I made a part 3 of this. 10 more JRPGs that aged well: kzread.info/dash/bejne/k4J-0Kqkn5a3j8Y.html

I grew up playing Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2, I remember having a folder packed to the brim with printed out Game FAQ guides for building weapons, finding inspiration picture locations, item farming areas, and guides to the golfing mini game. God seeing it on your list has made me so nostalgic for the game.

@HaveButOneLife

Жыл бұрын

One of my favorite series of all time.

@thehater6189

Жыл бұрын

Ha! Cheater! Jk! Im still hoping for a third one

@dr.candido4441

Жыл бұрын

I played Dark Cloud 1 till it went out of style.

@slapchop133787

Жыл бұрын

Dude, same. I remember getting detention in school for getting caught printing a DC 2 guide lol. Good times. 👍

@ceetruth4709

Жыл бұрын

They need to port it to the Switch!

The fact Dark Cloud never had a #3 still hurts my heart. The weapon leveling system was golden. Exploring all possible paths for every weapon was addictive. The amount of stuff to do in #2 was crazy! Finny Frenzy was great, and the Golf mode was stupid fun and challenging to 100%.

I remember the late 90s when so many people were dissing games that chose to keep 2D visuals, even refusing to play games that chose that style. Their loss for missing out on such wonderful classics...I kept going "yeah, love that one" as you went down the list.

@wertertwertwet

Жыл бұрын

You’re old man 👴🏼

@SubzeroCage

Жыл бұрын

I know exactly what you mean, there is a certain charm to them that the others dont have

@nigrum_angelum6655

Жыл бұрын

It's a severe case of graphicwhorism, and I'm saddened by the fact that one of my homie is diagnosed with it.

@thehater6189

Жыл бұрын

Exactly bro! Try playing jade coccoon today! Chrono trigger holds up so much better.

@51angrybees40

Жыл бұрын

I specifically sought out games with 2d graphics. They got rarer and rarer. I use to get Gamepro magazine, would go right to the rpg section and look at the little thumb nail sized pictures. Think the last one I got from that method was Tales of Destiny. I’m 38 now. Just cleaned my ps2 laser and booted up ToD using an hdmi converter.

Lufia 2 and chrono trigger both aged very well. Lufia 2 is a very rare game. so a lot of people have not played or heard of it.

Cel-shade and pixel art will never get old.

Grow Lanser: Oh My! That is a 'cultured' artstyle.

I'm glad to see Shining Force at the top of the list. I'm currently making a shining force style tactics game, so it always makes me happy when I see people still have a love for those games

@d36williams

Жыл бұрын

an enduring classic, i got a port to my iphone

@sobu9585

Жыл бұрын

Please update u

When I see 2D games made by indie developers now vs how retro 2D games made then. It shows how meaningful time was for jrpgs like Chrono Trigger

I remember Xenogear. It was my childhood days where walkthroughs were actually sold in the form of books. My bro and I didn't have the attention span of listening to stories. That or we simply didn't care. And after playing it again on the emulator, I found it to be very deep. The combat of that game was phenomenal. Combos, and mechs with their fuel intake? It was a match made in heaven. They tried to combine the Xenogear and Saga Frontier into a brainchild called Xenosaga. And while the game did win some points for me in the 1st and 2nd game, the story and characters suddenly twisted on the 3rd. As for Dark Cloud 2, I remember that when I was still in high school. The good old days when games had their charm.

@redstratus97

Жыл бұрын

I think it was that twist in the 3rd game that made me love the trilogy. Xeno 3 is my 3rd best JRPG of all time for me. That 3rd game was amazing! What didn’t you like about it?

Man i'm impressed someone still remember Dark Cloud 2, pure RPG gem.

Can't recall the first list but one JRPG I think aged well is the original Valkyrie Profile. And your definitely right about cel-shading and the 2.5 D graphics. The latter is also the reason why Yoshi's Story is one of the best looking N64 games nowadays.

@AntwaineHorton

Жыл бұрын

I've been thinking about emulating it, is it a TRPG or a standard RPG?

