The Best JRPG of every year (1990 to 2023)

[Music] the jrpg genre has been around since the mid 80s which was also the time that Home console started breaking into the mainstream since then Japanese developers have released thousands of amazing titles many of which have made a huge impact on the gaming industry as a whole and while the jrpg genre has had its ups and downs over the years there has still been at least one significant standout title released in each year this video isn't going to Simply list the best jrpgs ever made instead I'm going to list my personal favorite jrpgs year by year starting from 1990 all the way to 2023 if you're sub to the channel and I hope you are you may have previously seen smaller videos on this topic well this video is the comprehensive year-by-year list of 34 must-play jrpgs and remember this is just my personal opinion and I know it will be totally different to toora so let me know what your favorite jrpgs are by year in the comments below before we begin if you like this video it would help me out a lot to hit that like button and sub for more RPG content coming soon also you can hit that super thanks if you'd like to support the Channel all right let's get into [Music] it the winner of 1990 is Dragon Quest 4 which was originally titled Dragon Warrior 4 in North America due to copyright concern regarding a tabletop RPG also called Dragon Quest this was the first title of the zenithian trilogy which refers to Dragon quests four five and six the major change this time around is that the narrative is broken up into five distinct chapters each focusing on different characters the first four chapters are told from the hero's companions perspective and the fifth from the hero's point of view where it finally brings all of the characters together this storytelling was really cool and well ahead of it its time from a gameplay perspective Dragon Quest 4 featured an AI system that allowed the player to provide strategies to party members who they were not controlling while the options here were pretty limited it is still rare for a game to be doing this in 1990 Dragon Quest 4 was met with critical Acclaim and had some crazy sales figures too it sold over 3 million copies becoming the fourth highest selling famicom game ever behind Dragon Quest 3 and of course Super Mario Brother 3 and one also worth noting is that Dragon Quest 4 was first remade for the PlayStation in 2001 and then once again for the DS in 2007 both of these remakes included an extra chapter as well as the ability to manually control other party members in [Music] battle the best jrpg of 1991 is none other than Final Fantasy 4 perhaps the most significant addition to this title was the inclusion of the ATB battle mechanic no longer was a character's turn order strictly turn-based now the player would need to input orders in real time this feature of course became a staple of the series and was used in every game up until Final Fantasy 10 which returned to its turn-based roots gameplay aside Final Fantasy 4 was when the FF series really took a step forward in terms of its character development and storytelling I mean I've heard many people say that ff4 is their favorite story and game in the entire series it had some amazing moments and 10 points for starting the whole spoony barred thing fun fact this story had to be reduced to a quarter of its original length due to cartridge limitations it wasn't until the Game Boy Advance Port that the flow of the story was improved and the plot details absent from the original were finally restored in 2008 Final Fantasy 4 even received a sequel titled the after years this game was set 17 years after the events of the original game with its story told in episodic Tales the winner of 1992 is lunar the Silver Star this jrpg was released on the Sega CD if you're unfamiliar this was a CD ROM accessory that could be attached to the Sega Genesis this CD format allow the game to make use of beautiful anime cut scenes as well as high quality audio and voice acting This Charming story centers around Alex a young small town boy with a dream of one day becoming a Great Hero like Dragon Master D the gameplay has a very old school feel to it in its visuals exploration and turn-based combat system Luna the SilverStar was very successful and is the second bestselling Sega CD title of all time behind Sonic the Hedgehog CD while this original version was a hit at the time many people got their first taste of lunar through the enhanced versions Silver Star complete released on the Saturn and the PlayStation this version features new story editions and a deeper cast of characters it's been about 20 years since I last played this classic and just talking about it here makes me want to jump in again I think I'll have to play this one again really [Music] soon 1993 this is when things start to get really difficult there were quite a few contenders here such as Secret of Mana and Breath of Fire but for me it is Fantasy Star 4 that takes the cake often regarded as the best in the original series Fantasy Star 4 age of the Millennium follows Chaz Ashley as he Journeys the world investigating the relationship between biom monsters and the planet's ecological crisis the story and the cast of characters here are really strong and is supported by loads of comic book style scenes that help bring these characters to life something I loved about this game is the macro system which allows players to pre-program actions and unleash them on enemies in an instant this made getting through the Myriad of random encounter it's not so painful in addition it also allowed for