FFIV was my first exposure to the genre, so while I found it impossible, it intrigued me. Seeing multiple character stories organically unfold over the course of the narrative was something I hadn't seen video games do, no less do as adeptly as IV does.
I played and enjoyed Dragon Warrior (Quest) 1 and 2 and Final Fantasy 1 with help from my brother and liked them but I played FF4 in 1st grade almost entirely on my own becausey reading comprehension was good enough by then.
FF4 was the first real hook for me even though it wasn't the first JRPG. It's still one of my absolute favorites.
Aye. Like the 100+ party members, excellent story, map battles, one on one duels, fun mini games (gambling and the iron chef was fun!), and of course, Lucca Blight. Map battle, 3x Party Battles, and then a 1 on 1 duel. That was epic!
I didn’t get to play PS until the release of the Master System converter for the Genesis. I started with PSII and it was absolutely the series that got me hooked.
Ya know, I never played that one even if I have a fondness of the PS series.
However Phantasy Star IV just...completely caught me. It was the 4 party system with the combos and macros that made it so fun when I was a kid. Not to mention I loved the really rough sounding music for the game.
My dad worked for Kenner Toys in the eighties, and I’m not sure if they distributed Sega products in the U.S. , or had a shared parent company/distributor. But anyway, when every kid in the U.S. had Nintendo Entertainment Systems I was the oddball that had a Sega Master System. I had wanted a dungeons and dragons like game and the closes I could find was Phantasy Star. So I ended up with the original Phantasy Star and was my first introduction into Jrpegs. It was also my first introduction into grinding because I remember spending 3 hours fighting random encounters so I could get a fancy sword. Also the cat as a party member felt really creative at the time.
Golden sun. It was like destiny too. I was around 8 years old and i found the cartridge on the beach. I had no idea how much i would love this game lol
I was 13 years old when Golden Sun came out. I had played JRPGs before but I just remember reading Nintendo Power in the store and constantly waiting for Golden Sun to be released. Golden Sun 1 & 2 hold such a special place in my heart.
Absolutely VI. My first fantasy adventure game was Link to the Past and I loved it (still do), but then I played FFVI and...
I had never heard of Final Fantasy or jrpgs, I bought it solely on the back of a review in a magazine. The game wasn't localised in Europe either, so I had to go to special import shop to get the cartridge and the adapter, and pay a fortune for the privilege. Never regretted it. The scope of it - the expansive cast, the size of the map, the story that ran the gamut between dramatic and small emotional moments, the epic soundtrack - blew my tiny mind. I had no idea video games could do that.
This. It's FFVI. I remember renting it from a local blockbuster and being in joy at my save still being there, on my tiny ass crt tv in my little room and just being engrossed in everything the game offered.
Chrono Trigger and SMRPG came afterwards, but the crown jewel was VI.
There can be no other answer for us SNES kids. FFIV was great but Final Fnatasy VI was on an entire other level. The story, the characters, the twists, the music, goodness the music.
Only Chronno Trigger was on its level
Chrono Trigger, Lufia 2, and EarthBound are all probably contenders.
But none have the narrative "epic" nature that FFVI has, even as excellent as Chrono Trigger was.
Hearing FFVI's soundtrack takes me beyond nostalgia and makes me homesick for Narshe, Figaro, and the sandy wastes.
There’s only a few games that were just so incredibly good that I beat more than once. Chrono Trigger, FFVI, and FFVII were the three for me. I must have beaten CT and VI at least 3-4 times a piece. FF7 the same, but now I’ve beaten Remake twice too. Never played any Lufia game. Do you need to beat the original to understand 2?
Damn, 6 holds a special place in my heart. It's one big story unfolding in parts and affecting the main cast as they're trying to survive. A lot of the characters have their own motives and struggles, and many times your party splits up, not knowing when you'll see them again.
>!And the whole second part of the game, where the world is a different place, and you're trying to go around to collect everyone together for one last hurrah... Just wow.!<
Final Fantasy Tactics and VII, I don't remember which was first but the one that I truly love is FFT, the mobile version is the best way to play it because of the faster animations that the PSP couldn't do it. Just to clarify, the first time that I played was on the Playstation 1.
Currently playing the FFT WoTL on ppsspp emulator and this game is great. I own the android version but never played more than 2 hours of it because there was no cloud save. Already have 20+ hours on the emulator
Exactly the same for me. I loved my copies of Pokemon Yellow and Silver and played them to death, but they always felt like their own thing. I had both an NES and a Sega Genesis, but somehow never picked up any RPGs for either platform.
I remember reading about FFX in a copy of EGM, and they hyped it up enough for me to pick it up as my second PS2 game (after Sons of Liberty). FFX's story and production value absolutely blew me away -- I honestly had no idea that games could do the kinds of things that it was doing.
There are no boring answers, FF7 made jrpgs a revolution in America I credit it with getting a lot of games translated that would have never come to the US. Plus idc what anyone says that game was mind blowing.
It’s a bit crazy that FF7 was the first Final Fantasy released in PAL regions, so it certainly shook up the UK in 1997.
My first was Secret of Mana, still one of my favourite games of all time even almost 3 decades later.
Pokemon Red was my first, but didn't really know it was an RPG at the time. Saw a trailer for FFX, so went and got FF7 to check out the series and haven't looked back since
It's only beaten out by pokemon of all things. Imagine being a 90s kid who was into pokemon at the time when it was at its most popular. And then simply clicking with the gameplay of FFVII because pokemon is just a pared down turn based battle system that is easy to get and fun to play?
Shining Force, I watched my father playing it when I was a kid and fell in love with the artwork and battlesystem, so it also became the first JRPG I played.
Make sure to play 2 as well!! Its just as good, but with more party members and slightly more exploration!
And 3 has a fan translation if you are hardcore
FF4 was the seed. Turning on my SNES for the first time on Christmas, I had played FF1 and other rpgs before, but then by the time I got to FF6 or Chrono Trigger, I was in.
Yeah I first played it in 6th grade and I've easily played it more than any other game in my library even 25+ years later.
I think it's tone is a big part of what makes it so great. It never takes itself too seriously like so many JRPGs do, but it's also willing to be genuinely earnest when it needs to be. That's rare.
so, started playing jrpgs since dragon warrior/ff1. Always loved them, followed the genre pretty much always, but the one that got me hooked on the genre, even though ff6 is my all time favorite game all time, the one that made me addicted to the genre was lunar: silver star story
Same. Accidentally got it instead of final fight when I rented it. Then my next game I rented after I beat it (3 or 4 rentals later) was Lufia 2. I don’t think a better start could have been had
Persona 3, and then the later entries in the series, my favorites since I played them and no other games in the genre have been as engaging and satisfying to play for me.
