The fun thing about Live A Live is that it came out in the late SNES and early PSX era where Squaresoft was incredibly experimental. In addition to Live A Live, you had stuff like Treasure of the Rudras which had three parallel storylines that you could hop from one to another at any given moment, and had a spell system that was entirely freeform. By which I mean, you make a 'word' or amalgamation of letters. The game will give you a rough idea of what this word will do, and you can see what it will cost. But you need to cast it to see how good it actually is. In addition, as you explore, you can find books that will give you words with more guaranteed effects. And as you go along you can learn the rules, like how to change a core word in order to consistantly get a certain effect.
On paper TOTR's magic system sounds cool, but in practice you're just filling out the same spell list across all 3 parties, and it becomes really bland. It's a good concept with bad execution, and it sacrificed things like a job system or at least character-specific abilities that could've made the characters feel like something besides sacks of HP/MP. Wild Arms did a better version of this in its first game.
honestly too experimental. I love the bouncer and all the saga frontier games but they sold like crap in the states and even the remasters didnt get much popularity
@@attackofthecopyrightbots Yeah. Going overboard on the experimental stuff really killed the old Squaresoft (well, that and the movies). But I miss the days when the big studios made it a thing to make budget games where they could let newer teams just make weird ass games with completely experimental systems and ideas and see what sticks.
There is also some like Treasure Hunter G which are less interesting in term of story. It has lot times it tried to be humorous and emotional but sadly not really being memorable. The combat system is on other cases,it was much very much polished and fun, G is a tactics game, played out on small environments with different starting condition. Also the overworld area and dungeon stage is identical to Chrono Trigger with enemies leaping out from bush and stuff. In battle phase, the grid that affects your move range and action points(such as using item,throwing it to enemy or friend) Different enemies cost your characters more AP to attack than others. So you'll find yourself switching up combat strategies frequently. Characters use different weapons and have different magical abilities. So Red fight style is different than Blue,Rain(healer and magician)or Pongo. And you can change weapon during battle, devise strat using traps, or just throw anything at the enemy(Blue) Rudras has better story wise but Treasure Hunter G was more fun to play.
Grew up with Saga Frontier as a kid and after barely playing FF7 and a few other JRPGs it was like chaotic madness. I delved into all the weird systems, talked on forums about how systems worked in the game, incredible. I love the sparking skill system from SaGa games, Frontier 1 with all the different characters, eras and technology levels and the ability to just do what you want in almost any order is so refreshing on subsequent playthroughs.
Blood Omen - Legacy Of Kain, the top down RPG from 1996 that set the gold standard for storytelling and voice acting in videogames, and spawned an awesome and sadly missed series that ended in 2003 after 5 installments.
I've always had a dream of a Legacy of Kain remade in a soulslike fashion, all with the same voice actors. Obviously that would never happen, as I'm sure we couldn't get many of the voice actors again, but its just something cool to imagine.
So happy to see Crystal Project make this list. That game doesn't get talked about anywhere near enough. Never played another RPG quite like it - to anyone reading this who hasn't played/heard of it, please don't sleep on Crystal Project based on the voxel graphics!
Grandia 2 has one of the best RPG battle systems I've ever played. Octopath Traveler and Sea of Stars are both interesting with their weakness break mechanic
Grandia 2's combat is way too easy. you can just skip all of the complexities of the system by using area of effect magic to finish every encounter in the first turn. What grandia 2 does best is party dynamics. The main party constantly banters with one another which makes them a whole lot of fun to adventure with.
The Grandia mainline series is my favorite of all time. Their battle system is solid. Lunar feels like a precursor system to Grandia’s and is also solid.
@@KugutsuYushiro you do have a point. Only in boss battles does the gimmick of delaying enemy attacks come into play. But even then, it rarely does any good.
Mechanics/content wise a RPG that SHOULD be studied by any new dev is Lufia 2; It has a great equipment system with loads of depth(special abilities for gear, special stats and resistances etc). It has great Puzzles. The way it handles enemies in dungeons is very creative and so much better then random battles and the best/most fun system in any rpg I have seen so far. The minigames are awesome(casino, Ancient Cave). It has so many secrets and things to discover. It has monster training. The guys making this took every cool thing from the peak RPGs in the 90s and gave it a creative spin.
I'd say BOF DQ despite its reputation for killing the franchise for being so different actually had some interesting ideas and honestly as a BOF game if may not have been what the "western" fans wanted as it did well in Japan but if you take it as its own thing its Very unique even by todays standards and that story... What an ending
I really couldn't stand BoFDQ when I first played it. But I went back to it and tried to understand it and play it like it asked instead of how I demanded and really enjoyed it. It really does have a lot going for it and encourages failing and trying again, which is admirable.
I adored DQ. It forces the player to give their entire attention to each battle, so it's by default less boring than about any other JRPG. It's so difficult that unless you stop to think, you're gonna be filled with anxiety and fear. Wonderful game
Dragon Quarter has the most developed pre-battle tactical play, with only literal wargames and trap-based games like Deception or Orcs Must Die even close to competing. The impact of your surroundings limiting movement combined with control over various baits and bombs makes enemy positioning huge, and the game is primarily limited by bad controls, old ps2 physics, and an incomplete implementation of everything else. Even so, it made players really look at the world around them from a tactical perspective, allowing the claustrophobic and worn down post-apoc world to sell itself with little effort. The combo system also had a lot of potential beyond damage optimization, had they cleaned up stat debuffing, used more balanced status ailments, provided actually useful descriptions for skill combos, and simply had the budget to make and animate more diverse skills.