powerful combination attacks between characters and is one of the reasons why the game play was praised by critics for these reasons it is no surprise that fantasy star 4 often makes it onto top 100 RPGs of all time lists 1994 was another year with so many awesome Super Nintendo RPGs but if I don't have this one at number one I don't think I'd ever forgive myself of course I'm talking about Final Fantasy 6 which if you ask me is one of the best RPGs of all time ff6 is an incredible game in every way and is easily my favorite on the Super Nintendo from the unforgettable story to the large memorable cast of characters this is a game that I will never get sick of playing so something I loved about ff6 is that it's toore through multiple points of view and doesn't have a clear main character there are so many amazing moments here such as the iconic Opera House scene it's really hard to believe how powerful and engrossing 16-bit graphics with simple music notes can actually be add this to an incredible soundtrack solid RPG mechanics and the best combat system that the series had seen up to that point and you have yourself one hell of an RPG while Final Fantasy 6 may be my favorite RPG on the console another very popular favorite is Chrono Trigger and it is easy to see why the development team here consisted of Industry Legends including hironobu sakaguchi Yuji hori and Akira Toriyama this team is often dubbed as the Dream Team and it's true dreams really do come true when these guys get together krono trigger was a best seller in Japan and and was incredibly well received by critics and fans alike it's like an example of a game where everything just comes together so perfectly the great Cas of characters the unforgettable time travel plot the stunning visuals the combat and of course the outstanding soundtrack the main theme and frogs theme are two of my favorite tracks ever Chrono Trigger also features multiple endings which is dependent on when you defeat the final boss which adds a load of replayability it was also the game that coined the term New Game Plus which is now seen in most modern jrpgs Crono trigger is one of the few games that you would expect every jrpg fan to have played it was incredible back in 1995 and it has stood the test of [Music] time as the years take on the choices of top tier games get even larger 1996 was a hard decision with many important titles such as Star Ocean Tactics Ogre and Wild Arms while the amount of PlayStation 1 jrpgs really started to grow around here it was a certain Super Nintendo title that takes the crown for 1996 Super Mario RPG legend of the Seven Stars squaresoft were so dominant during these years and the fact that they took the world's most popular video gaming franchise and turned it into a quality must playay jrpg says a lot what I love about this game is that it takes everything we love about the Mario series such as the character of the world and the platforming and combines it with traditional jrpg elements that we would expect from the genre it's almost like Mario was made to be a jrpg series the best news is that Super Mario RPG was recently remade for the switch so if you haven't played this classic yet this is the way to play [Music] it a huge amount amount of my favorite jrpgs ever were released in 1997 but it just wouldn't sit right if I didn't have Final Fantasy 7 as number one if I was asked to label one single game as the landmark jrpg it would be Final Fantasy 7 its popularity and Commercial Success had an unparalleled impact on not only the popularity of the series but the genre as a whole like I said with Chrono Trigger this is an example of a game where everything went right this dramatic story is driven by one of the strongest cast of characters I've ever seen many of which soon became video game icons Final Fantasy 7's popularity of course resulted in the compilation of ff7 which featured numerous games and movies to expand the universe even more and more recently the Remake Trilogy is the Hot Topic with a phenomenal first title reminding me why I hold Final Fantasy 7 so dear I'm so sorry to all the other amazing Jr pgs released this year they never stood a [Music] chance 1998 is a complete jerk of a year here we have two of my top five RPGs of all time and picking one of the other is like asking me which of my children I love more sorry zenar but I love Suk and two more but only a little this was the second RPG I ever played and wowe was it a beauty Suk and 2 takes place 3 years after the events of the first game and is set in a new region of the world the suan in series is all about war and like all of the other games you start off as The Underdogs but eventually build your army into a force capable of defeating the opposing Nations while recruiting 108 characters to your course building up a HQ and participating in large scale War battles may be part of every game in the series none do it better than Su in 2 the character and the story are just phenomenal The Narrative is a roller coaster of emotions and there are few games out there with so many impactful moments if you're unfortunate enough not to have experienced this masterpiece then fear not the first two games in the series are being remastered and they're apparently going to be released this year so stay [Music] tuned and this brings us to the final year of the '90s the year before the Y2K bug led the world into chaos my best game of 1999 is Final Fantasy 8 which was also the first RPG that I ever played Nostalgia goggles or not this game meant the world to me introduced me to the genre and is the reason that I'm making content like this today