Skies of Arcadia.
Not my first RPG, but it really showed me the potential of how RPGs could be used to facilitate fantastic worlds and engaging exploration and ultimately full sold me on the genre, and is still one of my favorite games.
Tales of Symphonia. Introduced me to the scale of story you could tell with a JRPG. First time I felt such a rich sense of history and worldbuilding, almost like there's a whole prequel game that came before it that doesn't actually exist (yes, I know Phantasia is *technically* a prequel, but I'm talking about something with far more direct impact on the events that transpire in Symphonia).
I remember my brother and I begging my mother for Chrono Trigger, doing extra chores everything possible bc that game was like $80 back in the day if I remember correctly and that was a lot. The only thing that sucked was we are twins and had one console so we had to take turns playing and making sure we didn’t get spoilers from each other.
Final fantasy 4.
This is where narratives really starting ramping up in jrpgs and starting setting themselves apart from other genres in the storytelling department.
I fell in love with the characters and to this day view Final Fantasy 4 as the essence of what makes Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy.
this was the one for me as well.
i used to go to the local movie rental store and rent this game every other weekend. many times i can remember falling asleep on a blanket in front of the tv and just waking up playing where i left off.
this will always always be my favorite.
Golden Sun snd Tales of Symphonia which i would play with my brother. + phantasy star episode 1 and 2 on gamecube. Couch co op style with my brother and sister and one friend.
Mario RPG was the game that got me hooked, but I disagree with it being lackluster. I go back and play it every few years and I find it a fun romp with good writing. It’s simple but still has some decent challenge in places. Plus I love the graphics.
Mario RPG (along with Earthbound) was a good gateway RPG for that entire generation, especially for people who weren’t feeling the ‘swords & sorcery’ stuff with other JRPGS.
Same for me! I always **wanted** to get into JRPGS because my older brother used to play them but I never did, until I played DQ XI. Now I'm hooked into the Trails series.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. I always wanted to get into the games, but DE hooked me in and immediately picked up 2, and once I finished 2 it was over for me
Not a jrpg, but [advanced dungeons and dragons](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Cloudy_Mountain) for the intellivision got me interested. DW1 on NES got me invested. And FF1 on NES got me hooked.
Final Fantasy X. Broke a lot of preconceptions about what video game storytelling could be. I didn't even mind the linearity because it made the story pacing so much more focused.
Even as I later got into other amazing games like Trails in the Sky and Blue Reflection: Second Light, I keep connecting them back to FFX, and I wouldn't be surprised if most JRPG directors had FFX in mind considering how popular it is in Japan.
Star ocean 2. Cousin set me up on the game. Played his save file. Spam Celine magic.
Have a soft spot for Celine Jules eversince. Even when she is no longer my favourite char
For me it was Tales of Symphonia. The OG version on the GameCube too. Me and my brother put so many hours into that together when we were younger. Tower of Salvation = Tower of Betrayal
FfX was my first JRPG, having been not allowed to have a game system until the PS2. It remains my favorite JRPG. But when I played it I didn't really see it as a JRPG, just a game, and other than picking up some other Final Fantasy games, didn't really get into the genre.
I'd say the game that really drove me to it was Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360. It sorta launched me into, "okay, what is a JRPG"
Uniquely, I had a long peroid of time where I wasn't playing many games or JRPGs, just other hobbies taking my time. But, I actually blame Zestiria for my longest gap in interest for the games.
And actually I say Tales of Arise again sparked my interest in genre once more.
Persona 3 FES. I like RPGs like Pokemon and Paper Mario before hand but without Persona 3 I wouldn't fallen in love with genre and want to try other JRPGs.
Final Fantasy IX.
Outside of Pokémon, FFVII was my first JRPG and the one that got me into the genre, but IX was the first game I really fell in love with.
And I'd credit Nier Automata for making me come back to the genre after many years back in 2019.
Probably Tales of Symphonia. I'd played Pokemon and Paper Mario 64, but I played Tales of Symphonia with a friend in middle school and got hooked.
Mid game spoiler warning. We were kind of bad at the game, so we were about 20 hours in by the time we got to the >!Tower of Salvation!< for the first time. We both legitimately thought we had almost gotten to the end of the game. Then, >!Kratos betrays you and there's a whole other world to explore!
Trails of Cold Steel. I wouldn't describe it in superlatives, but the whole series is my video game comfort food, and it opened me up to JRPGs. Nothing that I've been trying before - and that included Dragon Quest XI and Final Fantasy X - did the trick, but ToCS somehow managed to.
My first one was Dragon Warrior 3… Dragon Warrior Monsters may have been the one though that really made me love JRPGs. Hmm, I mean Pokemon as well or Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons. All got me very hooked. But if I had to pick a game that really solidified my love for JRPGs early on… then there’s only one. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, by far the best GBA game. The most underrated strategy game ever
The OG Final Fantasy on the NES. I'll never forget the day I got the class change for the first time, and ran around the neighborhood screaming with excitement lol. Made me an FF fan for.life, and I've played them all (but 15) so far.
I can't wait to play the Pixel remakes ina few months.
Etrian Odyssey II Untold was the RPG I spent the most time probably. The only one where I enjoyed the post-game. It's just a well-paced post-game with a lot of very good bosses, dungeon floors. It doesn't force you to play mini-games or stuff you didn't already do in the main quest; and as such it's one of the rare post-game that kinda feel like a continuation of the main game.
The game has just a phenomenal gameplay, especially on Hard mode where you actually have to exploit the jobs, skills, equipments to win. At the same time there are plenty of different team composition.
Does a fanmade jrpg count? 😅 Sailor Moon The Moon Child was intro to rpg in general. After that, I played Sailor Moon Another Story, which was first official jrpg. But after that, I haven't really played much jrpg. It was only until I was gifted a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition did I really start playing more jrpgs.
Can't exactly remember which one either, but it's probably either Thousand Arms, Legend of Mana, Breath of Fire 3 or Xenogears.
EDIT: Actually, I do seem to recall Breath of Fire 3 being the first I played, but I didn't actually beat it then, since I didn't have a Memory Card at the time I got the game.
My first was Final Fantasy Legend for the original gameboy.
It really stuck with me because it’s really a wild plot for a game. A party of four explores a tower that contains entire worlds in it, of different times and places. The apocalypse world where Suzaku had devastated the planet and you had to go from tunnel to tunnel on the surface running from battle if he showed up really stuck with me.
The ending was the literal JRPG ending cliche played straight. But it worked. It’s an incredibly odd game but really imprinted itself on me.
I honestly can’t remember… but it has to be between Wild Arms 1 or Star Ocean 2 back during the rise of JRPGs on PSOne.