@BlackFantasy470

Жыл бұрын

@@AntwaineHorton It's quite unique in its mechanics. Exploration is done in a side-scrolling view. The battles take place on a separate screen where your party shares a gauge for every possible action. So it's neither a traditional turn-based RPG (where everyone acts after another) nor a SRPG/TRPG with a grid. Just look at some gameplay videos to see it yourself because it's really hard to explain. (Btw. there's a second game on the PS2 as well but that wouldn't have fit the list because it's from 2007)

@AntwaineHorton

Жыл бұрын

@@BlackFantasy470 you had me at unique battle system

@BlackFantasy470

Жыл бұрын

@@AntwaineHorton Now that's nice to know. I guess you'll have fun with it. It might just take a bit to get fully comfortable with the battle system. It's easy to understand but not so easy to master.

@atifghafoor6258

Жыл бұрын

@@BlackFantasy470 I quite enjoyed the game but got stuck quite early on and gave up on a mission where you had to destroy a tank.

Great picks. Gotta say, a few of time are already on my back log list and for a few others it reminded me which ones to prioritize now.

I love that you mentioned Kartia. It has been one of my favorite JRPG for 20 years! The characters are so well developed in this game, and the story is really complex with mature themes. It's definitely worth playing today.

@fnors2

Жыл бұрын

Kartia is amazing. Great story, great art, and the card system was just so unique.

Loved Tales of Destiny 2 as a kid, and finally beat it last year as an adult. one of my all time favorite games these days

That was a great list of games! Many of my favorites are here: Kartia, Growlanser 3 (my personal favorite of that series), Shining Force 1 and 2, and others. Eric is definitely correct about the way that 16 bit rpg graphics have stood the test of time.

I love these videos because they highlight older games that I can go back to confidently. Putting so much time into a JRPG makes me hesitate, but it’s nice to know which ones are worth trying, even if there aren’t dozens of reviews for them. Thank you.

Dark Chronicles (Dark Cloud 2) is one of my favorites games. Is so much fun!

@nicholase82

Жыл бұрын

Wish there was something like it. I would be happy with build your Mech RPG,

@coryflynn4007

5 ай бұрын

I have some hope that Towers of Aghasba will scratch my dark could itch

Appreciate you, man... Thank you for all of this that you create!

Whoah! You just hit me hard with the nostalgia! I totally forgot about Soleil (Crusader of Centy). I played that game to death as a kid and seeing you post it gave me crazy flashbacks to playing it. I remember having to walk over the flowers correctly to push them all down. Wild! I need to go back and play that game again! Thank you!

Thanks for this video, I haven't heard of most of these. I'll add these to my backlog of classics I Need to play.

Great video ermano! Have considered doing honorable mentions in your top 10s/20s there so much more PS1 JRPGs that aged well like BoF 3 and 4 Rapsody a musical adventure or Atilier Iris. I'm actually surprised you didn't bring up any of the Suikoden as I know how much love you have for the series. Keep em coming!

Kartia looks awesome. Thanks for reminding of a game with one of my favourite video game artists.

I remember never finishing Dark Cloud 2 because I got sidetracked with playing golf. It's no the only time a mini-game sucked me in, but I remember that there were so many things to distract you while playing that game. I wouldn't mind revisiting it.

Nice video Erick. Always enjoyed your stuff.

What about Golden Sun and Golden Sun the Lost Age from the GBA? It has very good graphics and classic turn based battle system it is spiced up with the djinn system, small special creatures that can be traded between the characters changing class, stats and powers.

@daisukejordan7787

Жыл бұрын

I agree with this. Those games are like hidden gems as well.

@kodama883

Жыл бұрын

I was doing a recent play through of this game and something I think gets forgotten about is how GREAT it feels to solve the puzzles in this game. It just feels great to figure out all the different ways to use psyenergy, mind reading every NPC in the game(seriously, every NPC has double the dialogue pretty much), revealing hidden paths and chests, etc. Golden Sun holds up better than most games in this list actually.

@caesiumx1334

Жыл бұрын

@@kodama883 Exactly. Having all those ways to use you abilities outside of battle as well, practical real applications like it would be if that was real life where people had powers... it was great. All this stuff we have in modern games... especially with so many being open world with rpg elements... I thought we'd see more of that kind of thing in games than we do. Golden Sun's felt more interactable than the worlds of most games today to me. That game in some ways was ahead of games even today.