This is a very good video and I think a point to be made is that even though the focus was put mostly on nonlinearity, these games prove that it's not necessary, considering they all stay great even with a guide. Nonlinearity is difficult to design because it's basically never "true" nonlinearity, it just leaves the right blanks for you to fill in to feel more of a connection with the world and tone of the story (generally). These games all reward the curiosity that exploration can beckon in meaningful ways, giving you what feels like a unique experience even when you're doing the only thing you can.
Valkyrie profile is absolutely fantastic. There is a cheap way to cheese a lot of it, but the atmosphere is great. A great “twist” and out of the box thinking.
a pity getting the best ending is completely unintuitive; you have to sabotage your recruitment and then send a specific character to Valhalla at a specific time and then do specific things with no indication of any of it
@@ChibiKami it was at the tail end of the supremely frustrating "moon logic" era. That sounds just like some early 90s Sierra adventue game lol. I appreciate well conceived puzzles but when the player cannot find the solution using logic or in-game hints, that just really hurts the game's reputation. I'm glad that it's still being given a chance though; like in my first comment, the game has some really neat features that deserve some love. Sorry if my grammar is not perfect.
Panzer Dragoon Saga, the fluid combat. Relaxing exploration and rewarding in the way you perform in a battle (the more efficient you are, you get more money and points). Is something I havent seen replicated since... And those lo-fi graphics 👌
Cool video! I think it's interesting how many different areas RPGs can excel in. It's clear that you value exploration and open-endedness, but there are other things an RPG can focus on that are just as valuable: role-playing options and combat, to name a couple.
I just beat it, everything was so seemless. Kinda wish the script was abit cleaned up, the dialogue wasn't as good as the plot, but still very enjoyable and I really enjoyed the exploration even when I usually hate exploring.
I really appreciate these videos. As an amatuer dev, it helps me to see what features get other rpg lovers excited. Also, busting my brain with the few free hours I get, there isn't a lot of time for me to sample all these myself.
Live-A-Live is something I played a long time ago with a translation patch and loved, and its really hard to answer people why I love it so much or why a certain group of people were so hyped about it's remake announcement without spoiling it. All I can say is that I just do and they should try it too, you wont forget it. If I can still vividly remember everything about a game I played more then 15 years ago when I have short term memory, then its well worth the play. 😊
We're getting a Star Ocean 2 remake I think next month, and the series had a new installment earlier this year. So, my current hopes, is that this is the beginning of a come back for Tri-Ace classics. SquareEnix has gotten quite lazy over the years, and does a lot of remakes, usually releasing them on Steam. They could set their sights on the Valkyrie Profile series next, and maybe we'll eventually get a proper sequal (VP2 was kind of subpar). I also just remembered that Valkyrie Profile had a DS spinoff that was really similar to the first game, but you worked for Hel and sacrificed recruits to her.
Yeah, SO2R, November 2nd. I liked the QoL improvements playing the demo, though all the battle enhancements made combat too easy, will def have to play on the tougher difficulty. I really enjoyed The Divine Force as well. I still need the VP DS game, it sounds rad, the little you described. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Not entirely sure I'd call it similar. It's a strategy RPG where you get the classic VP combat when you picka fight, but you can only use the characters who are in range for that combat. Aside from that, the balance can be a bit wonky with the multiple endings, with the game wanting you to carry over skills from the other playthroughs in order to be able to beat the best ending's boss, but those skills making the rest of the game before it a breeze. Also, always keep the skill that gives you extra movement handy. Not only are the maps large, but they love their snow terrain way too much, which means that as you spend half your turns getting from one fight to another, your movement is capped to around two squares per turn. Those extra bits of movement that ignore terrain costs are a lifesaver.
I kinda disagree with squareenix being lazy. They may be doing lots of remakes but this year we got two games, octopath 2 and FF16, that can be called anything but lazy. And we had a Valkyrie profile kinda-sequel last year. Valkyrie Elysium.
@@diersteinjulien6773 They don't do the remakes justice though. Everything is gutted and dumbed down, or they just do a full emulated port and charge like $40 for what should be a $20 experience. I liked Octopath Traveler 1, but it was over-hyped. The game had ZERO balace, magic flat out broke the game, and was required to finish it, because the Bosses were all bullet sponges. The story was kind of padded with stereotypical plot devices, too. I'm definitely not getting the second game, or into the Brave series, because of it. Star Ocean 2R came out, and I am having fun with it, but it's had a lot of the main features that made the game memorable for me dumbed down, or flat out removed. They made a lot of wanted improvements, but got rid of the iconic Killer Move leveling system, and replaced it with a point system, that only allowed attacks to go up to 3 ranks. Doing this gutted DOZENS of animations from the game. Along with some other mindless crap. Imagine if they did this to all of the Tales games, which are known for pioneering that kind of battle system? I hated FF13 to the point that I couldn't bother finishing Disc 2, didn't understand the love for FF14's linear combat, heard mixed things about FF15 (which honestly looks like a button mash fest, apparently you need to buy a separate movie to understand the plot?), and FF16 didn't look interesting at all (basically looks like a medieval take on FF14 with Devil May Cry thrown in). The FF7 Remake was split into several different games, and padded out the butt with pointless content, and battle look padded out the butt with HP Sponges. Most of their modern games are riddled with microtransactions. So yeah. I think SquareEnix is lazy. The days of their revolutionary games they used to release from our childhood are long over. Their mostly a publisher these days, and their no even good at that. Maybe I'm bias and have an overnegative take, but I've watched them devolved over the years, and as someone's who first game was basically Final Fantasy 1 on the NES, I'm disappointed at what they've become.