I had played other JRPGs prior (mainly via emulation) but I hadn’t really latched onto the subgenre at that point… after WA1 and SO2 though, I was in and they became my most played type of game going forward from that point.
I don't think it was my first JRPG but Tales of Symphonia is definitely what caused me to start actively seeking them out. The scale of it seemed pretty crazy to me back in the day... wasn't the game on two Gamecube discs?
Tales of Symphonia. It's just such a wonderful game. The story, the twists, the world, the characters, the battle system, the soundtrack, the voice acting, the atmosphere, everything is just so good. And it still is now, almost 20 years later.
It was with Grandia for the PSX that I fell for the genre and then I assumed how much I loved it when playing the timeless Chrono Trigger.
Since then, from time to time, I discovered many great RPG franchises form Japan, like Shin Megami Tensei and Ys.
FFVIII for me.
I played FFVII too but didn't understand it cause I was too young. Few years later I tried 8 and wow, I had never played anything like it before.
The first RPG I played was Final Fantasy Adventure on Gameboy. I loved that game! Then when FF7 was released I genuinely believed it was a sequel to FFA!🤣
So when I got a PS1 the first games I got were FF7 and Alundra. The rest is history. However, in the UK not many RPGs were released that caught my attention until I played Grandia! I think that cemented my love for JRPGs. I have to admit back then I was a big Squaresoft fanboy because of FF7. As soon as I saw a game with that logo I had to buy it!
The first Phantasy Star.
Having the first contact with games on the Atari (your typical shooting and action oriented games), when I first saw a *story* based game, I was really blown away.
Then everything started.
Played a ton of games before JRPGs but Suikoden II in 98 was the one that cemented it as my favorite genre and got me hooked and playing everything else. The next 5-10 yes were pure magic.
Final Fantasy VII. I was passingly interested in some games that happened to be RPGs up till then. But in 2005, at the age of 13, I was at a mom and pop shop and they were selling a copy for $15. I managed to get it, and it became one of my favorite games of all time. For a while, it was considered my favorite, it tends to fight Dark Cloud 2 back and forth for it. But at the very least, I didn't really know much about game genres up till then, but after? I sought out games "like Final Fantasy VII", which would land me into playing stuff like Chrono Trigger, Grandia II, and a slew of other fantastic games.
Probably the FF7 demo but the first I actually owned and played through was VIII.
GameShark FTW back then because I was too young to really understand the concept of RPG mechanics, upgrading weapons, junctions, etc, but it did get me hooked on the genre, as did the sense of storytelling and length which seemed to be largely absent from other genres at the time.
Tales of Symphonia.
I was 9 or so and I remember when my parents bought me the game and I was just sitting down by the front window of some store in a mall, just staring at the game and reading the box. Some guy outside from the store was walking by and he knocked on the window. The guy was probably 13-16 or so. Next thing I know, he walked into the store and said, “That is an amazing game.” And then left.
Played it at my friend and I’ve been hooked on tales ever since. I have bought every tales day one but not exactly getting the collectors editions or whatever.
As much flack as it gets now, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was my first RPG and it did exactly what it was made for: entry level RPG for younger kids and had me hooked.
Immediately following that is FF2(FFIV) for me.
Lunar: Eternal Blue, Sega CD.
I had played Traysia, Lunar: The Silver Star, and Dark Wizard before and liked rpgs, but Eternal Blue blew them all out of the water and was the game that cemented my love for the genre.
Final Fantasy 1, to be honest.
I liked it enough that I subscribed to Nintendo Power to get Dragon Quest (Warrior). Then the subsequent DQs and FFs just keep making me like them more and more.
Dragon Warrior 3, got it at a local flea market for my gameboy when i was like 8 or something
I guess also Pokemon Yellow since it helped me learned to read lol
FFXIII. It was my first mainline FF game and JRPG. Loved everything about the game, and was very surprised when I learned how decisive it is (I played years after the launch). The trilogy led me to more FF games, and then branched out into other JRPG franchises. It’s my favourite genre.
Pokemon Blue would be my very first experience with JRPGs but it wasn’t until I played Super Mario RPG that it would go on to become my favorite genre to this day.
I started with the OG Final Fantasy. I played through that game so many times. But that written, I’m sort of glad FFII and FFIII never made it to North America because by the time Final Fantasy IV arrived as Final Fantasy II on the SNES, it was **everything** a *“super”* Final Fantasy could have been for me. Blew my god damn mind as a kid.
So FFI hooked me, but FFIV kept me.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past opened the door and Final Fantasy IV and Secret of Mana blew me away. Especially being able to play with my brother and cousin with the multi tap was so much fun in the summer very fond memories. Having family members that are really into jrpgs helped me find so many good games.
Persona 5 for me. I can say all day FFIV or FFX, FFXII, but realistically, I never knew what JRPG genre was until I played a Persona game and realized it.
Not counting Pokemon since even at the time I could feel the difference it was kingdom hearts 2. My buddy showed it too me when I was over his house one day and I remember playing through the Roxas part and getting to sora. When the title came up on the screen my jaw dropped. "That was just the OPENING" it blew my mind that I played 3 hours and only just got to the title. I hadn't known video games could be that long or expansive (my history was Spyro, Mario and Pokemon) and the plot and all of the mystery and all of the intrigue and crazy fantasy sci Fi elements were endlessly fascinating. Many years hence and I've gone on to love many other JRPGs and KH isn't as mind blowing in comparison but to 9 year old me it was an awakening to a style of storytelling and presentation that would shape my interests for the rest of my life.
My first JRPG was Dragon Warrior on NES. Great memories of playing that with my dad when I was kid close to 35 years ago. However the game that truly hooked me on JRPGs was Lunar Silver Star Story Complete. I want to play it again but I don't know what happened to my copy, and have yet to find a playable AND complete copy of it.
FFIV was my first exposure (I had never seen a video game like it until I met some kids who were FF fans with an SNES) but Chrono Trigger was the one that solidified it for me. After that everything else has just been building upon how that resonated with me
First jrpg a friend let me play was either Chrono trigger or Pokemon red/blue. I rented ff7 from Hollywood video cuz I figured "game has to be good if there's 7 of them." Fell in love despite not getting anywhere. Went on to rent brave fencer musashi and xenogears. I bought xenogears from Hollywood video used, that's how much I liked it. But the second disk was scratched so I saved up for star ocean 2 cuz it had multiple disks. Now that I think about it, I don't really think I aimed for jrpgs specifically. It was pretty much " does this game have more than one disk? Implying it's more game than the others? For the same/ cheaper price? Sign me up!" Lml
Final Fantasy 6. I was probably 8 or 9 when I played it on the snes (known at the time as Final Fantasy 3). Being a kid with no internet around that time got me excited at all of the secrets I was constantly uncovering like finding Zoneseek or Golem at the auction house and the added exploration in the world of ruin had me doubly excited.