from the absolutely incredible opening cinematic to zel's unnatural addiction to hot dogs to the Epic four form final boss with maybe I'm a lion playing I was All Aboard I fell in love with this cast of characters and raced home from school every day just to see where their Journeys would take them next I also fell in love with triple Triad and it blew my mind that there was such an addictive elaborate game within a game I also fell in love with this soundtrack Liber F telli eyes on me and the landing was some of my favorites hell I remember keeping a save before the Ragnarok scene with squirrel and renoa just so I could hear that song again I also fell in love with spamming Circle a million times to unleash limit break after limit break I also fell in love with drawing Magic from enemies for hours nah maybe not that part my point is little old me had a lot of love for this game and after all of these years it Still Remains one of my favorite games of all time this is only the first year up and there are already some amazing jrpgs that are going to miss out I know that TI such as Breath of Fire Forest Skies of Arcadia and vagrant story may be on top of your RPG of the Year for 2000 but for me I cannot look past Final Fantasy 9 after the more recent futuristic style FF games Final Fantasy 9 returned to the series traditional medieval Roots series Creator hironobu sakaguchi even stated that Final Fantasy 9 was his favorite Final Fantasy game he described it as closest to his ideal view of what Final Fantasy should be this game was such an incredible experience all around the story The World the characters uh maybe not you quinner and who could forget the ending not going to spoil anything because you know some people may need a couple more decades to get there but it had one particular happy sad moment that I will never forget there were also some pretty badass mini gamess including Chocobo hot and cold and the Tetra Master Card Game now something worth looking out for is a possible eff F9 remake while nothing official has been announced in 2021 there was a GeForce now database leak which listed a Final Fantasy 9 remake Square Enix seem to be remastering and remaking everything at the moment so fingers crossed that we'll hear something official [Music] soon the final fantasy series was on a roll here with ff8 9 and 10 being my top jrpgs 3 years in a row imagine a world where we still only had to wait one year for a new mainstream Final Fantasy game ff10 was the first in the series to be released on the PS2 and took things in an entirely New Direction no longer did we have expansive world maps or the active time battles now we had smaller explorable maps and a return to a turn-based system last seen in Final Fantasy 3 my first experience with ff10 was in a department store there was a shiny PS2 system with FF 10 available for anyone to play lucky for me there was no line so I jumped right in and didn't stop until my mom pulled me away from it about an hour later the whole opening hour was incredible the graphics the voice acting the whole Blitz ball opening cinematic with sin ricking Havoc I was hooked but unfortunately I'd have to wait quite a while before I'd have another chance to play it again another mention has to go to Blitz ball which is my favorite mini game of all time having such an expansive miname within the ff10 world was mindblowing Final Fantasy 10 is an amazing jrpg and an easy choice for the 2001 jrpg of the [Music] year 2002 had some amazing titles including Kingdom Hearts Zena Saga and grandia 2 but I cannot look past the third installment in one of my favorite series of all time sukuran 3 the game is set said 18 years after the events of the second game and marks the first time the series had run with 3D Graphics the unique thing about Suk and 3 is that the game is told in three main points of view the Trinity site system allows you to switch between Hugo Chris and ghetto plus certain other characters including an epilog chapter where you can play as the game's villains some people might not like this narrative structure but I love being able to do this in my RPGs just about everything else that I loved about the sucin series was here recruiting over 100 characters building up your HQ one verse one duels large scale War battles I loved it all at the time I even held this game as my favorite in the series but after going back to play sukon 2 a second time that one set itself as my clear favorite with sukon 1 and 2 currently being remastered my fingers are crossed that sukon 3 is next on the list I just hope they finally fix that damn wall this next pick may be a bit more unique compared to some of the others but I have so much love for AR thead Twilight of the spirits and I think another playthrough is needed very soon like sukon 3 Twilight of the spirits is told through multiple points of view first we have K A young commander of the yubo defense Corps then there is dark a human damos half breed I loved this story watching these two very different characters journey across the land to fulfill the the goals and seeing how their paths cross was the best part of the game for me the combat was also a lot of fun just like the Other Ark thead games this one featured tactical turn-based combat but this time characters could move in a circular system rather than the traditional grid-based movement Twilight of the spirits is one game that people never really talk about if you've played this classic give me a hell [Music] yeah now though or two absolute Powerhouse titles in 2004 but only one can be crowned the king of the year I am sorry Dragon Quest 8 that Shadow