Lesser Known JRPGS?

[Turtle / Eli]

Out of curiosity, have any of you steam players played or heard about any JRPGS that aren't known as well?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Here are some.

FYI these lists exclude some better-known franchises such as: Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Legend of Heroes (a.k.a. Trails), Lufia, Pokémon, Tales, Ys


Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (GBA action JRPG with Tales-like brawler combat)

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled (DS action JRPG) (which sadly has random battles way too often; if someone can hack it so that this isn't the case, or at least the character hitboxes on those battle screens isn't as wonky, this game would probably be way better-received)

Nostalgia (DS JRPG)

Energy Breaker (SNES strategy JRPG)

Knight Eternal (PC JRPG)

Recettear (PC business sim x action JRPG)

Fortune Summoners (PC metroidvania x brawler x RPG)

Celestian Tales (PC, episodic JRPG)

Sage Fusion (PC, episodic(?) VN x JRPG or something like that)

Alchemic Dungeons DX (PC/Switch dungeon crawler)

Operation Abyss (PC dungeon crawler)

Magic Knight Rayearth (SNES JRPG) (This game is one of multiple slightly-different retellings of the Magic Knight Rayearth story; there is the anime version, the manga version, this version, and possibly yet another version in the Sega Saturn game but I think that follows the anime more closely?)



Games that are on my radar that I haven't really played into yet:

Chantelise (PC action RPG, in the same universe as Recettear and made before it)

Frane: Dragons' Odyssey (PC action JRPG?) [another one that I haven't actually played yet, despite accepting review copy on Steam for it, and I need to get around to actually playing this, but it's been on my radar for years]

Aselia the Eternal (PC, VN x strategy JRPG) [another one I haven't actually played]

Pier Solar and the Great Architects (PC/Genesis JRPG, it was indie-made for Genesis then ported to PC)

Ara Fell (PC JRPG)

Eternal Filena (SNES JRPG)

Emerald Dragon (SNES JRPG)

Lagrange Point (NES JRPG)

引用自 (The Resistance) Turtle：

引用自 Idontexist：

There was a really good sailor moon jrpg for super famicom that I loved. Can't remember the exact name though.

Famicom, wasn't that in the early to mid 1990s?

Famicom = NES = 80s-90s
Super Famicom = SNES = 90s-00s

And yeah, Sailor Moon RPG: Another Story is the name.

There's also a Magic Knight Rayearth RPG, as I mentioned above, as well as a Tenchi Muyo RPG.

引用自 Nightlight：

It's not available on Steam (unfortunately,) but one of the more obscure ones I know about is Magical Starsign. It was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006 (2007 for those who lived in Europe,) and I remember liking it a fair bit. Sadly, I never see/hear anybody ever talking about it, it's almost like it never even existed.

FYI there's a prequel to that on the GBA, called Magical Vacation. Its only English version is a fan translation, far as I've heard.

引用自 (The Resistance) Turtle：

引用自 Magma Dragoon：

Ys isn't as well known as it deserves to be

Ahh yes, their most recent game is Ys Ix: Monstrum Nex?

Monstrum Nox, yes.

引用自 FFL2and3rocks：

Magical Starsign was great! I still have my copy of it.

And on 3DS there's the Denpa Men series. I only ever managed to finish the first one, but it was really quirky.

On Steam, if you don't mind older games, Anachronox and Septerra Core are good ones. They are a bit Chrono Trigger-esque.

Septerra Core has somewhat of a problem with the battles being a bit too tedious, if I recall correctly.

[Turtle / Eli]

Interesting titles, what about like more recent ones like Code Vein for example?

[DiceDsx]

7th Dragon, which sadly never left Japan outside of Code VFD, the last title in the series. At least there are fanmade English patches out there.

[nullable]

引用自 Idontexist：

There was a really good sailor moon jrpg for super famicom that I loved. Can't remember the exact name though.