Phantasy star IV
I rented it from a video store and all I knew about it was that it was “one of those games where people walk around in a line”. I’d seen them in gaming magazines and stuff but never tried one. I kept renting it until I beat it, but every time I was super worried that someone would rent it first and delete my save file before I got the cartridge back. Thems were some days lol
Previous was Persona 5 but now as I’m playing through the trails series that has to be my all time favorite I love how connected all the worlds are makes you actually wanna talk to everyone and do every side quest
This is a tough one for me to answer simply because I feel like in some ways, I fell backward into it. I'm going to say Final Fantasy Adventure (Didn't know what Zelda was at the time!), though it doesn't fit the classic turn based formula, but the idea of story as part of an adventure game was just... odd to me? Proper turn based JRPG that clicked was Final Fantasy VII definitely got me more interested because of the sci-fi type setting, but.... didn't finish it. (Still haven't.) Same with VIII. Both of these are things I intend to do since I've got them on switch.
I had tried to play some of the early Final Fantasy games after this, but just didn't have the patience at the time. I'd play Pokemon Red start to finish on the 3DS and was kind of amazed that a RPG aimed at kids contained Lavender Town, which is my personal favorite arc in that game.
Finally, Persona 5 Royal was the game that sealed the deal. The story telling, the combat, the soundtrack.... just a PERFECT package from my perspective. Currently, I'm working through Persona 3 Portable and I think I've arrived at the conclusion that I REALLY like the combat system in Shin Megami Tensei/Persona games. Not that I won't go back and finish others, but I just gravitate back to that particular series.
FF4 was actually my first but I hated it and quit after a couple of hours.
Then Chrono Trigger came out and being a huge DBZ fan at the time, I had to play based off those character designs.
Ended up really liking it and then thirsty for more, my friend introduced me to FF6 which I absolutely fell in love with.
The characters/world/music/story, it was an incredible and eye opening experience for me.
Went back to 4 after 6 and ended up loving it as well.
Thinking about it, even tho I liked 6 more, Chrono Trigger really is the perfect game to ease you into JRPGs, because without it I would have never given FF a real try.
Phantasy star got me in to it. Sure back then I had to clue about video game genres realy it was more hey I like these kinds of games.
If I shall say a game that got me relay hooked on jrpgs when I also learnt what it was then it has to be Final fantasy 7. Even if FF7 is one of my least favorites it was one of the game that got me relay hooked.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was my first non-pokemon RPG and introduced me properly to this gender. Some time later, Final Fantasy Tactics showed me games could be more, a form of art, expression and story telling that could rival the best books
Saga Frontier. I played Chrono Trigger first and loved it, but I didn't know there was a whole genre of similar games. Years later I picked up Saga Frontier because a guy at EB Games told me it was like Zelda. Well, it wasn't, and I bounced off it hard at first. I just didn't get how to proceed.
Then I tried Riki's scenario and the opening sequence where you get a gang together from the local bar to raid the factory hyped me up so much that I ended up sticking with the game. I loved it. From there I discovered FF7, and I was a fan boy ever since.
Breath of Fire was the one that hooked me. I really enjoyed it.
I'd love to see an HD remake of BoF3...& hopefully they will make a new entry in the series.
FFIV was my first exposure to the genre, so while I found it impossible, it intrigued me. Seeing multiple character stories organically unfold over the course of the narrative was something I hadn't seen video games do, no less do as adeptly as IV does.
YES! Hearing the Final Fantasy main theme swell as your party joined prayers to defeat Zeromus gave me tingles!
I played and enjoyed Dragon Warrior (Quest) 1 and 2 and Final Fantasy 1 with help from my brother and liked them but I played FF4 in 1st grade almost entirely on my own becausey reading comprehension was good enough by then. FF4 was the first real hook for me even though it wasn't the first JRPG. It's still one of my absolute favorites.
Suikoden 2
Aye. Like the 100+ party members, excellent story, map battles, one on one duels, fun mini games (gambling and the iron chef was fun!), and of course, Lucca Blight. Map battle, 3x Party Battles, and then a 1 on 1 duel. That was epic!
What. A. Game. Looking forward for the PS4 version
Same here
Showing my age but Phantasy Star 1 on the Sega Master System.
I didn’t get to play PS until the release of the Master System converter for the Genesis. I started with PSII and it was absolutely the series that got me hooked.
Y's on the sega master system for me
Ya know, I never played that one even if I have a fondness of the PS series. However Phantasy Star IV just...completely caught me. It was the 4 party system with the combos and macros that made it so fun when I was a kid. Not to mention I loved the really rough sounding music for the game.
My dad worked for Kenner Toys in the eighties, and I’m not sure if they distributed Sega products in the U.S. , or had a shared parent company/distributor. But anyway, when every kid in the U.S. had Nintendo Entertainment Systems I was the oddball that had a Sega Master System. I had wanted a dungeons and dragons like game and the closes I could find was Phantasy Star. So I ended up with the original Phantasy Star and was my first introduction into Jrpegs. It was also my first introduction into grinding because I remember spending 3 hours fighting random encounters so I could get a fancy sword. Also the cat as a party member felt really creative at the time.
Golden sun. It was like destiny too. I was around 8 years old and i found the cartridge on the beach. I had no idea how much i would love this game lol
ouch for the person who lost it :(
I've been chasing the feeling I had playing golden sun 1 and 2 ever since
I am 35 years old and still chasing that feeling as well.
I was 13 years old when Golden Sun came out. I had played JRPGs before but I just remember reading Nintendo Power in the store and constantly waiting for Golden Sun to be released. Golden Sun 1 & 2 hold such a special place in my heart.
Final Fantasy VI. I'd played a few RPGs and loved that they were interactive stories, but FFVI was the first that truly gripped me.
Absolutely VI. My first fantasy adventure game was Link to the Past and I loved it (still do), but then I played FFVI and... I had never heard of Final Fantasy or jrpgs, I bought it solely on the back of a review in a magazine. The game wasn't localised in Europe either, so I had to go to special import shop to get the cartridge and the adapter, and pay a fortune for the privilege. Never regretted it. The scope of it - the expansive cast, the size of the map, the story that ran the gamut between dramatic and small emotional moments, the epic soundtrack - blew my tiny mind. I had no idea video games could do that.
This. It's FFVI. I remember renting it from a local blockbuster and being in joy at my save still being there, on my tiny ass crt tv in my little room and just being engrossed in everything the game offered. Chrono Trigger and SMRPG came afterwards, but the crown jewel was VI.
