that had gear parts you basically buy all of them then and there because it meant there was a gear boss coming up.
Well, not retro, but in the spirit of: Pixel Noir & Chaos Chain on #Steam. For action preference (instead of turn based): Pecaminosa - A Pixel Noir Adventure.
NOOOO
did u ever play grandia 2 ? I think it was very good
Here for Lunar 🙌
Same except saying psp is best is so wrong. Mainly because they change the voices.
@@MrDwaters88 I've only played the psp version because we only have handhelds at home, no home consoles so can't relate
I didn't even know there was a PSP version.
It was an amazing game on the PS1, though.
This guy gets it👆
Sega cd originalist
I have found my people 🥺
Lunar Silver Star was originally on Sega CD. It was amazing.
It was I ordered that joint out of the back of an egm basically off one screen shot.
@@jasonm8051 I bought it from a closing video store
Yeah considering it came out in 1992 and say FF6 came out in 94 it was ahead of it time and one of the few games to really show the potential of the Sega CD
Blew my mind away with the story and everything, fell in love with the world instantly.
Fortunate to have played the Collector Editions of Lunar 1 & 2 on PS1. PSP Version was a definite plus, except for the dubs on their cutscenes. Horrendous compared to the PS1 Cutscenes
Xenogears. Wild arms was the first rpg I played on the PS1. I'm 66 and I love RPGs.
I played Persona 4 golden. I love that one too. My husband passed away a little over 2 years ago. He love the music. Final Fantasy 7, Xenogears.
I actually played Chrono Trigger this year for the first time and I loved it a lot.
Play "Sea Of Stars" on steam or ps5 then it's an indie spiritual successor and its amazing.
Nice!
Same :)
Same, I just finished it last month, it was definitely worth it.
Hoping to see SNES Lufia 2 on a list like this one day.. That game is just so good.. So underrated..
Yessss. One of my top 5 games.
Ah yeah that's such a good game too
Funny, since I just posted my list and Lufia 2 would be on 11, just missing the Top 10 (with one game per franchise). But yes, it’s amazing.
lufia 2, ff3, snes had some of the best games
Not anime enough for this list
Lunar SSS was my first JRPG, it and Lunar EB Complete on the PSX both have special places in my heart and always will. I always feel like I'm one of the only people that love those games, so it was really nice to see Silver Star on this list.
Yea I played SSS and EB on psx as a kid an it def holds a special place in me. Amazing story.
Yeah I also played Lunar SSS and I fell in love with completely. It was and is my favorite RPG of all time. It was very fun to play and had some unique features to it that made it quite enjoyable. It was also the only game I knew ofmthat you could actually die in after beating the final boss. I only discovered how you accomplish that task accidently. Still loved it and fun fact, if you leveled Nash to level 50, he gained a second attack.
You're definitely not the only one. I love Lunar so much that I still have my original PS copies.
@@kingdaniel3519 SAME
Alex of Burg the goodboy goat
Ar Tonelico 2, Grandia 2, Final Fantasy IX, Persona 2, Dragon Quest VIII and Digital Devil Saga are some of my absolute favorites.
Parasite Eve was the first game I remember where friends of mine that were girls really got into an RPG. Back then it was much more of a rarity in my friends circle especially but this game definitely got their attention and I'm so happy that it did. You are correct, a full remake is a must for this game, newer players need to try this one out.
You nailed an incredible group of great games in this list, theres just too much to say. Your top 5 are certainly legendary and might I say the day we could get a fixed remastered or remade and fixed version of Xenogears will be a great amazing day indeed. These games share such amazing moments and memories....its such a huge reason I love JRPGs and always will. Thanks Taylor!
Very happy to see Persona 4 and Wild ARMs 3 on here. Wild ARMs has always been a super underrated series with great dungeon designs and puzzles and unfortunately a lot of people never got a chance to try the series out. Persona 4 is my favorite Persona game and I agree with you that it has some of the best characters in any game.
I like all of the Wild Arms game as well, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone talk about Wild arms: alter Code F. It’s like the game never existed, and I love that game
I'm a huge Wild Arms fan, since the first one, i own all games and a lot of merch, i remember the first one very fondly because it was one of the very few RPG's that had a Spanish translation, back in the day, being a fan of the genre was difficult because it was so rare to have a game in your own language.
Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, Mario RPG, Seiken Densetsu III, Tales of Phantasia, Dragon Quest, Xenogears, Breath of Fire II
Love your list. Almost all my classic top games are on this list. Wish more ppl knew about the Mana Khemia series. Its one of the JRPG where I felt it still holds up to this day
I didn't realize RF3 Special was released already - this is maybe the first time I've been happy about the sponsorship segment 😂
I'm betting the Rune Factory people will be ecstatic with this comment haha, sometimes those sponsored ads can work.
Haha glad it was helpful!
Just from the Avatar you could see that Xenogears is number 1 to me. lol I have played all of the games and their sequels listed so this was very nostalgic for me. The original Wild Arms is my favorite of the series also.
Hey pal, nice taste in games :)
I liked Dragon Quest 4 and 5 a lot more than 8. I have the uncommon opinion that games can be too big and I just couldn't force myself to finish DQ8. The other 2 being way shorter and keeping things fresher with the different chapters/time skips made them a lot more enjoyable for me.
And 6. The 4/5/6 trilogy is just so good. I love them so much. IDK, I didn't like 8 as much as many others did.
I like the 3DS dragon quest 7 fragments of a forgotten time more than anything else. It is great as well for the fact that you can change classes and master them all for an essentially unkillable squad
Lunar and it’s sequel are some of my favorite games ever made. While the PSP version was good, they changed the boat song from the PS1 version and that was not okay lol.
Its still the same singer
@@Ubu90 Yeah but the song was different if I remember correctly.
ya and they changed Nalls voice.
Parasite Eve and Xenogears are amazing. I replay both about once a year on my Vita and PS3
Really wish they would come to Switch or PS5 store
Honorable mention for "Trails In The Sky."
Grandia made the list! Woot! Number 2 is my favorite of all time
I'll add Shadow hearts 1& 2! amazing story and character, original setting during WW2 mixing historical events with fantasy, and a great turn based combat with the ring system that makes it very special and fun!
Also Baten Kaitos, that just got re released in HD on switch, with cards based combat and great story and music !
Shadow Hearts 2 is in my Top 3 games of all time.
Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 are masterpieces, we are lucky to have a spiritual successor in the works now, from the same creator: Penny Blood.
I regret not playing the Shadow Hearts games back in the day. I'm reading about their historical premise and that seems like a fresh take on the whole genre. I picked up Covenant, but am currently trying to add SH1, so I play them in chronological order. Killer soundtracks! They give the speakers a workout.
Amazing video, really loved your selection. Hoping for a retro ARPG video soon
Grandia has one of the best (if not THE best) combat systems ever
My best retro RPG for sure is Radiata Stories, love that game so much, wish they did at least a remaster
I’m a simple man, I see lunar, I click on the video
Special place in my heart. First video game I ever completed. I begged my older brothers to help me because I was scared of the first slime boss. He told me I could do and I did. It also helped that I was probably 10 lvls too high because I earlier tried to play Lufia on an emulator on his computer and I… I couldn’t get past the cave spiders. Yes, the first lvl 1 enemies.
I know you said "Retro", but I really think *"The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky"* trilogy (and also *"Trails from Zero/to Azure")* qualifies as "retro" at least.
*The Legend of Heroes* franchise in general has become *my all time favorite turn-based JRPG,* surpassing EVERY other franchise in the same genre, even Chrono Trigger/Final Fantasy.
Great list the ONLY thing I would of loved is seeing what systems you can get these and play them on :). Was a wonderful list. Thanks for the upload
Good feedback for next list!
great list taylor, parasite eve is an underrated gem that i think more people should play. yes the controls are a bit clunky but once you get used to it and hooked on the story you realize they probably should have made at least one more game.
Brilliant list my dude, so many bangers 😎
Appreciate it!
Love this list quite a bit.
only "gripe" is the lunar segment and I'm 82% sure its just nostalgia kicking me in the head but I felt that the psp version changed some things in the story/character portrayal and it ultimately changed how i felt about some key characters. PSX version in my opinion has more heart. (if that counts for anything)
but I agree that the music is astounding through out all versions.
I'm there with you with the psp version. Glad it's there, but not my favorite. As much as I love the sega cd version, I feel the Playstation upgrade is just too good to ignore. Eternal blue, however, the sega cd version is my preferred way to play.
Music was better on Sega CD. More dark
Glad to see Wild Arms 3 on here for all the unique things it does (like letting you rename your spells and *any* NPC), but surprised not to see Lufia 2 or Breath of Fire 3. Lufia 2 is the zenith of the series and had the best puzzles in any JRPG, even WA3. The casino and procedurally-generated Ancient Cave were revolutionary for their time, the latter giving rise to numerous competitions.