As an avid JRPG fan, I tried hard to like Chained Echoes, but couldn’t gel with it. The bad dialogue killed the immersion and the battle system made every encounter feel like a boss battle.
looks a Final Fantasy and Xenogears inspired game but with a hint of increased difficulty. my kinda thing where you actually use your head to strategize things
For me, the RPG that needs to be studied is Panzer Dragoon Saga. Made from a group who had never worked in a rpg before, making a entire battle system from scratch that's based on the same feeling of aerial battles from the other entries (rail shooters) + an unique setting you have never seen before, from story, world building and visuals all neatly tied together. That game is pure gold for me
Nice to see _Valkyrie Profile_ in this list. The game was definitely AGES ahead of its time in every aspect. I miss when tri-Ace used to be experimental with their games. I'm really hoping it'll get a soft-remake treatment similarly to _Star Ocean: The Secont Story R._ Some misconceptions that I need to clear from your video: you don't actually need to send Einherjars to Valhalla with the best gear; the most important thing is that they meet the criteria established by Freya (Skills, hero-type, specific Traits), and ideally you'll want them to be at the highest Hero Value possible (by maxing out their Traits). Other than that, you can send them without a single piece of equipment and they'll perform well once sent to Valhalla. _Chained Echoes_ is an absolute masterpiece. Crazy to think this game was spearheaded by a single dude. He managed to make the game feel NOSTALGIC while giving it a modern spin at the same time. Few devs can pull that.
While I absolutely loved Chained Echoes, it is not 100% original and not really a game that is necessary to be studied. Instead, just like teachers tell us to check the cited sources instead of the Wikipedia article, let's study it's influences first, such as Chrono Trigger, FF7, Suikoden, and Xenogears. And especially Xenogears, I think Chained Echoes is the first Xenogears-inspired indie which is a great thing since Xenogears itself is kinda "one of a kind" among JRPGs.
I'd recommend Digimon World for the ps1. The sense of exploring an open world, the risk of losing your Digimon from death or neglecting it and rebuilding the town was pretty unique. Also Outward. That is great for similar reasons. That great sense of adventure. These are both imperfect games, but they give an experience like no other.
While I agree with the Chained Echoes point, I think it is worth mentioning that several of its exploration features/things that incentivize exploration were introduced in the Xenoblade games first
Live-A-Live has held the title of my all-time favorite game full stop for a long time, but in October, I spent the entire month replaying SaGa Frontier, and I think that might've taken its place at least as my favorite RPG. It's very hard to get into, because it's very open, the mechanics have NOVELS written about how everything works, and you don't know which of the seven scenarios to start with, and even once you get past that, it can be brutally difficult at times. I couldn't recommend it to everyone, but those who are able to get into it will find some great characters, unusual stories, and an incredible world made up of dozens of smaller worlds with unbelievable detail packed into them. It's very open and pretty grindy, but it all fits together very well, because the story bits in each scenario each have a satisfying enough ending that you aren't desperate to get back to it, so grinding isn't torturous. It's so quirky you can't always tell what's a bug and what's a feature, but the core design philosophy is really solid.
it would have been more popular had they made the char designs a bit nicer, I'd say.. there's really no particularly great artist behind it - and it's a small thing to do to hire a popular artist and goes a long way.
@@julz19 I mean I want to say you’re right about the one person, but he definitely hired someone else to do the music and that person hired 20 people to be musicians and singers. Easy to see during the credit scroll. But that does not take away from the fact that one man wrote an implemented the entire scenario
Yooooooooooo, glad to see someone talk about Crystal Project, checked the game out like a month after it released and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Sequoia. Glad to see that other people are finally recognizing it a bit more
I have to agree in part...but how do you create a strong structured narrative in a world where you can go anywhere at any given time. At least for me, the point of rpgs is more about the story and the plot rather than anything else, it's why I don't think Crystal Project lined up well with me, I Love the basic idea, adore job/class systems. Ect. But The plot from what I remember of the demo, was.... very light. and, that's just not going to hold my interest.
Yeah, there's a very basic plot in Crystal Project, it's not at all the main focus. For me, after years of playing RPGs, I really appreciate breaks in the pattern. I don't necessarily think a strong narrative has to be a requirement in an RPG, or any game for that matter, but, I can't disagree that the game could be even better with a strong narrative. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
It's doable with a basic "get every elemental crystal" FF plot, but certainly tricky if you're trying to add depth and consequence to the order the story is done.
Strong, structure narratives for what reason? That's not a requirement for games. Look at Terraria, Stardew Valley, Minecraft. Popular examples that prove you can have broad or deep games with little to no story, a focus on exploration, and yet be so popular that people still play them 10+ years later over and over again. Lack of a story contributes to replay value as well because you're not sitting through the same dialog over and over. It's a blank canvas for you to make your own story in your head, if you wanted. If storytelling WAS the core feature of a game, then yeah the rest of the game will have to work around that. That never happened here though.
@@MinecraftMartin Specifically the video mentioned RPGs I would not consider any of those games as RPGs. From the games shown I was thinking of JRPGs. Which are almost entirely story driven.
I haven't played Mystic Quest in so long, I think about it some times. I always remember using the claw hookshot to traverse, that kind of stuff was fun for me.