Hearts 2 Covenant is too good this is a direct sequel to the original Shadow Hearts and continues the story of Yuri a Harmonix who was able to fuse with the souls of monsters here's a fun fact when you look at awesome protagonists in the dictionary it will actually refer to Yuri as an example he is an absolute badass and one of my favorite characters ever where the original Shadow Hearts and its prequel kudela were dark and full of horror themes and imagery Covenant is a bit lighter adding quite a lot of humor into this mix everything about this game is top tier the story and characters are Sensational the exploration the secrets and the RPG mechanics are Elite and the combat which Builds on the Judgment ring from the original is one of my favorite battle systems ever Shadow heart's Covenant is a must playay jrpg in every regard and while the series may be long dead there is at least Penny Blood on the horizon this is a spiritual successor developed by many of the same staff so look out for [Music] that the winner of 2005 may be a surprise to some especially since Kingdom Hearts 2 was also released this year but tri's radiat stories is a game that I cannot Overlook one of the standout features of this game game is the branching story line where the player can choose the human path or the non-human path radiat stories is designed to be played multiple times and I thought this was really cool this world is highly Dynamic with day and night cycles and each of the 300 NPCs having their own lives jobs personalities and schedules there are also a whopping 175 characters that can be recruited each with their own quirks and Back stories unfortunately there has yet to be a port or remaster for modern consoles but if you do have a chance to play this one you should definitely check it [Music] out 2006 is the toughest year of the decade for me as games like trails in the sky SC and zenos Saga 3 would have taken top spot most other years not to mention Persona 3 and Final Fantasy X also being pretty solid games while sukuran 5 was unfortunately the final Mainline sukuran game the good news is that the series finished on a high which was important considering sukon 4 disappointed many fans the game takes place several years before the first sukuran game and is set to the south in the queendom of fena everything you'd want from a sukuran game was here and its writing and structure was the closest the series had been to suan 2 since suan 2 there are some crazy highs here and many moments that are among my favorite in the series also seeing George prime a mysterious character who could be be recruited in suan 2 plays such a major role in this game was incredible long live the sucan [Music] series ff7 Crisis Core tried so hard to take top spot here bet trails in the sky II thiri was too good to ignore Sky II thir is the final title in the sky Trilogy Where the first two chapters followed the Journey of Joshua and Estelle this final chapter's darker story follows Kevin who is a secret agent of the septian church he is my favorite character from the entire trail series which is saying a lot considering that there are so many amazing characters H sorry ran Sky II is essentially a massive Dungeon Crawler you'll spend the game working through an otherworldly Dimension known as fantasma Kevin and his Squire are tasked to investigate this realm and then find a way to escape it loads of other characters from The Sky series can also be suon to help out so you can basically assemble your Sky Dream Team the combat is also better than it had ever been up to that point creating some seriously epic boss battles I also have to mention the memory doors which were one of the best things about the game these doors are optional content that present the player with side stories from some of the main characters in the series some of these are incredible like the one that provided some insight into Ren's childhood I really bloody hate this saying but if you know you know if you're a fan of the series these doors alone make Sky thei third worth [Music] playing 2008 was an easy year for me V Kye Chronicles stood out far more than any other game this year this strategy RPG is incredible and completely different to every other game on this list velara Chronicles is set in the fictional region of Europa which is Loosely based on Europe during World War II you play the role of wel can gunur the young commander of the gallan militia Squad 7 fighting to repel the enemy Invasion the Epic story isn't the only reason why this game is so good the Tactical War themed combat was also top tier running around the large battlefields finding openings and strategically utilizing the strengths of the combat classes never got old Valaria Chronicle success spawned three sequels which are awesome a spin-off which is not awesome and even several manga titles which could be either awesome aome or not awesome maybe I'll get around to reading them one day if you're interested in playing this classic it was recently remastered for the PS4 and switch so this is the way to [Music] go 209 featured a few games that I really enjoyed I know many May disagree but I did think Final Fantasy 13 was a decent jrpg as a whole Tales of Graces was also a lot of fun but the winner for me is Star Ocean 4 the Last Hope I really liked this game even if limb tried her hardest to ruin the experience sure don't forget to water it key set hundreds of years before the events of the first game starish 4 follows the Journey of Edge and Ry two members of The srf Who embark on Humanity's first Interstellar travel mission in hopes of discovering new hospitable