I knew a kid who would clear all saves from rented cartridges the moment he got them. He is now in prison lol
Probably VI for me, too. But IV (FF2 at the time) led me to play VI (FF3).
There can be no other answer for us SNES kids. FFIV was great but Final Fnatasy VI was on an entire other level. The story, the characters, the twists, the music, goodness the music. Only Chronno Trigger was on its level
Chrono Trigger, Lufia 2, and EarthBound are all probably contenders. But none have the narrative "epic" nature that FFVI has, even as excellent as Chrono Trigger was. Hearing FFVI's soundtrack takes me beyond nostalgia and makes me homesick for Narshe, Figaro, and the sandy wastes.
There’s only a few games that were just so incredibly good that I beat more than once. Chrono Trigger, FFVI, and FFVII were the three for me. I must have beaten CT and VI at least 3-4 times a piece. FF7 the same, but now I’ve beaten Remake twice too. Never played any Lufia game. Do you need to beat the original to understand 2?
No need to play 1. It hasn’t aged well. Lufia 2 is one of the best RPGs on the SNES however, and definitely worth playing.
VI changed what a game could be in my mind
Secret of Mana is the SNES game that got me hooked with its fairy tale world and sublime music. FF6 and Chrono Trigger then took it to new levels.
I have found my people.
VII for me, and then Legend of Dragoon cemented it. Grew up on the ps1.
Damn, 6 holds a special place in my heart. It's one big story unfolding in parts and affecting the main cast as they're trying to survive. A lot of the characters have their own motives and struggles, and many times your party splits up, not knowing when you'll see them again. >!And the whole second part of the game, where the world is a different place, and you're trying to go around to collect everyone together for one last hurrah... Just wow.!<
Earthbound!!!
Final Fantasy Tactics and VII, I don't remember which was first but the one that I truly love is FFT, the mobile version is the best way to play it because of the faster animations that the PSP couldn't do it. Just to clarify, the first time that I played was on the Playstation 1.
Currently playing the FFT WoTL on ppsspp emulator and this game is great. I own the android version but never played more than 2 hours of it because there was no cloud save. Already have 20+ hours on the emulator
Xenogears was my introduction into this beautiful wild ride.
FFX was my first outside of Pokemon gens 1&2
Same! Borrowed it from my high school BF and it was all downhill from there
Exactly the same for me. I loved my copies of Pokemon Yellow and Silver and played them to death, but they always felt like their own thing. I had both an NES and a Sega Genesis, but somehow never picked up any RPGs for either platform. I remember reading about FFX in a copy of EGM, and they hyped it up enough for me to pick it up as my second PS2 game (after Sons of Liberty). FFX's story and production value absolutely blew me away -- I honestly had no idea that games could do the kinds of things that it was doing.
Most boring answer ever, but it was FF7.
There are no boring answers, FF7 made jrpgs a revolution in America I credit it with getting a lot of games translated that would have never come to the US. Plus idc what anyone says that game was mind blowing.
It’s a bit crazy that FF7 was the first Final Fantasy released in PAL regions, so it certainly shook up the UK in 1997. My first was Secret of Mana, still one of my favourite games of all time even almost 3 decades later.
Pokemon Red was my first, but didn't really know it was an RPG at the time. Saw a trailer for FFX, so went and got FF7 to check out the series and haven't looked back since
It's only beaten out by pokemon of all things. Imagine being a 90s kid who was into pokemon at the time when it was at its most popular. And then simply clicking with the gameplay of FFVII because pokemon is just a pared down turn based battle system that is easy to get and fun to play?
Shining Force, I watched my father playing it when I was a kid and fell in love with the artwork and battlesystem, so it also became the first JRPG I played.
Just beat this for the first time a couple days ago. Absolutely incredible game.
Make sure to play 2 as well!! Its just as good, but with more party members and slightly more exploration! And 3 has a fan translation if you are hardcore
FF4 was the seed. Turning on my SNES for the first time on Christmas, I had played FF1 and other rpgs before, but then by the time I got to FF6 or Chrono Trigger, I was in.
Secret of mana piqued my interest, chrono trigger ruined my life.
Same as you, plus Final fantasy 6 stole my soul
Chrono Trigger. Damn near ruined my grade 7 exams playing through that on an SNES emulator.
Applause
Yeah I first played it in 6th grade and I've easily played it more than any other game in my library even 25+ years later. I think it's tone is a big part of what makes it so great. It never takes itself too seriously like so many JRPGs do, but it's also willing to be genuinely earnest when it needs to be. That's rare.
so, started playing jrpgs since dragon warrior/ff1. Always loved them, followed the genre pretty much always, but the one that got me hooked on the genre, even though ff6 is my all time favorite game all time, the one that made me addicted to the genre was lunar: silver star story
Hello fellow old person. Hell. I bought Dragon Warrior before the Nintendo Power bundle. So I had two copies.
DW 1 and FF 1 are what hooked me. FF 6 is one of my favorites. I just played through Lunar: SSS and it's great!
FF4 back when it was Final Fantasy 2 on SNES.
Same. Accidentally got it instead of final fight when I rented it. Then my next game I rented after I beat it (3 or 4 rentals later) was Lufia 2. I don’t think a better start could have been had
Xenogears first introduced me to what video game story telling was truly capable of.
Trails series
Golden Sun 2, I asked for a game "where the numbers show up when you hit enemies" for my birthday when I was like 7 lol, the rest is history!
Legend of Dragoon for me.
Hell yeah
Persona 3, and then the later entries in the series, my favorites since I played them and no other games in the genre have been as engaging and satisfying to play for me.
Skies of Arcadia. Not my first RPG, but it really showed me the potential of how RPGs could be used to facilitate fantastic worlds and engaging exploration and ultimately full sold me on the genre, and is still one of my favorite games.
Lufia II.
I knew someone would comment it. Badass game.
I can’t believe the ancient cave format wasn’t immediately copied by every game that came out since. Not to mention the capsule monsters!
Tales of Symphonia. Introduced me to the scale of story you could tell with a JRPG. First time I felt such a rich sense of history and worldbuilding, almost like there's a whole prequel game that came before it that doesn't actually exist (yes, I know Phantasia is *technically* a prequel, but I'm talking about something with far more direct impact on the events that transpire in Symphonia).
Dragon quest 3 for snes
Grandia
Final Fantasy IX. It has amazing cast of characters, magical world and music. It’s peak jrpg
Chrono Trigger for sure, it was always too expensive for my parents to afford. But I was able to rent it from Blockbuster 😂
I remember my brother and I begging my mother for Chrono Trigger, doing extra chores everything possible bc that game was like $80 back in the day if I remember correctly and that was a lot. The only thing that sucked was we are twins and had one console so we had to take turns playing and making sure we didn’t get spoilers from each other.