So there were some examples in Xenogears where you needed to be in your mech to get somewhere and then had to get out to go into a people sized area, it was mostly just in little side areas in a few of the dungeons that you had to platform in your mechs to get to, or spots where you had to hop out of your mech to go into a room to flip a switch before getting back in the mech to continue but it added a fun little extra bit to exploration that would have been nice to see expanded on if it had ever gotten a direct squeal (I don't recall the first xenosaga game doing the same thing).
Explorations one of those things that I always really valued in an RPG, especially since I grew up on Paper Mario and the like instead of Final Fantasy and more traditional RPGs. Another thing I really love are decently involved dungeons. Recently i've been playing Star Ocean 3 again and I only grow more and more appreciative of that games dungeon design as I grow older since you're never doing the same things in that game, almost every dungeon is something different and they tow that line of just being involved enough to not overstay their welcome with my only real issue with them being how many have shortcuts but only work one way.
Absolutely loved Live A Live and Chained Echoes. My dude, you HAVE to play Monster Sanctuary if you like the metroidvania/turn based RPG battle mechanics. It’s such a gem, and the back half of the OST fucking SLAPS
This was a great video. Also, one of the things that I've talked about for years (and always get shit on about) is how Final Fantasy 13-2 has a really fantastic time travel system, but lots of people I know didn't like 13 so they couldn't be bothered. Then there's the entire SMT series which thankfully is gaining popularity lately.
Yes I when played 13-2 was like "this feels better than 13-1", from what I remember it time travel was more of what I call "an x,y axis map" since you were traveling on time (x axis) and alternate dimensions (y axis), kind of how it was on Chrono Cross.
Player freedom, exploration and non-linear storytelling are hardly rare in the industry, and frankly i'd like to see less of them. Those elements don't necessarily make games more fun, and they are already so pervasive that they're even creeping outside of rpgs into other genres. So why exactly should these games be studied again?
I really need to play Valkyrie Profile. Everything I hear about it tells me it would be right up my street, and that combo of early 3D and really, really gorgeous late pixel art is such a good combo!
Crystal Project actually reminds me of the new-ish Pokémon clone Cassette Beasts, which also includes Metroidvania style progression, rewards exploration and actually has some skill based platforming to reach treasure
You talked about Valkyrie Profile and DIDN'T mention the battle system! C'mon! It's the second best thing about it after character stories. And you didn't mention them either!
@@vsolyomi ...damn, did you hate indivisible that much? I think Project X Zone dipped a little in there too, with Shaman King being even closer to a fighting game.
@@benedict6962 No I don't, it's just pretty flawed overall to my knowledge. And all the games you listed are all obscure. The system was never used to its full potential.
It's wonderful that people are discovering the original Valkyrie Profile all over again. Very few games have done anything like it since. Credit goes to Indivisible for serving us the combat and the fun 2d navigation/puzzle solving I'd been craving. I don't want to undermine your points in this video. We all need to shout about the things we love and want more of much more often than we do. So when I say that it sounds like you want more western style rpgs it's because I want you to get the stuff you're hankering for. Your video reminds me of the old comparison between JRPGS and WRPGS, linear vs. non-linear, discovery vs. progression, that sort of thing. I'm not sure what your gaming background is, but Morrowind and some of the Ultima games (ask an expert which ones, IX is literally unplayable without fanmods) would hit a lot of the notes you're describing. Arcanum was _incredibly_ ambitious and suffered for it, but most of that ambition was achieved. All that being said, I sure haven't heard of anything like what you've described coming out in the last decade. Some games really should be required learning for devs.
hello, just saying at first glance your thumbnail, the font you choose made me read "Studied" as "Stupid" it got me to click and watch the video tho. =3
Live a Live is really good, but when you play through Sundown Kid and Oersted's stories, you see why they weren't going to bring this over from Japan in the 90s. It would've been censored so hard that it wouldn't have made any sense. I still really like that the game has about 5, maybe 6 distinct endings. Also, as cool as VP is, some of the things you need if you're playing it for the A ending require you to have a guide and go against the natural impulses of the game. Like one of the first artifacts you're supposed to send to Odin in Valhalla, you should actually keep for when you get the super secret item in Lezard's tower. That kind of "use a guide or fuck yourself over forever" design in the PS1 era leads to annoying bad habits in RPGs where you hoard elixirs or hang on to junk items because you never know when the game's going to require it for some side quest. A similar open-ended, build your own party RPG is the Romancing Saga series. I've only really played 3 but I enjoy how you get to pick one of several protagonists, customize their starting weapon, and then once you've played through the beginning of their story, you can recruit whoever you want, learn whatever skills you want, and complete the game in any order you like. And it's got some wacky potential party members, like a snowman or a humanoid lobster.
Chained Echoes is truly a game of all time. Easily one of my games of the year, and I can't stop whistling the soundtrack around the house, months and months later.
It might be Final Fantasy's fault that I hate exploring 😂 I was always trying to get from A to B as fast as possible so I wouldn't have to fight more monsters and possibly die along the way. I still do this when I play games. And when the game tells me the story is urgent you better believe I beeline for the objective for more story and not dilly dally looking for stuff.
A game largely hindered by slow animations, obtuse gem upgrades not elaborated ingame, and painful xp loss if your puppets die. You could do a lot more with it today. Human characters with gem-cost skills, more varied puppet movement and passives, etc.