Worlds the standout feature this time around was the ability to explore many different planets which surprisingly is something that no other Star Ocean game really allowed you to do the combat was also one of the best in the series second only to Star Ocean 6 the combination of the new Blindside mechanic with the ability to string skills together created some really great battles if you want to give star oce for a shot a remastered version was released for the PS4 and PC in 2017 the 2010 started off with a bang with other strong titles such as near and residence of Fate never standing a chance of course I am talking about xerblade Chronicles this was the first title in the zener blade Subs series which is part of the broader Zena Series this is one of my favorite video game series of all time while the Wii may have been an interesting choice in Hardware given the scope and ambition of the game what monolith soft put off here was incredible zenb Chronicles was met with rical Acclaim with just about every aspect of the game being highly praised the story the characters the combat the music and voice acting the RPG mechanics they were all top tier but it is the exploration that really stood out for me it's many massive environments were all stunning with things to do around every corner this game set the bar for jrpg exploration and 13 years later it's arguably still up there at the Top If you haven't had a chance to play this master piece The Definitive Edition on switch is the way to go not only does it look and sound better than ever before but it also features an exclusive epilog featuring one of the game's main characters not going to lie the next few years were quiet in terms of jrpg releases but at least 2011 did have a couple of standout titles Tales of zilia was close to taking top spot that I cannot look past nuni Wrath of the White Witch one of the coolest things about this game is that its animated sequences were produced by studio gibli with a soundtrack being composed by Joe hasashi who also composes music for Studio gibli films the game itself is pretty awesome too and tells an unforgettable tale following Oliver's journey through a magical world during combat Oliver and his party can fight alongside familiars which can be caught and evolved as they grow stronger massive Pokémon vibes here I loved just about everything about this game and nuni Wrath of the White Witch is deservingly my top pick for 2011 if you haven't had a chance to play it there was a remastered version released a few years [Music] ago if you think 2011 was limited in jrpg releases 2012 was on an entirely new level with even less titles worth considering Tales of zilia 2 was the title that stood out for me during this year and although it's not as good as the original it still offered quite a lot the game takes place a year after the events of the first game and follows a brand new character ludgar crusnik who was surprisingly a silent protagonist the story progresses through reaching payment milestones for lugger's 20 million gold medical bill which was an interesting decision but the story itself did have some pretty good moments and I loved how characters from the original zelia made a return after all they are one of my favorite tals casts most of the mechanics are in line with what you'd expect after playing zilia and this includes the excellent battle system to put it simply this game was made for fans of tales of zilia and it did a pretty good job in recapturing some of the magic that made the original so good 2013 gets even more limiting fortunately there was one outstanding title for this year and that is the legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel I only played this series a few years ago with cold steel being my entry point and it didn't take me long to become completely hooked I mean I binged on all other Eight titles at the time in the space of only a few months and the entire series quickly became one of my favorite series of all time Trails of Cold Steel is the first part of the aronian arc which features four Cold Steel Games the story follows rean and Class 7 throughout the school year are focusing on the field studies that takes them to various locations across arbonia here they learn about the unstable state of the region and the many issues plaguing the land the best thing about Cold Steel is the story characters and World building there is so much to learn about something that no other jrpg Series has been able to match couple this with a great combat system giant Max an outstanding soundtrack and the world's greatest teacher and you have yourself one hell of a game and if you're wondering how to get into this amazing series there is no right answer you could start with cold steel 1 trails in the sky FC or trails from zero which are all the first games in the respective arcs the important thing here is that you start somewhere oh boy was this a quiet year there were very few quality games released this year I could just say that trails from Cold Steel 2 deserves it but we've had it called Steel game so I'm going with something completely different here Dark Souls 2 is it an RPG yes was it made in Japan yes is it a jrpg well by that logic it is so I'll have to allow it on the list Dark Souls 2 is from software as followup to the critically acclaimed Dark Souls this is an action RPG series known for its dark mysterious worlds great exploration addictive combat and of course it's insane difficulty Dark Souls 2 makes things even harder with death removing the humanity from a player which reduces the maximum HP by up to 50% but aside from a few minor additions