Sailor Moon Another Story. I remember playing that game too. Seemed pretty solid compared to a lot of the other games based on a popular anime property on the SNES. Solid RPG mechanics. Decent graphics. I never beat it. But everyone once in a while I think maybe I should. But that's just weird SNES nostalgia talking, while I eye playing Breath of Fire 2 on the Switch SNES Online app.

[Magma Dragoon]

引用自 (The Resistance) Turtle：

引用自 Magma Dragoon：

Ys isn't as well known as it deserves to be

Ahh yes, their most recent game is Ys Ix: Monstrum Nex?

Still waiting on localization. I prefer the older games without party management, Chronicles, Felghana and Ark are my favorites.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 Snakub Plissken：

引用自 Idontexist：

There was a really good sailor moon jrpg for super famicom that I loved. Can't remember the exact name though.

Sailor Moon Another Story. I remember playing that game too. Seemed pretty solid compared to a lot of the other games based on a popular anime property on the SNES. Solid RPG mechanics. Decent graphics. I never beat it. But everyone once in a while I think maybe I should. But that's just weird SNES nostalgia talking, while I eye playing Breath of Fire 2 on the Switch SNES Online app.

I'd kinda disagree on SMAS having "solid RPG mechanics", since level ups were sorta inordinately impactful in that game IMO.

Like, gaining a level or two makes a huge difference that can mean having a hopeless and tedious battle against a boss vs making the boss a cakewalk.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 (The Resistance) Turtle：

Interesting titles, what about like more recent ones like Code Vein for example?

I know there's a Shining game on PC, Shining Resonance Refrain.

And the Atelier games are now on PC. I think Atelier Sophie was being sold in a bundle with some other game? Nights of Azure apparently.

I don't know very much about these newer games.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Oh, here's a few more lesser-known JRPGs I know about but haven't played:

Demon King Chronicle (PC JRPG)
Helen's Mysterious Castle (PC JRPG)

Here's a couple I have played:

Jeanne d'Arc (PSP strategy JRPG)
Rime Berta (PC strategy JRPG)
200% Mixed Juice (PC JRPG, vaguely Pokémon-like but smaller in scope)

[nullable]

引用自 Quint the Alligator Snapper：

引用自 Snakub Plissken：

Sailor Moon Another Story. I remember playing that game too. Seemed pretty solid compared to a lot of the other games based on a popular anime property on the SNES. Solid RPG mechanics. Decent graphics. I never beat it. But everyone once in a while I think maybe I should. But that's just weird SNES nostalgia talking, while I eye playing Breath of Fire 2 on the Switch SNES Online app.

I'd kinda disagree on SMAS having "solid RPG mechanics", since level ups were sorta inordinately impactful in that game IMO.

Like, gaining a level or two makes a huge difference that can mean having a hopeless and tedious battle against a boss vs making the boss a cakewalk.

Well... I don't recall SNES RPG's always being meticulous and sensible about balance and scaling. It was often pretty easy to grind to be over powered in a lot of those games. Not too many games that were really scaled to provide a challenge at max level. I wouldn't be surprised if it was an easy mode RPG anyway, which would explain that sort of design. Although it's been so long, and I didn't play the game enough to have strong opinions about how good or bad the leveling is.

And I was speaking more about just the generic gameplay. It covers the basics, and does a couple of fun things. Nothing amazing, or terrible.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Ah, fair enough.

I beat the game, and I think it's a decent thing though it probably could have been a bit more polished.

Still, it was fun. And definitely a curiosity to see a Sailor Moon RPG.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

引用自 Snakub Plissken：

引用自 Idontexist：

There was a really good sailor moon jrpg for super famicom that I loved. Can't remember the exact name though.

Sailor Moon Another Story. I remember playing that game too. Seemed pretty solid compared to a lot of the other games based on a popular anime property on the SNES. Solid RPG mechanics. Decent graphics. I never beat it. But everyone once in a while I think maybe I should. But that's just weird SNES nostalgia talking, while I eye playing Breath of Fire 2 on the Switch SNES Online app.

Thank you for the name. I might try to give it a play again for nostalgia's sake since it's been 20 years.