I think there's several JRPGs in the PSX catalog that are worth mentioning, with intricate systems that haven't really been used again. Things like Vagrant Story with the orb-like targeting (first seen on Parasite Eve although vastly improved with timed attacks and parries), Legend of Legaia with the directional input for arts, Legend of Dragoon with timed attacks in the reticle system, and so on. Nowadays, it feels like all these reimaginations of oldschool JRPGs have the same turn based action selection combat systems, reminiscent of the first DQ/FF games. And that's just mentioning combat systems.
There is an old "indie" game called "Three the Hard Way", where money is very difficult to come by. Just like in real life, haha ... Which makes powering up slow, and also feels very rewarding. And, damn, LiveALife ... never completed it. Played it with an emulator maybe 10+ years ago, love the concepts, but ... because of the sheer ambition of the game, it could not be developed in time, and it showed. Just glad to see the game reappearing.
Coming by cash slowly sounds pretty cool, and also irritating, lol, I'll have to research that game. If you ever see the remake of Live A Live for cheap, I highly suggest picking it up and giving it another shot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
@Chengyuan79 Are u referring to the classic RPG Maker 2000 game “Three The Hard Way?” It’s really cool to see it get mentioned, it touches a special place of nostalgia and half forgotten memories for me.
Would Ultima IV count? Released in 1985, it featured concepts mind blowing even compared to today such as a complex karma system, jobs, party members, and a unique storyline I still have not seen replicated or references to this day.
It’s a shame garriot couldn’t make the jump to modern gaming well. Tabula Rasa had all the right pieces, they just never clicked into place. But what he produced up through SI was, frankly, an experience that is still barely touched in gaming. I know he is something of a fallen hero these days, but damn, did Spoony’s anthology capture the tone. Guess it’s time for a re-watch!
Played and loved VP and Live A Live prior to watching this video, but learned of, purchased, and can’t wait to try Chained Echoes as a result of this video. Thanks in advance!
Maybe not exactly an RPG but E.G.G. (Elemental Gimmick Gear) for the Dreamcast comes to mind as a game that deserves a second look. It was such an amazing action/adventure game with RPG elements and unique puzzle/exploration sprinkled in. Hand drawn graphics/backgrounds gave it a (for the time) unique charm. I bought a dreamcast again a couple years back literally just to play this game 😂
3:20 When I first started playing the game I didn't think I was gonna like it all that much, first playthrough got me the B ending. Then when I read everything you had to do for the A ending I jumped back in determined to see what was the true story and I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved the story and characters and the tragedy of everything that was happening. It all clicked and the story didn't seem disjointed any longer and I became a fan. I still want Hrist to get her own story since the other two sisters have had their own.
I'd put out the recent Octopath Traveler 2 for study. It's got the multiple stories like Live A Live and it's 100% worth a play to anyone that likes JRPGs.
Since someone else already mentioned Treasure of the Rudras you should also check out Dark Half. Yet another Japan-only SNES RPG that's really weird but also cool as hell.
I noticed that a few other small RPG titles have used open-world elements recently, including Breath of the Wild, Elder Scrolls, and nearly every other major title to be released in the last 10 years.
I'm a Live-A-Live fan already and I know of Valkyrie Project, but Crystal Project was new- definitely putting it on my Steam Wish list! Also, do you know if Chained Echoes physical edition is one where you can purchase it after it's reached the release-date whenever that is, or will you ONLY be able to get one if you pre-order?
I'm not sure. I'd assume First Press would still sell copies if they have them, but it's my first time buying through them. Glad Crystal Project is on your radar, hope you enjoy it 👍
Paladin’s Quest’s mercenary system is a nice feature. In fact, any game that lets you choose who you want in your party adds a level of customization and replayability
I think a mechanic that should return is the shadow of mordor nemesis system there’s so much potential with that system. If they implemented that into a Star Wars game it would be amazing
Another game worth taking notes from is Wild ARMs XF for the PSP. If you're a normal person who's never played it, it's a grid-based strategy RPG in the Wild ARMs universe. The game itself is fine, but they solved a longstanding problem with traditional FF-style class systems. The traditional system of switching to a class, leveling it up, and unlocking new class abilities that are partially or wholly lost upon changing classes again typically punishes and therefore discourages players from changing classes by taking away abilities and/or stats when switching to new classes, with the new one almost always being weaker until leveled up. And as a result, all-rounder classes that are good enough for any situation tend to outshine specialty classes, even in the situations where the specialist would be good, since it often isn't worth the extra effort to level up a new class when a basic knight is good enough. Wild ARMs XF fixes this by unlocking all of a class's abilities as soon as you switch to it, while leveling up the class allows those abilities to be available for other classes as well. Because leveling up doesn't actually improve the class you're leveling (since it's just making the abilities available for other classes), you're encouraged to regularly switch up your party composition, as you only get the benefits of leveling up a class when you switch to a different class. Frankly, you're actually punished for not switching regularly, which can make the early game frustrating until you figure out that you need to approach it differently than other games in the genre. The game does a pretty good job of supporting this too, with a number of non-standard mission objectives and specially crafted arenas and scenarios that force you to take advantage of different classes. By late game, you're mixing and matching abilities from all over the place and basically creating new pseudo-classes specifically tailored to the obstacles of the next stage.
Experimentation is the key, but theres a catch of course, either you make a change in a series fans will dislike for being too diff from the series standard or just didn't work as intended, second catch is making a new IP that can have a niche fan base n hardly living for a sequel or your game just doesn't work as intended n you go bankrupt, theres the third less commom alternative, the game is just ahead of it's time, considering how indie is just advanced is hard to make something that no one never did that puts you ahead in time as well bankrupt you
Chained Echoes is really a game I need to check out. Might be a game I cover on my own channel some day. Great video by the way. I kinda want to check out Crystal Projects at some point.