such as that the experience is much the same as you would expect you'll die alert you'll fight epic bosses you'll stumble across loads of Secrets and you may or may not get into the lore if you love these kind of games you will like Dark Souls 2 if not you should try something else such as Xenoblade Chronicles X this is certainly the odd run out of the Xenoblade Subs series released as an exclusive for the Wii U it Remains the only jrpg that makes the Wii U worth dusting off if you add of the loop the Wii U was Nintendo's sixth major game console that's right there was a Nintendo console between the Wii and the switch which is now A Relic lost in time anyway zenay Chronicles X does things very differently the game is less about storytelling and more about exploration and flying around in giant mechs Cod scales the world is absolutely stunning and being able to reach the heights of far off mountains on foot and in your scale was an incredible experience I also love the whole premise with a massive transport ship crash landing on an unexplored Planet it is criminal that this game is still stuck on the Wii U if you ever get a chance to play it Zeno Blade Chronicles X is is well worth your time after five really quiet years for jrpgs things finally started to pick up for the genre 2016 featured some outstanding titles with a personal favorite of mine Tales of berseria unfortunately missing out but this is for good reason for Persona 5 is an absolute Masterpiece and few would disagree with that statement Persona 5 follows a phantom thieves a group of high schoolers who have the ability to Traverse the metaverse this is a supernatural realm born from Humanity's subconscious desires this great cast of Deep characters who you can form Social Links with was perhaps the best part of Persona 5 I mean I've been a high school teacher for over a decade and I can tell you now my students are nowhere near this school traveling these unique lengthy dungeons diffusing new personas and taking part in some epic turn-based boss battles were other standout features of this amazing game not to mention the unique visual style and awesome music it's all just so good I'm assuming that most of you have already played Persona 5 but if you haven't you should check out the Royal Edition which features a huge extra portion to this already large game 2017 was by far the toughest choice for me there are three particular titles that are worthy of the number one spot but unfortunately Dragon Quest 11 and xen Chronicles 2 miss out this time the winner of 2017 is none other than near autometer developed by Platinum Games near autometer is an indirect sequel to the original released years prior this game hits a home run in just about every area the story is awesome and is told through multiple playthroughs focusing on different characters to get everything out of the story and to see all of the endings you you will need to complete the game multiple times the way that this story reveals itself is truly a unique experience well aside from the other games in the series which follows a similar sort of structure the fast-paced combat the world design and atmosphere is also excellent but perhaps the number one area that this game truly shines is its soundtrack every single track has been perfectly composed to add to the already great atmosphere this is one of the rare soundtracks that I played in my car for years after the game's release considering how well this game was received it's a surprise that another Mainline console title hasn't been released since we need more near so fingers crossed we'll get something soon like the previous 2 years there were also some pretty amazing jrpgs released in 2018 trailers of Cold Steel 4 and octopath traveler were two of these stand up games but this year for kyia Chronicles 4 takes the crown as the number four in the title accurately suggests this is a fourth Mainline title in this tactical RPG series these War themed strategic battles work pretty similar to the other games in the series we still have the Scout shop Trooper Lancer sniper and engineer classes of the previous games but this time there is a brand new granadier class who are able to fire morar rounds at enemies this adds even more depth to the already great combat the unique style of visuals and the story are the two other standout features here there are some great moments and I consider this latest installment to be just as good as the original which is saying a lot if you haven't played the other games in the series then this is still an excellent entry point as it's not directly related to the other games in the series 2019 was another strong year for jrpgs Kingdom Hearts 3 and code vain were up there as some of my favorites but Fire Emblem 3 houses quite easily took top spot due to the series recently being released on handheld devices I hadn't played a new Fire Emblem game since radiant Dawn on the Wii way back in 2007 it really didn't take long for three houses to cement itself as my favorite in the series and it still is to this day the way that the story is told through three different points of view is something that I am always a massive fan of the cast of characters here were very strong and I was all too eager to play three houses multiple times to see everything and learn about everyone this is something that I rarely do in any video game but story aside it was the awesome combat that really stood out strategically forming my team of Warriors and sending them out to the battlefield Time After Time never got old if you ask me Fire Emblem 3 houses was a very worthy winner of of 2019 and a great