@carlosaugusto9821

Жыл бұрын

Golden Sun doesn't have good graphics, at least for characters, who are the most important to me. The rest is good but it doesn't deserve to be here. There are many better looking GBA RPGs. GS's graphics actually represent precisely the experimental 2.5d mindset that was notorious over the mid to late 90s probably in order to show the "next level" of 2d graphics. But never managed to surpass plain sprite 2d graphics when its well done. That was a 90s drama but that was revived in the GBA because it was pretty capable for those graphics. And sadly it ended up getting filled up with games with those type of graphics.

Glad to see someone else appreciate Kartia. Great vid.

I still play Chrono Trigger such a great game and the combos you can do with team mates was first of its kind for rpgs I think.

Totally agree with Shining Force 1 & 2. Those games are so nostalgic for me, as I used to watch my dad play them. But they are amazing games with amazing replay ability as well. Great list! Thank you!

Love watching your videos man. 👌🏽

Thank you so much for reviewing dark cloud 2 it is by far an amazing game I play it all the time

golden sun series on gba pretty good too! and the djinn system..i love it

Glad to see Dark Cloud 1 & 2 aged really well, they're my favorite games.

your channel was a great discovery of mine, just what i needed... and what was that snes game in the start, i never even heard about that! and im pretty much i reviewed (written reviews) almost all Western games for SNES AND a goog deal of the best J-RPGs never localized for the Super Famicom... this though escaped entirely my radar!

Dark cloud 2 I believe, is criminally under rated. I actually haven't heard anyone talk about Kartia even when it was new and I owned it lol Good stuff tho!

Got shining force 1 for Christmas when it came out. Didn't even know it existed. Still have my genesis copy on the shelf behind me.

My fav one would be SteamBot Chronicles,lot of thing you can do in the game

FF IX aged amazingly imo

I got paranoid a bit because I was just playing Dark Cloud 2 again on my PS2 and I'm sure my PS2 is not connected to the internet but this video was suggested to me. But yeah, I've never grown tired of the game, this and Final fantasy XII

omg i enjoyed Kartia sooo muchhhhh, i already have forgotten it, thanks for reminding me again

Sadly, many different games didnt reach my country (spain) and as a consequence most of these good old rpgs werent playable back then... but at least I could play Alundra, Legend of Legaia, FF's / Tactics ones and a few other great rpgs.

I really love Tales of eternia. And about the dub, doesn't the psp version have the option to change to the japanese dub? I recall playing it with japanese audio, but I could be mistaken.

Shout out to the GBA Shining Force. The card system was an interesting feature. Getting two turns per round for your favorite character was amazing.

@TheCrimsonSpork

Жыл бұрын

The major changes to the pixel art/coloring and extreme sound compression was a big turnoff for me though

Was unexpected Legends of Mana to be animated in anime series. So far I love it! Don't why I felt nostalgic even it never being animated as anime series before.

Star Ocean 2 baby. love that game

Didn't find time to mention that Dark Cloud 2 also has a golf minigame and a fishing SUBgame that involves catching, breeding, training, and racing fish. Or that you not only get to drive that robot, but you upgrade it. As a small part of a GIGANTIC INVENTIONS SYSTEM that is in the game.

I dear friend of mine recently showed me Dark Cloud 2, their fave RPG, and God what a beautiful game it is! The music, love Maximilian and Monica, the scenarios, the creative invention system and so on. Great game and now I get why the few times I watched it mentioned inf videogames magazines years ago the reviews were full of love for the game.

Huh, I'd never heard of Centi, will have to check it out, cheers Erick!

Growlanser 3!!! Man, I even bought a guidebook just so I could complete the main casts questlines and get their ultimate upgrades. I even finished it countless times too, though not as much as Radiata Stories. Funnily enough, my brother who bought the game actually intended to buy Growlanser 5 as per the disk's cover, but we got Growlanser 3 instead. Since we were just snot-nosed brats back then, we didn't think too much of it and holy moly, the game is way absolutely fantastic!