These were some amazing points you made of these games that I haven't played and It got me interested. But I have seen Valkyrie Profile throughout the years in stores, conventions and online and I feel like I see it every month or every other month. I feel like at this point I should just get it and give it a tr. It does look like a fun game. Cool video. ^_^
There's a unique mode in Soul Calibur 3 i think it's called Chronicles of the Sword. It was a awesome mix of RTS RPG Fighter that was absolutely brilliant and it's a shame they never touched on it again. I just wanted to share. It was something that was so totally unique in the day and I think you'd like it a lot
3 is prob my fav SoCal, though I'm not really a big fan of the series. I totally remember using the Barbarian class to lame out the AI, lol. It was a cool addition to a fighting game. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
MAN, that crystal project system would make for good pokemon traversal. Aside from all of this, however, I think you should definitely give Tactics ogre a shot, feeling almost like a Psuedo-dnd campaign before CRPG's even were a thing.
Legend of mana was in a class of its own. The house system along with exploring during certain seasons was brilliant. Also felt like every item in the game had a use which was fantastic along with the bridge data that allowed you to have a chocobo as a pet if the ps read that you had ff7 save data ...fking nuts
I'm always shocked no developers copy Panzer Dragoon Saga and make random battles that are super fun and fluid. It still feels like an RPG and even feels like turn based combat because it's based on timed meters...but it's actually really fun, almost like a rhythm game. That was a quarter century ago and when I played it upon release I figured it would just be the new type of battle experience...nope. It wouldn't have to be exactly like that, just something sort of like it. The rest of the game on a technical level wasn't really that revolutionary, just a very early 3D RPG, but the battles (and the general art direction) really are worthy of the game's legendary collector status.
honestly this is a pretty great list dude , im 100% agreed with what you have here , valkyrie profile basically ruined me on the standard jrpg template , afterwards i would always crave something more creative ; i would add Xenogears and the Ultima series 4/5/6/UW/7/UW2/SI/8
The fun thing about Live A Live is that it came out in the late SNES and early PSX era where Squaresoft was incredibly experimental. In addition to Live A Live, you had stuff like Treasure of the Rudras which had three parallel storylines that you could hop from one to another at any given moment, and had a spell system that was entirely freeform. By which I mean, you make a 'word' or amalgamation of letters. The game will give you a rough idea of what this word will do, and you can see what it will cost. But you need to cast it to see how good it actually is. In addition, as you explore, you can find books that will give you words with more guaranteed effects. And as you go along you can learn the rules, like how to change a core word in order to consistantly get a certain effect.
I loved the gameplay of Rudra no Hihou
On paper TOTR's magic system sounds cool, but in practice you're just filling out the same spell list across all 3 parties, and it becomes really bland. It's a good concept with bad execution, and it sacrificed things like a job system or at least character-specific abilities that could've made the characters feel like something besides sacks of HP/MP. Wild Arms did a better version of this in its first game.
honestly too experimental. I love the bouncer and all the saga frontier games but they sold like crap in the states and even the remasters didnt get much popularity
@@attackofthecopyrightbots Yeah. Going overboard on the experimental stuff really killed the old Squaresoft (well, that and the movies). But I miss the days when the big studios made it a thing to make budget games where they could let newer teams just make weird ass games with completely experimental systems and ideas and see what sticks.
There is also some like Treasure Hunter G which are less interesting in term of story.
It has lot times it tried to be humorous and emotional but sadly not really being memorable.
The combat system is on other cases,it was much very much polished and fun, G is a tactics game, played out on small environments with different starting condition.
Also the overworld area and dungeon stage is identical to Chrono Trigger with enemies leaping out from bush and stuff.
In battle phase, the grid that affects your move range and action points(such as using item,throwing it to enemy or friend)
Different enemies cost your characters more AP to attack than others.
So you'll find yourself switching up combat strategies frequently. Characters use different weapons and have different magical abilities. So Red fight style is different than Blue,Rain(healer and magician)or Pongo. And you can change weapon during battle, devise strat using traps, or just throw anything at the enemy(Blue)
Rudras has better story wise but Treasure Hunter G was more fun to play.
Why is it always well after 12am on a worknight when I stumble upon fantastic gaming content?! Kudos!
lol Thank you, I appreciate it
Grew up with Saga Frontier as a kid and after barely playing FF7 and a few other JRPGs it was like chaotic madness. I delved into all the weird systems, talked on forums about how systems worked in the game, incredible. I love the sparking skill system from SaGa games, Frontier 1 with all the different characters, eras and technology levels and the ability to just do what you want in almost any order is so refreshing on subsequent playthroughs.
Blood Omen - Legacy Of Kain, the top down RPG from 1996 that set the gold standard for storytelling and voice acting in videogames, and spawned an awesome and sadly missed series that ended in 2003 after 5 installments.
I've always had a dream of a Legacy of Kain remade in a soulslike fashion, all with the same voice actors. Obviously that would never happen, as I'm sure we couldn't get many of the voice actors again, but its just something cool to imagine.
@@Slunked man that would be amazing
Soul Reaver was sick
Problem is with the VAs is Tony Jay is dead. So the Old One will be hard to replace.