Little late to the video, but man, what a great, diverse list. Handful of gems I still haven't tackled too. Your first place reminds me that LRG just launched a few physical editions of it. Pre-orders open until December!
came for lunar. first JRPG i truly fell in love.
Breath of Fire 3 will always be tied to my number one JRPG spot with FF7. I still try to play both at least once every couple of years.
I'd have BoF 2/3/4 over Wild Arms any day.
Can I please know how you captured these gorgeous looking visuals for Grandia? It's the PC version Remaster you mention ? That's just amazing
The entire Shadow Hearts series, Covenant in particular, is so criminally underrated.
I'm with you on that. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Pennyblood.
@@larsg.2492 I agree I still have my copies of Shadow Hearts 1 and 2. 3 was OK and I did not get a chance to get Koduleka back on PS1.
Xenogears was one of the first RPG video games I got in 1998 when I was 14 and to this day I have never beat it, but I am always super nostalgic for and I really love the music and atmosphere!
I missed out on xenogears. I’m so kicking myself we need a remaster now.
@@RyuHirakashi1 something right? A full fledged remake would be dope too, but I would be happy with a remaster and trophies.
Thousand Arms was my favorite retro game, its still no.1 in my heart.
I love lunar as much as the next guy, but saying they created all those rpg tropes is WILD.
EDIT: As many people have pointed out, Lunar originally released on Sega CD not Sega Saturn. My bad!
My personal top 5:
1. FF 10
2. FF 7
3. Xenosaga 3
4. Baten Kaitos
5. Skies of Arcadia
Keep in mind there are many I haven’t played yet.
Lufia 2 - amazing game at the time it was released.
We need a Wild Arms 1-5 compilation for Switch!
Wilds arms 2 is way better than 3 WAY.
HARD disagree
@KingBanks18 In fact, 3 is easily the worst game in the entire series, even worse than the strategy rpg spinoff.
1000% agree. Wild ARMs 2 is arguably the best in the series (and one of my all-time favorite rpgs)
@@brentabel50943 rules
Perfect list but I'd swap Grandia 1 for 2 and swap out FF7 for Legend of Dragoon. I'm one of the few that like that one more.
Also, Star Ocean as an honorable mention.
You are hitting all of the right spots. I like everything you said. Subscribed.
🙌
A Parasite Eve remake could work and still keep the turn-based mechanics by allowing players to move and shoot, then trigger the "turn" and have that scanning globe pop up and choose special attacks that deal much more damage.
I have a feeling it would turn out being more like FF7 Remake in the battle flow, where you use a melee weapon like a truncheon or knife or knuckles and a gun like a pistol, revolver, shotgun, or rifle and do simple combos to build up meter for the special attacks.
One of my top JRPG memories is Golden Sun. It’s up there with FF7 and Chrono Trigger to form my top 3. Great list!
I just made a coment about Golden Sun, trully unique RPG that i've played in the GBA, got hooked for a few weeks until the end!
How about Mother 3? Many people tend to hold *that* game in high regard as well.
Is the Lunar:SSS a remake or remaster? I do not recall it looking that way.
Pretty solid list. Super Mario RPG and Pokemon Yellow always need to be on mine, and FFX too.
Lunar was originally released on the sega cd
I’ve always wanted to try Suikoden II so I’m excited to hear about the remaster. Do I need to play the first game?
I love Grandia so much. One of my all time favourite games from my childhood.
Lunar for sega was good but it was the Working Designs remake that really brought it into its own. They put a lot of love into that project
My favorites are Final Fantasy 1 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 7R. Dragon Quest 1-8 and 11. Breath of fire 1-3, Secret of Mana, Lunar Silver star story, FInal Fantasy Tactics, XenoGears, Chrono Trigger, Suikoden 1&2.
My childhood was SNES and PS1, N64. So my favorites here are the originals. Exception being FF7 Remake which is the only one on the list.
You mentioned Grandia and I remember that one. The combat was unique. It was enjoyable.
FF7 story was so dark and music was dark and amazing.... my first❤
Great list. If you've never played Phantasy Star 4, i highly suggest giving it a try. It can stand right along side the very best the snes classics have to offer in my humble opinion.
Agreed!