@westonmeyer3110

Жыл бұрын

Growlanser 3 wasn’t sold separately outside of Japan. It came with Growlanser 2

@nigrum_angelum6655

Жыл бұрын

@@westonmeyer3110 ah, I lived in a 3rd world shithole, so you can say it was a copy that has been plundered from the Seven Seas. Hence why its disk cover was for Growlanser 5 but the content was Growlanser 3 lol

thanks to this list i remembered the game that my neighbor always plays when i was a kid. its Dark Cloud! now i gotta try the game myself

Dude your channel is great but you need to separate by chapters. Keep up the good work!

Just played Dark Cloud 2 again on ps5 amazing game

Totally agree :D My favorite ps1 is and always will be Legend of legaia :D personally I think it has aged really well, it is still fun to play

@angerkun

Жыл бұрын

Ikr my favorite as well

don't forget saga frontier 2... as gorgeous as ever! great video overall man!

lost kingdoms 2 on gamecube was fantasitc and a abit of an upgrade from the first one. i still play it today for the pvp and wish there was a sequel or an online service version of it.

Great list! Do wish the video had some kind of time stamps though

I had no complaints about Growlancer Dual Darkness's english voicing at all personally lol

Oh man, the dark cloud games were my jam back in the day. Even if the first game hasn't aged well, it still has a special place in my heart. It was the first PS2 game that my late grandpa bought for me.

Great video!

Secret of mana 2 was my childhood, such a gem

Minstrel saga still in my rotation for my PS2 🔥

Love the SO2 shout-out

I think Square never brought Treasure of the Rudras over because of the sheer PAIN involved in converting the mantra system... I have great respect for the fans that dealt with that monstrosity:D

I've binge on SO2 way back playing Claude and Rena's story

Legend of Mana had a huge impact on the way I think about game design and world building

Nice video!

Yes. Square Enix, please give Treasure of the Rudra the Live A Live treatment. Tinker the encounter rate and the Mantra creation, which are the only things you need to improve to make this game a GOAT. Story, music, WORLD MAP (give me back my world maps, please!!), it is a true jewel and I can't thank Aeon Genesis enough for having made that stellar fan translation. And Growlancer games and Tales of Eternia are some of the best games out there. And yes, I do agree too with the dubs. Was fortunate enough to find undub ROM versions, and what a difference that was! Wished Wild Arms 3 were on this list, since that is another game that has aged really well. Same can be said of Alter Code F (WA1's remaster). Wish whoever has the IP for Wild Arms 2 remasters that game. For it is arguably THE best Wild Arms. It's just the graphics the one thing that did not aged well, but even so, for that particular game of the series, I'm willing to overlook it.

Fantastic list, tasteful and full of games I've never heard of. Also doesn't beg for subscribers at the beginning, before the video has even proven itself

Seiken Densetsu 3 was an absolute gem, I LOVED it! Secret of Mana will always be better in my mind but I have fond memories of playing its successor even if I had to wait for an english patch for the japanese rom way back. They both have their good points.

Kartia is actually available on the Japanese psn store (for ps3 and vita) under the name "Rebus"

Star ocean really made my childhood days..... Aside from digimon world,GT, FF, suikoden, etc

Good video! Does somebody know what game is shown in the intro at 0:04 right after star ocean second story?

That Shining Force 2 music is so recognizable.

ah, dark chronicles / dark cloud 2 always have a special place in my heart

Love the Tales of Destiny 2 mention! Favorite PSX JRPG.

Terranigma age so damn well. The controls are amazing and graphic wise its timeless

My favorite game of all time is #1! Also a huge fan of Eternia at #2 and glad I have a copy of it since it's expensive as hell now

Legend of Mana is sooooooo nostalgic for me. One of the three games I owned on the PS1 growing up (the other two being Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 9). I still play the game when I get the chance, and recently began to collect achievements in the Steam version of the Remaster.