@@Slunked man that would be dope af
So happy to see Crystal Project make this list. That game doesn't get talked about anywhere near enough. Never played another RPG quite like it - to anyone reading this who hasn't played/heard of it, please don't sleep on Crystal Project based on the voxel graphics!
I totally agree. It's such a fun and unique game, glad I got it!
It's ugly. so I won't play it.
@@phi9387no one cares 😊
It was the only one on the list I hadn't already played or at least heard of.
Grandia 2 has one of the best RPG battle systems I've ever played. Octopath Traveler and Sea of Stars are both interesting with their weakness break mechanic
Grandia 2's combat is way too easy. you can just skip all of the complexities of the system by using area of effect magic to finish every encounter in the first turn. What grandia 2 does best is party dynamics. The main party constantly banters with one another which makes them a whole lot of fun to adventure with.
The Grandia mainline series is my favorite of all time. Their battle system is solid.
Lunar feels like a precursor system to Grandia’s and is also solid.
@@dangox3370 that's an issue of balance then, not the mechanics
@@KugutsuYushiro you do have a point. Only in boss battles does the gimmick of delaying enemy attacks come into play. But even then, it rarely does any good.
Ever
You want exploration? Skies of Arcadia. One of the best RPG I ever played!
Mechanics/content wise a RPG that SHOULD be studied by any new dev is Lufia 2; It has a great equipment system with loads of depth(special abilities for gear, special stats and resistances etc). It has great Puzzles. The way it handles enemies in dungeons is very creative and so much better then random battles and the best/most fun system in any rpg I have seen so far. The minigames are awesome(casino, Ancient Cave). It has so many secrets and things to discover. It has monster training. The guys making this took every cool thing from the peak RPGs in the 90s and gave it a creative spin.
Love me some Lufia and I love the puzzles in 2. Good call!
Lufia 2 is one of the best unpopular games from the SNES era. It'll never supplant FF6 as my favorite RPG, but it definitely makes the list
I'd say BOF DQ despite its reputation for killing the franchise for being so different actually had some interesting ideas and honestly as a BOF game if may not have been what the "western" fans wanted as it did well in Japan but if you take it as its own thing its Very unique even by todays standards and that story... What an ending
I def had a hard time trying to get through Dragon Quarter 😅 But I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, thank you.
Totally agree! Dragon Quarter was a Great Game with a lot of originale Idea, a cool plot, and with a lot of very good scene!
I really couldn't stand BoFDQ when I first played it. But I went back to it and tried to understand it and play it like it asked instead of how I demanded and really enjoyed it. It really does have a lot going for it and encourages failing and trying again, which is admirable.
I adored DQ. It forces the player to give their entire attention to each battle, so it's by default less boring than about any other JRPG. It's so difficult that unless you stop to think, you're gonna be filled with anxiety and fear. Wonderful game
Dragon Quarter has the most developed pre-battle tactical play, with only literal wargames and trap-based games like Deception or Orcs Must Die even close to competing.
The impact of your surroundings limiting movement combined with control over various baits and bombs makes enemy positioning huge, and the game is primarily limited by bad controls, old ps2 physics, and an incomplete implementation of everything else. Even so, it made players really look at the world around them from a tactical perspective, allowing the claustrophobic and worn down post-apoc world to sell itself with little effort.
The combo system also had a lot of potential beyond damage optimization, had they cleaned up stat debuffing, used more balanced status ailments, provided actually useful descriptions for skill combos, and simply had the budget to make and animate more diverse skills.
This is a very good video and I think a point to be made is that even though the focus was put mostly on nonlinearity, these games prove that it's not necessary, considering they all stay great even with a guide. Nonlinearity is difficult to design because it's basically never "true" nonlinearity, it just leaves the right blanks for you to fill in to feel more of a connection with the world and tone of the story (generally). These games all reward the curiosity that exploration can beckon in meaningful ways, giving you what feels like a unique experience even when you're doing the only thing you can.
I agree in the sense that it's not about the destination, but the journey. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and kind words, I appreciate it.
Wow! Valkyrie Profile really impressed me with the flying around the overworld like that. Really nice implementation
Valkyrie profile is absolutely fantastic. There is a cheap way to cheese a lot of it, but the atmosphere is great. A great “twist” and out of the box thinking.
a pity getting the best ending is completely unintuitive; you have to sabotage your recruitment and then send a specific character to Valhalla at a specific time and then do specific things with no indication of any of it
@@ChibiKami it was at the tail end of the supremely frustrating "moon logic" era. That sounds just like some early 90s Sierra adventue game lol. I appreciate well conceived puzzles but when the player cannot find the solution using logic or in-game hints, that just really hurts the game's reputation. I'm glad that it's still being given a chance though; like in my first comment, the game has some really neat features that deserve some love. Sorry if my grammar is not perfect.
Stumbled upon this channel, watched a video and then watched every other video. Keep up the great work!!!
Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
Panzer Dragoon Saga, the fluid combat. Relaxing exploration and rewarding in the way you perform in a battle (the more efficient you are, you get more money and points). Is something I havent seen replicated since... And those lo-fi graphics 👌
Pretty sure final fantasy 13 does this as well
Played live a live and absolutely loved it, the uniqueness of each storyline and the Oersted storyline specifically was amazing
Cool video! I think it's interesting how many different areas RPGs can excel in. It's clear that you value exploration and open-endedness, but there are other things an RPG can focus on that are just as valuable: role-playing options and combat, to name a couple.
Thanks for watching, I appreciate it.