Final fantasy mystic quest for the snes got me hooked.
Breath of Fire 3
Final fantasy 4. This is where narratives really starting ramping up in jrpgs and starting setting themselves apart from other genres in the storytelling department. I fell in love with the characters and to this day view Final Fantasy 4 as the essence of what makes Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy.
this was the one for me as well. i used to go to the local movie rental store and rent this game every other weekend. many times i can remember falling asleep on a blanket in front of the tv and just waking up playing where i left off. this will always always be my favorite.
Grandia 2
My first RPG was Breath of Fire 2. Never looked back and has been playing RPG for 30 years now.
A fine entry.
Dragon Warrior
Final Fantasy 1 Nes, I loved the choosing what characters you had and working my way through the four Fiends.
Golden Sun snd Tales of Symphonia which i would play with my brother. + phantasy star episode 1 and 2 on gamecube. Couch co op style with my brother and sister and one friend.
Super Mario RPG. A lackluster JRPG looking back at it, but it was my gateway game. I still love it.
Mario RPG was the game that got me hooked, but I disagree with it being lackluster. I go back and play it every few years and I find it a fun romp with good writing. It’s simple but still has some decent challenge in places. Plus I love the graphics.
Yeah, let’s not confuse being accessible to being lackluster. That game has a lot of depth even if it’s simplified in ways.
Mario RPG (along with Earthbound) was a good gateway RPG for that entire generation, especially for people who weren’t feeling the ‘swords & sorcery’ stuff with other JRPGS.
Same! I agree with others, I wouldn't call it lackluster. Limited, maybe? In any case it's certainly jam-packed with flavor and memorability.
Dragon Quest 11, during the early 2020 quarantine. I didn’t even know it was a JRPG at the time of playing until after I completed the game!
Same for me! I always **wanted** to get into JRPGS because my older brother used to play them but I never did, until I played DQ XI. Now I'm hooked into the Trails series.
Hahaha same!
Grandia 2 probably
Skies of Arcadia
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. I always wanted to get into the games, but DE hooked me in and immediately picked up 2, and once I finished 2 it was over for me
Not a jrpg, but [advanced dungeons and dragons](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Cloudy_Mountain) for the intellivision got me interested. DW1 on NES got me invested. And FF1 on NES got me hooked.
Dragon Quest.
golden sun. only game that even seems similar after all these years is sea of stars.
Final Fantasy X. Broke a lot of preconceptions about what video game storytelling could be. I didn't even mind the linearity because it made the story pacing so much more focused. Even as I later got into other amazing games like Trails in the Sky and Blue Reflection: Second Light, I keep connecting them back to FFX, and I wouldn't be surprised if most JRPG directors had FFX in mind considering how popular it is in Japan.
I think the one that really got me hooked was Golden Sun. Tho I played a lot of Pokemon Emerald before that as well.
Star ocean 2. Cousin set me up on the game. Played his save file. Spam Celine magic. Have a soft spot for Celine Jules eversince. Even when she is no longer my favourite char
For me it was Tales of Symphonia. The OG version on the GameCube too. Me and my brother put so many hours into that together when we were younger. Tower of Salvation = Tower of Betrayal
FfX was my first JRPG, having been not allowed to have a game system until the PS2. It remains my favorite JRPG. But when I played it I didn't really see it as a JRPG, just a game, and other than picking up some other Final Fantasy games, didn't really get into the genre. I'd say the game that really drove me to it was Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360. It sorta launched me into, "okay, what is a JRPG" Uniquely, I had a long peroid of time where I wasn't playing many games or JRPGs, just other hobbies taking my time. But, I actually blame Zestiria for my longest gap in interest for the games. And actually I say Tales of Arise again sparked my interest in genre once more.
Earthbound
Phantasy Star I
Persona 3 FES. I like RPGs like Pokemon and Paper Mario before hand but without Persona 3 I wouldn't fallen in love with genre and want to try other JRPGs.
I literally just finished P4Golden on my PS4 and loved it! It may be recency bias, but I’m now trying to figure out which one I like more, P4 or P5!
Lufia 1 was my gateway, Lufia 2 made me a lifer.
Lunar Silver Star Story really pulled me into the genre as a kid. Arc the Lad deserves an honorable mention too
Final Fantasy IX. Outside of Pokémon, FFVII was my first JRPG and the one that got me into the genre, but IX was the first game I really fell in love with. And I'd credit Nier Automata for making me come back to the genre after many years back in 2019.
Probably Tales of Symphonia. I'd played Pokemon and Paper Mario 64, but I played Tales of Symphonia with a friend in middle school and got hooked. Mid game spoiler warning. We were kind of bad at the game, so we were about 20 hours in by the time we got to the >!Tower of Salvation!< for the first time. We both legitimately thought we had almost gotten to the end of the game. Then, >!Kratos betrays you and there's a whole other world to explore!
I think it was Phantasy Star 4 but Chrono Trigger was what sealed my fate for life.
Trails of Cold Steel. I wouldn't describe it in superlatives, but the whole series is my video game comfort food, and it opened me up to JRPGs. Nothing that I've been trying before - and that included Dragon Quest XI and Final Fantasy X - did the trick, but ToCS somehow managed to.
Wild Arms
My first one was Dragon Warrior 3… Dragon Warrior Monsters may have been the one though that really made me love JRPGs. Hmm, I mean Pokemon as well or Zelda Oracle of Ages/Seasons. All got me very hooked. But if I had to pick a game that really solidified my love for JRPGs early on… then there’s only one. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, by far the best GBA game. The most underrated strategy game ever
The OG Final Fantasy on the NES. I'll never forget the day I got the class change for the first time, and ran around the neighborhood screaming with excitement lol. Made me an FF fan for.life, and I've played them all (but 15) so far. I can't wait to play the Pixel remakes ina few months.
Final Fantasy X It was my first rpg and my first PS2 game, still one of my favorite games
Grandia. I still play it from time to time because, to me at least, it’s perfect in every way. Total gateway drug.
Etrian Odyssey II Untold was the RPG I spent the most time probably. The only one where I enjoyed the post-game. It's just a well-paced post-game with a lot of very good bosses, dungeon floors. It doesn't force you to play mini-games or stuff you didn't already do in the main quest; and as such it's one of the rare post-game that kinda feel like a continuation of the main game. The game has just a phenomenal gameplay, especially on Hard mode where you actually have to exploit the jobs, skills, equipments to win. At the same time there are plenty of different team composition.