And while not strictly RPGs (they're Tactical RPGs)
Shining Force and Shining Force 2.
For survival horror, I remember Koudelka in PS1. I don't think many people knows about it tho, but it was really good. To be fair, I haven't play Parasite Eve 1, but I have played the 2nd and it was also really good. Too bad it is more like action RPG.
Also, I will include Golden Sun there. It was really long and some of the puzzle was quite confusing, but at that time I put it together with Suikoden as my golden standard for JRPG
All great picks, but my bias tells me that Lufia 2 should be on here somewhere.
Only 2 pick per franchise. Great game though!
Perfect list dude! 🤟
My best retro turn based will always be Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon. I also like Vagrant story. For ps2 Shadow Hearts is amazing.
a remaster of dq8 would be nice but include all the extra content from the 3ds version
Mysteria realms of lore was such a underrated tactical rpg
Never heard of it! What system?
Awesome list!!! One game per series is definitely a challenge but I think you have a solid list here! I cannot WAIT for the Suikoden remasters because I haven’t played them yet! Gonna be awesome!
Opinions are opinions and everyone is different, but if you played xenogears and only saw giant robots you missed the point. The game is absolutely perfect, even though it isn't finished. Every character is dynamic and memorable, the story is so in depth, the combat is incredibly unique, and the soundtrack...*chefs kiss*
To each their own of course I'm just glad it made the list
The absence of Skies of Arcadia is a glaring oversight.
retro jrpg needs to include "Golden Sun", the best ever!
Star ocean till the end of time, Super Mario RPG, Radiata Stories, Legend of Legaia. There are so many good rpgs.
The original Lunar: Silver Star Story came out on the Sega CD. PS1 and Saturn were upgraded remake.
This is a pretty amazing list. I think the only game on the list I haven't played is Persona but I really want to try it eventually
My favourites are Arc the Lad 1 & 2. Hope somebody will remake them.
If Baiden Kaidios did there is pretty good chance. That why at this point doesn't make a lot of sense to replay popular old games its low hanging fruit for devs to squeeze out more money
That there's no Disgaea or Phantom Brave on here is absolutely wild. Like, the levelling and ability customisation is insane you can basically play forever.
Those are tactical/strategy RPG's, not turn-based ones.
The game that got me hooked on RPGS was the first phantasy star love that game would love a remake of phantasy star and also sky's of arcadia by Sega
Don't think this lad had a Sega console
The Gaming Shelf: Parasite Eve is less than 10 hours
Everyone else: *laughing in Chrysler building*
Earthbound. It’s the music that I used to go to bed with especially the music from Ness house. And the first town. Onett
"Lunar Silver Star Story Complete" for the PS1 is the quintessential version of the game.
Hands down.
The first rpg I ever played was crono cross. Is the reasons why now I still play rpg now 20 years later.
Whaddya mean "original Saturn/PS1 version" for Lunar SSS? SSS was itself a remake of Lunar: The Silver Star on Sega CD.
This is going to be good. It's the list we've been waiting for folks. Let's get into it!
Also, Persona games are very love it or hate it. Not everyone can get into the trope laden high school drama thing. I'm 44 years old, and I struggle with the Persona games. I still have yet to finish Persona 5, because I just can't get into the story/characters. The depth just doesn't seem to be there. I much prefer the style of writing in games like Lost Odyssey, Chained Echoes, and Outer Wilds, to name a few. To each their own, of course. Just an observation.
Star ocean 2 isn't turn based so ot shouldn't be on list even though it's great.
@@brentabel5094 Good grief. You are correct. My mistake. To be fair, by todays standards it's more of a hybrid.
@ShonnDaylee I did play the Star Ocean 2 remake demo on steam its freaking awesome. If you haven't check it out
I feel the same way about persona....power of friends blah blah high-school life but persona 1 and 2 were darker. I personally like persona 2 because the music was so different from the other ones and the characters were generally older and had jobs and weren't high-school kids.
So persona 2 seemed a little more relatable
Because choices were so slim and I'd played all the games that caught my eye I randomly rented a game for sega cd called Lunar The Silver Star when I was 10 years old. My son Alex will be 18 next year..
FF7 and Chronotrigger really are the goats. Great list
I waited for months for Final Fantasy VI (3) to be released outside of Japan by salivating over magazine screen shots daily. To this day is the one game that not only lived up to the massive hype I put on it, but actually completely surpassed my expectations.