@gameprose4293

Жыл бұрын

@RAYHAN REHEMA PUTRA Played FF7 and FF8 when I was in my 20's, so never grew up with them. Didn't enjoy FF7 all that much, and I stopped playing FF8 around disc 2 or 3 cause I couldn't push myself any further. But I have many fond memories of FF9. Was a whole lot of fun, in my opinion. Later on, I would notice a trend that I enjoyed FF games that were heavy on the fantasy elements, and didn't like the ones taking place in modern/sci-fi looking settings like FF7 and FF8. As it stands, my top five FF games are Tactics, 5, 9, 11, and 14. If i had to only pick the numbered FF games, 3 would replace Tactics.

@gameprose4293

Жыл бұрын

@RAYHAN REHEMA PUTRA Oh, I love Fallout, I've played them all. I even regularly play 76. My whole thing with FF games is because my firs two games in the series (9 and Tactics) were more fantasy than scifi. So playing an FF game where it's more modern or scifi feels strange to me is all.

Phantasy Star IV looks amazing

One worth considering a look at- Vandal Hearts

Another great video

I must have beat the original fan translated Trials of Mana on emulator some 12 times, trying combination over combination, but algo because the story, music and battles were awesome... then the remake came out... I did it all again :D.

I just started replaying skies of Arcadia and think its held up nicely maybe deserves an HD remake even

@IaconDawnshire

Жыл бұрын

Too bad Sega is allergic to money

@Zero_Tester

Жыл бұрын

Evolution World Of Sacred devices is nice as well

Your point about cel shaded games is spot on. It's why I think games like eternal sonata look incredible, even by modern standards.

@bladeofmird

Жыл бұрын

It's crazy how good cel shaded games from the PS2 era still look on a CRT tv. And cel shaded games from the PS3 era still look great today even on big 4k OLED tvs.

@Llortnerof

Жыл бұрын

Realism in graphics is way overrated and really just makes them feel dated quickly.

A few games that aged "just ok but are worth the play"; White Knight Chronicles, Last Remnant, Parasite Eve, and MS Saga A New Dawn. Xenogears is also always on my playlist every year.

Man, when that Legend of Mana theme starts up...

I beat Legend of mana when it was released on PS4 and I loved it

Still remembering Meredy action voice "Inferia.... Celestia.... BOOOM" till this day. first game that has certain voice actor in JRPG ive played

I’m playing FF13 for kind of the first time because I dropped it after a few hours I think it’s great now and holds uo incredibly well…I would even say it feels like a modern game

Treasure of Rudras looks cool.

Hey Erick not an rpg series but what do you think of the Legacy of Kain series?

Some excellent picks here. But in general 2D has aged much better than 3D.

TLDW list: - Dark Cloud 2 (aka. Dark Chronicle. 2002.) - Trials of Mana (1995) - Legend of Mana (1999) - Paper Mario (2000) - Crusader of Centy (1994) - Treasure of the Rudras (1996) - Kartia: The Word of Fate (aka. Legend of Kartia, Rebus. 1998.) - Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (2001) - Tales of Eternia (2000. PS1 release. Not the same as PS2 Tales of Destiny 2 (2002).) - Shining Force 1: The Legacy of Great Intention & II (Two games. 1992 & 1993.) Honourable Mentions: - Lost Kingdoms (aka. Rune. 2002.) - Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (2001. SRPG.) --- Notes: Kartia, Growlanser III and two Shining Force titles are SRPGs. Erick wants both Growlanser III and Tales of Eternia to get remakes with proper voice acting. Eternia had a PSP remaster but no new voice acting. At #1 spot, he also recommends Shining Force CD (1994 Sega CD). It's a remake of Shining Force Gaiden 1 (1992) and II: (1993).

@ObiKKa

Жыл бұрын

Link to previous episode of same topic 4 months before. kzread.info/dash/bejne/e2p22rmknbXTk5c.html Hopefully this link can stay here.

I’m glad paper Mario got some love on this list I love that game but I don’t hear many people talk about it

Legend of Mana was one of my favourite games on the PSX

Erick why not do the 10 top RPGs I'm looking forward to next year 2023

5:43 years ago i randomly selected forgive but at that time i didn't know what forgive meant in portuguese(my native language),only a few hours later that day i found out what it means in portuguese

Dark Cloud 2 was and still is magical!

i love this channel

I had forgotten about Kartia. What about Arc the Lad? Especially 2 & 3. The original Valkyrie Profile was really good too