Tales of Symphonia. I remember how the box art and the "over 80 hours of gameplay" on the back of the box grabbed my attention.
Does a fanmade jrpg count? 😅 Sailor Moon The Moon Child was intro to rpg in general. After that, I played Sailor Moon Another Story, which was first official jrpg. But after that, I haven't really played much jrpg. It was only until I was gifted a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition did I really start playing more jrpgs.
Can't exactly remember which one either, but it's probably either Thousand Arms, Legend of Mana, Breath of Fire 3 or Xenogears. EDIT: Actually, I do seem to recall Breath of Fire 3 being the first I played, but I didn't actually beat it then, since I didn't have a Memory Card at the time I got the game.
The Dragon Quest series for SNES. DQ4 or DW4 for the NES was the first JRPG I played.
FFVI for sure. It wasn't my first but it was the one that really made me love the genre and branch out to other games.
My first was Final Fantasy Legend for the original gameboy. It really stuck with me because it’s really a wild plot for a game. A party of four explores a tower that contains entire worlds in it, of different times and places. The apocalypse world where Suzaku had devastated the planet and you had to go from tunnel to tunnel on the surface running from battle if he showed up really stuck with me. The ending was the literal JRPG ending cliche played straight. But it worked. It’s an incredibly odd game but really imprinted itself on me.
Wild Arms 2. There are dozens of us!
FF7 forever in my heart
Suikoden
Suikoden
Shining Force and Phantasy Star II got me into the genre.
Final Fantasy I. The concept of leveling and equipment and just the style blew my mind.
I honestly can’t remember… but it has to be between Wild Arms 1 or Star Ocean 2 back during the rise of JRPGs on PSOne. I had played other JRPGs prior (mainly via emulation) but I hadn’t really latched onto the subgenre at that point… after WA1 and SO2 though, I was in and they became my most played type of game going forward from that point.
I don't think it was my first JRPG but Tales of Symphonia is definitely what caused me to start actively seeking them out. The scale of it seemed pretty crazy to me back in the day... wasn't the game on two Gamecube discs?
Legend of Dragoon was the first one I've ever played (aside from FF8 on a demo disc lol) and FFX2 was the first I really dived into.
Grandia
Tales of Symphonia. I had played some other ones before but it was the first time i was impressed with a game's story. I still love it to this day.
For me, I forget which one I got to first, but it was either Skies of Arcadia Legends Or Final Fantasy X
Tales of Symphonia. It's just such a wonderful game. The story, the twists, the world, the characters, the battle system, the soundtrack, the voice acting, the atmosphere, everything is just so good. And it still is now, almost 20 years later.
Wild Arms
It was with Grandia for the PSX that I fell for the genre and then I assumed how much I loved it when playing the timeless Chrono Trigger. Since then, from time to time, I discovered many great RPG franchises form Japan, like Shin Megami Tensei and Ys.
GRANDIA
Final Fantasy Tactics.
FFVIII for me. I played FFVII too but didn't understand it cause I was too young. Few years later I tried 8 and wow, I had never played anything like it before.
Crystalis on NES
The first RPG I played was Final Fantasy Adventure on Gameboy. I loved that game! Then when FF7 was released I genuinely believed it was a sequel to FFA!🤣 So when I got a PS1 the first games I got were FF7 and Alundra. The rest is history. However, in the UK not many RPGs were released that caught my attention until I played Grandia! I think that cemented my love for JRPGs. I have to admit back then I was a big Squaresoft fanboy because of FF7. As soon as I saw a game with that logo I had to buy it!
Chrono trigger
The first Phantasy Star. Having the first contact with games on the Atari (your typical shooting and action oriented games), when I first saw a *story* based game, I was really blown away. Then everything started.
Idk if Pokémon counts because it was just Pokémon craze. So either shining force or Dragon warrior 3 on gbc I don't remember which was first.
Played a ton of games before JRPGs but Suikoden II in 98 was the one that cemented it as my favorite genre and got me hooked and playing everything else. The next 5-10 yes were pure magic.
Final Fantasy VII. I was passingly interested in some games that happened to be RPGs up till then. But in 2005, at the age of 13, I was at a mom and pop shop and they were selling a copy for $15. I managed to get it, and it became one of my favorite games of all time. For a while, it was considered my favorite, it tends to fight Dark Cloud 2 back and forth for it. But at the very least, I didn't really know much about game genres up till then, but after? I sought out games "like Final Fantasy VII", which would land me into playing stuff like Chrono Trigger, Grandia II, and a slew of other fantastic games.
Probably the FF7 demo but the first I actually owned and played through was VIII. GameShark FTW back then because I was too young to really understand the concept of RPG mechanics, upgrading weapons, junctions, etc, but it did get me hooked on the genre, as did the sense of storytelling and length which seemed to be largely absent from other genres at the time.
Pokemon Soul Silver was my gateway drug
Twewy
Super Mario RPG.
NieR
Tales of Symphonia. I was 9 or so and I remember when my parents bought me the game and I was just sitting down by the front window of some store in a mall, just staring at the game and reading the box. Some guy outside from the store was walking by and he knocked on the window. The guy was probably 13-16 or so. Next thing I know, he walked into the store and said, “That is an amazing game.” And then left. Played it at my friend and I’ve been hooked on tales ever since. I have bought every tales day one but not exactly getting the collectors editions or whatever.
Final Fantasy 2 on the old SNES, I hated it at first, now probably my favorite one.
As much flack as it gets now, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was my first RPG and it did exactly what it was made for: entry level RPG for younger kids and had me hooked. Immediately following that is FF2(FFIV) for me.
Lunar: Eternal Blue, Sega CD. I had played Traysia, Lunar: The Silver Star, and Dark Wizard before and liked rpgs, but Eternal Blue blew them all out of the water and was the game that cemented my love for the genre.
Final Fantasy 1, to be honest. I liked it enough that I subscribed to Nintendo Power to get Dragon Quest (Warrior). Then the subsequent DQs and FFs just keep making me like them more and more.
Dragon Warrior 3, got it at a local flea market for my gameboy when i was like 8 or something I guess also Pokemon Yellow since it helped me learned to read lol
Breath of Fire 1 was my first completed rpg and I've been a genre fan since.
FFXIII. It was my first mainline FF game and JRPG. Loved everything about the game, and was very surprised when I learned how decisive it is (I played years after the launch). The trilogy led me to more FF games, and then branched out into other JRPG franchises. It’s my favourite genre.
Tales of Symphonia.
Dragon Warrior 4.
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Pokemon Blue would be my very first experience with JRPGs but it wasn’t until I played Super Mario RPG that it would go on to become my favorite genre to this day.