title to conclude this roller coaster of a decade for jrpgs the winner of 2020 and also my favorite jrpg of the decade is Final Fantasy 7 remake now I knew I was going to like this game but I had no idea how good it was going to be it was released during some tough times right near the start of the co pandemic but this made the isolation actually enjoyable like most of you I have always been a massive fan of the original ff7 but what I like so much about the Remake is that it isn't just a remake it diverges into its own beast in a way that I never expected and slowly realizing this and trying to work out what the hell was going on made it one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had in my life I practically grew up with this cast of characters in all the polygonal Glory seeing them now all grown up and human looking it was awesome add to this the gorgeous visuals the top tier action combat the perfect voice acting and one of the best soundtracks of all time and you have yourself a winner in every regard I also love that this is going to be a three-part series ff7 remake ended after leaving midgar which was roughly the first 6 or eight hours of the OG game there is so much more to come and I have absolutely no idea what to expect in terms of story and that is excites me so much apparently we're going to get most of what we saw in the original but going by what's happened so far there's certainly going to be even more twists thrown our way there's now only a few short weeks until ff7 rebirth is released and by the looks of things it looks to be even better than remake I cannot [Music] wait for the winner of 2021 we have the latest and greatest Tales game taals of Rise I am a huge fan of the tals series and the fact that this is my number one says a lot about the quality of the game her rise was designed to evolve the tals franchise and this evolution is clear in just about every way the first thing that really stood out was the Le in visual quality due to using Unreal Engine 4 For the First Time taals games often feel like they're behind the pack in terms of their graphical quality and presentation but this time arise is up there with the best Alin and shion's journey to free Donna from its oppression was highly engaging the pacing was solid and in true Tales fashion there were loads of twists and turns along the way this fast responsive combat is also the best the series has ever seen and up there with my favorite action combat systems ever hitting those boost strikes at the right time was just so rewarding it's been a few years since Tales of ariots and I'm hoping that the next in the series will be announced very soon [Applause] I have always been a massive fan of from software games the soulsborne series defined the genre one that has seen a load of awesome games from other Studios that follow a similar formula Elden ring takes what's so good about these past games like the great combat expert map design and crazy difficulty and multiplies it by 10 or 20 or 100 I don't know but Elden ring is so big and my geography is so poor so let's just say it's bigger and better in every way where the previous games presented a much more linear path with the occasional multiple paths to take Elden ring goes open world presenting the player with an at times overwhelming amount of things to do given the nature of these games I wasn't sure this would work but I am happy to say that Elden ring nailed it Elden ring is the Pinnacle of the genre and after playing it for over a 100 hours I really don't know where the series can go from here and finally we have arrived at 2023 which is the most recent game on the list Final Fantasy 16 I think I speak for many when I say that Final Fantasy games ain't what they used to be yes things do need to evolve but since ff10 released in 2001 the magic just hasn't been there that is of course until ff16 was released sure it does things a lot differently to what we're used to but well howwi we was it amazing this game had almost everything I could possibly want from a Final Fantasy game great story with loads of twists and turns check amazing cast of characters with the best Sid and the best boy check top shelf soundtrack with one of the best boss teams of all time check the best boss fights of all time check solid action Focus combat with loads of options check the best use of summons the series has ever seen check that is a lot of checks ff16 was one hell of a ride and those are the reasons why this game is my favorite jrpg of 2023 wow that went on forever but what a list seriously how amazing is this genre each and every one of these games is absolutely incredible how many of them have you played what are your favorites do you agree with what I said let me know in the comments below this was Hellfire RPGs thanks for watching if you lik this video please hit that like button sub for more content check out some of my other videos and hit that super thanks if you'd like to support the channel thanks so much for making it this far see you next [Applause] time

Channel: Hell Fire RPGs

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Keywords: jrpg, rpg, hell fire, walkthrough, gameplay, tips, hints, Elden Ring, Tales of Arise, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Xenoblade Chronicles, Dark Souls 2, Trails of Cold Steel, Tales of Xillia, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope, Trails in the Sky: The 3rd, Suikoden V, Radiata Stories, Shadow Hearts, Arc the Lad, Best JRPGs ever, Final Fantasy, must play

Id: 7u7Sk3WLakc

Length: 43min 47sec (2627 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 02 2024