All of a sudden (a few months later) CHRONO Trigger was released and I knew nothing about it. I was on the fence whether to purchase as it was around $90US and but eventually figured it was better than anything else.
Whether you knew about a game developed by squaresoft or not, you knew you were in for something special.
Started Persona 4 Golden this year and made my bf play it as well. He’s liking it so much that he quickly got further in the game. He has bought P5R and is looking forward to P3R. It’ll be interesting to see if 4 remains his favorite with time
If you can get past the visuals I think 4 is the best of those 3 games. P3 is gonna rough IMO.
8:47
"Originally released on sega saturn and ps1... pretty sure it was originally released on the sega cd, though personally speaking my first experience with it was on the ps1 with the 'complete' version.
I'd like to remind everyone here that Lunar on PS1 was already a remaster of Lunar on Sega CD. So was Lunar 2. They weren't ps1 generation games, they were ports of 16 bit era games. Personally, I still prefer the Sega CD version of Lunar 1. The characters have less set classes (Alex can cast fire and healing magic) and the story, music, and tone is MUCH darker. They made it feel fluffier in the ps1 version and onwards, but the Sega CD version made you feel the danger, and the fact that it was a story about *death*. Later it felt more like a story about love, with the changes they made, and that's not entirely wrong, but it definitely felt less adult oriented after the ps1 remaster.
I respect your list , games that worth mentioning
golden sun , fire emblem , skies of arcadia , super robot wars games
Wild arms and shadow hearts are my favorite series. Looking forward to these upcoming games: Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness & Penny Blood
Let me throw mine in....Lunar Silver Star and Eternal Blue....must play! Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 6 or 7....idc, they're both S tier. Earthbound and Shining Force...all these listed were/are my favs. Till this day, I can't find anything takes me back to that place...but it's prob because of the nostalgia. :)
Definitely some solid picks. One of my biggest gaming regrets is selling off my copy of Suikoden 2 after I lost my save data after like 20+ hours of gametime... TWICE. But the shoddy memory card was the guilty party, not the game. And years later it was worth WAY more than I got for it. lol Glad to see it and Grandia here in particular.
Lunar was one of my favorites! Parasite Eve was cool too, very creepy.
Suikoden, Breath of Fire 3, and Final Fantasy Tactics are my top 3!
1) Eh, IMO the best Wild Arms games were Alter Code F (PS2 remake of the 1st game) and WA5. I consider WA3 the most boring one out of the 5...
2) I still consider DQ8 the best one, or maybe it's because that it was the first DQ game I ever played XD
3) Oh God I love Grandia series to death. The first one was a masterpiece, the csecond one was great (also the first one I played). As for third.... We don't talk about third.
4) Suikoden 2 rules XD The first one was kinda diluted, 3 was weird to say the least, and the 4th kinda lost its charm (dear god that running animation)... 5th was ok I guess, tho honestly I never finished it.
5) It's Chrono Trigger. Nuff said.
6) My first Final Fantasy was 8. Most people don't like that one but it's ok to be wrong XD Still love that game.
I’m very surprised we have not got a remaster yet to dragon quest eight?!??
I never got to play it on the PS two, but I have it on my 3DS and I think it is one of the best looking and best playing games on the system!
I miss lunar 2, but i actually never play the first. Looks gorgeous
Omg...i have so many! Shadow Hearts series, Suikoden 2, wild arms code F, Persona 4, Dark Cloud 1 and 2...tales of Grace.
The best version of Lunar is the PS1 version, hands down.
So many good choices, but one of my favs is Star Ocean Second Story. The new remake is amazing, and there are tons of cool and unique characters to find.
I'm more partial to Lunar: Eternal Blue than Silver Star Story. I love both games but EB just stands out a tiny bit to me. Also kind of disappointed that Lufia didn't make the list. Otherwise, a really good and solid list.
Really liked your list, though Xenogears and Parasite Eve would be the in top 3 for me. Final Fantasy VII was one of my favourites, along with Breath of Fire III and later on, playing with emulator, Earthbound, an amazing RPG on SNES, really surprised me! There's so many good RPG's like the Lufia, Phantasy Star series, Star Ocean series, a few bad too but even them have players who loved them and still do.
Phantasy Star IV is one of my all time favorites, such a huge classic.
This is a great list! Man I would have loved to see breath of fire 3 on there tho
Pretty good list but as good as Lunar SSS is the sequel really should’ve been on the list. It improved on the original in every meaningful way.