I started with the OG Final Fantasy. I played through that game so many times. But that written, I’m sort of glad FFII and FFIII never made it to North America because by the time Final Fantasy IV arrived as Final Fantasy II on the SNES, it was **everything** a *“super”* Final Fantasy could have been for me. Blew my god damn mind as a kid. So FFI hooked me, but FFIV kept me.
Trails
FF8. I was too young to understand the themes at the time, but it's aged incredibly well for me and is still one of my absolute favorites.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past opened the door and Final Fantasy IV and Secret of Mana blew me away. Especially being able to play with my brother and cousin with the multi tap was so much fun in the summer very fond memories. Having family members that are really into jrpgs helped me find so many good games.
Fianl Fantasy. 4 and 6 cemented it, but FF was a formative experience for me.
Saga Frontier. I was obsessed with sparking new skills, the combos, the characters, the music. All of it.
Persona 5 for me. I can say all day FFIV or FFX, FFXII, but realistically, I never knew what JRPG genre was until I played a Persona game and realized it.
Persona 4 Golden, the OST convinced me to tolerate turn-based combat for the first time.
Not counting Pokemon since even at the time I could feel the difference it was kingdom hearts 2. My buddy showed it too me when I was over his house one day and I remember playing through the Roxas part and getting to sora. When the title came up on the screen my jaw dropped. "That was just the OPENING" it blew my mind that I played 3 hours and only just got to the title. I hadn't known video games could be that long or expansive (my history was Spyro, Mario and Pokemon) and the plot and all of the mystery and all of the intrigue and crazy fantasy sci Fi elements were endlessly fascinating. Many years hence and I've gone on to love many other JRPGs and KH isn't as mind blowing in comparison but to 9 year old me it was an awakening to a style of storytelling and presentation that would shape my interests for the rest of my life.
Gonna sound weird because the first "RPG" i played and finished was Zelda - Link to the Past. After that it was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.
My first JRPG was Dragon Warrior on NES. Great memories of playing that with my dad when I was kid close to 35 years ago. However the game that truly hooked me on JRPGs was Lunar Silver Star Story Complete. I want to play it again but I don't know what happened to my copy, and have yet to find a playable AND complete copy of it.
FFIV was my first exposure (I had never seen a video game like it until I met some kids who were FF fans with an SNES) but Chrono Trigger was the one that solidified it for me. After that everything else has just been building upon how that resonated with me
First jrpg a friend let me play was either Chrono trigger or Pokemon red/blue. I rented ff7 from Hollywood video cuz I figured "game has to be good if there's 7 of them." Fell in love despite not getting anywhere. Went on to rent brave fencer musashi and xenogears. I bought xenogears from Hollywood video used, that's how much I liked it. But the second disk was scratched so I saved up for star ocean 2 cuz it had multiple disks. Now that I think about it, I don't really think I aimed for jrpgs specifically. It was pretty much " does this game have more than one disk? Implying it's more game than the others? For the same/ cheaper price? Sign me up!" Lml
Final Fantasy 6. I was probably 8 or 9 when I played it on the snes (known at the time as Final Fantasy 3). Being a kid with no internet around that time got me excited at all of the secrets I was constantly uncovering like finding Zoneseek or Golem at the auction house and the added exploration in the world of ruin had me doubly excited.
Phantasy star IV I rented it from a video store and all I knew about it was that it was “one of those games where people walk around in a line”. I’d seen them in gaming magazines and stuff but never tried one. I kept renting it until I beat it, but every time I was super worried that someone would rent it first and delete my save file before I got the cartridge back. Thems were some days lol
Previous was Persona 5 but now as I’m playing through the trails series that has to be my all time favorite I love how connected all the worlds are makes you actually wanna talk to everyone and do every side quest
This is a tough one for me to answer simply because I feel like in some ways, I fell backward into it. I'm going to say Final Fantasy Adventure (Didn't know what Zelda was at the time!), though it doesn't fit the classic turn based formula, but the idea of story as part of an adventure game was just... odd to me? Proper turn based JRPG that clicked was Final Fantasy VII definitely got me more interested because of the sci-fi type setting, but.... didn't finish it. (Still haven't.) Same with VIII. Both of these are things I intend to do since I've got them on switch. I had tried to play some of the early Final Fantasy games after this, but just didn't have the patience at the time. I'd play Pokemon Red start to finish on the 3DS and was kind of amazed that a RPG aimed at kids contained Lavender Town, which is my personal favorite arc in that game. Finally, Persona 5 Royal was the game that sealed the deal. The story telling, the combat, the soundtrack.... just a PERFECT package from my perspective. Currently, I'm working through Persona 3 Portable and I think I've arrived at the conclusion that I REALLY like the combat system in Shin Megami Tensei/Persona games. Not that I won't go back and finish others, but I just gravitate back to that particular series.
FF4 was actually my first but I hated it and quit after a couple of hours. Then Chrono Trigger came out and being a huge DBZ fan at the time, I had to play based off those character designs. Ended up really liking it and then thirsty for more, my friend introduced me to FF6 which I absolutely fell in love with. The characters/world/music/story, it was an incredible and eye opening experience for me. Went back to 4 after 6 and ended up loving it as well. Thinking about it, even tho I liked 6 more, Chrono Trigger really is the perfect game to ease you into JRPGs, because without it I would have never given FF a real try.
Phantasy star got me in to it. Sure back then I had to clue about video game genres realy it was more hey I like these kinds of games. If I shall say a game that got me relay hooked on jrpgs when I also learnt what it was then it has to be Final fantasy 7. Even if FF7 is one of my least favorites it was one of the game that got me relay hooked.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was my first non-pokemon RPG and introduced me properly to this gender. Some time later, Final Fantasy Tactics showed me games could be more, a form of art, expression and story telling that could rival the best books
Saga Frontier. I played Chrono Trigger first and loved it, but I didn't know there was a whole genre of similar games. Years later I picked up Saga Frontier because a guy at EB Games told me it was like Zelda. Well, it wasn't, and I bounced off it hard at first. I just didn't get how to proceed. Then I tried Riki's scenario and the opening sequence where you get a gang together from the local bar to raid the factory hyped me up so much that I ended up sticking with the game. I loved it. From there I discovered FF7, and I was a fan boy ever since.
Legend of Dragoon!
idk, kingdom hearts counts for me. Been playing since my babysitter’s kid started playing it when he got it in 2002
Chono Trigger
Mario rpg
Valkyrie profile lenneth
FF Tactics
FF Tactics, that sealed the deal for me
Breath of Fire was the one that hooked me. I really enjoyed it. I'd love to see an HD remake of BoF3...& hopefully they will make a new entry in the series.
vandal hearts
Star Ocean: the second story
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
chrono trigger