Chained Echoes is a fantastic game that really brought be game to yesteryear but with todays QoL implementation. Truly a modern classic.
I just beat it, everything was so seemless. Kinda wish the script was abit cleaned up, the dialogue wasn't as good as the plot, but still very enjoyable and I really enjoyed the exploration even when I usually hate exploring.
Dude, what a combination of good taste and variety. You've got a subscriber outta me.
Thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it.
Same! Great vid. Subbed!
@@IKilledYourDude thank you, I appreciate it 👍
I really appreciate these videos. As an amatuer dev, it helps me to see what features get other rpg lovers excited. Also, busting my brain with the few free hours I get, there isn't a lot of time for me to sample all these myself.
Live-A-Live is something I played a long time ago with a translation patch and loved, and its really hard to answer people why I love it so much or why a certain group of people were so hyped about it's remake announcement without spoiling it. All I can say is that I just do and they should try it too, you wont forget it. If I can still vividly remember everything about a game I played more then 15 years ago when I have short term memory, then its well worth the play. 😊
We're getting a Star Ocean 2 remake I think next month, and the series had a new installment earlier this year. So, my current hopes, is that this is the beginning of a come back for Tri-Ace classics. SquareEnix has gotten quite lazy over the years, and does a lot of remakes, usually releasing them on Steam. They could set their sights on the Valkyrie Profile series next, and maybe we'll eventually get a proper sequal (VP2 was kind of subpar).
I also just remembered that Valkyrie Profile had a DS spinoff that was really similar to the first game, but you worked for Hel and sacrificed recruits to her.
Yeah, SO2R, November 2nd. I liked the QoL improvements playing the demo, though all the battle enhancements made combat too easy, will def have to play on the tougher difficulty. I really enjoyed The Divine Force as well.
I still need the VP DS game, it sounds rad, the little you described.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Not entirely sure I'd call it similar. It's a strategy RPG where you get the classic VP combat when you picka fight, but you can only use the characters who are in range for that combat. Aside from that, the balance can be a bit wonky with the multiple endings, with the game wanting you to carry over skills from the other playthroughs in order to be able to beat the best ending's boss, but those skills making the rest of the game before it a breeze. Also, always keep the skill that gives you extra movement handy. Not only are the maps large, but they love their snow terrain way too much, which means that as you spend half your turns getting from one fight to another, your movement is capped to around two squares per turn. Those extra bits of movement that ignore terrain costs are a lifesaver.
I kinda disagree with squareenix being lazy. They may be doing lots of remakes but this year we got two games, octopath 2 and FF16, that can be called anything but lazy.
And we had a Valkyrie profile kinda-sequel last year. Valkyrie Elysium.
@@diersteinjulien6773 They don't do the remakes justice though. Everything is gutted and dumbed down, or they just do a full emulated port and charge like $40 for what should be a $20 experience.
I liked Octopath Traveler 1, but it was over-hyped. The game had ZERO balace, magic flat out broke the game, and was required to finish it, because the Bosses were all bullet sponges. The story was kind of padded with stereotypical plot devices, too. I'm definitely not getting the second game, or into the Brave series, because of it.
Star Ocean 2R came out, and I am having fun with it, but it's had a lot of the main features that made the game memorable for me dumbed down, or flat out removed. They made a lot of wanted improvements, but got rid of the iconic Killer Move leveling system, and replaced it with a point system, that only allowed attacks to go up to 3 ranks. Doing this gutted DOZENS of animations from the game. Along with some other mindless crap. Imagine if they did this to all of the Tales games, which are known for pioneering that kind of battle system?
I hated FF13 to the point that I couldn't bother finishing Disc 2, didn't understand the love for FF14's linear combat, heard mixed things about FF15 (which honestly looks like a button mash fest, apparently you need to buy a separate movie to understand the plot?), and FF16 didn't look interesting at all (basically looks like a medieval take on FF14 with Devil May Cry thrown in).
The FF7 Remake was split into several different games, and padded out the butt with pointless content, and battle look padded out the butt with HP Sponges. Most of their modern games are riddled with microtransactions.
So yeah. I think SquareEnix is lazy. The days of their revolutionary games they used to release from our childhood are long over. Their mostly a publisher these days, and their no even good at that.
Maybe I'm bias and have an overnegative take, but I've watched them devolved over the years, and as someone's who first game was basically Final Fantasy 1 on the NES, I'm disappointed at what they've become.
As an avid JRPG fan, I tried hard to like Chained Echoes, but couldn’t gel with it. The bad dialogue killed the immersion and the battle system made every encounter feel like a boss battle.
looks a Final Fantasy and Xenogears inspired game but with a hint of increased difficulty. my kinda thing where you actually use your head to strategize things
For me, the RPG that needs to be studied is Panzer Dragoon Saga. Made from a group who had never worked in a rpg before, making a entire battle system from scratch that's based on the same feeling of aerial battles from the other entries (rail shooters) + an unique setting you have never seen before, from story, world building and visuals all neatly tied together. That game is pure gold for me
I need to get me a Saturn. Thanks for you sharing your thoughts.
Nice to see _Valkyrie Profile_ in this list. The game was definitely AGES ahead of its time in every aspect. I miss when tri-Ace used to be experimental with their games. I'm really hoping it'll get a soft-remake treatment similarly to _Star Ocean: The Secont Story R._ Some misconceptions that I need to clear from your video: you don't actually need to send Einherjars to Valhalla with the best gear; the most important thing is that they meet the criteria established by Freya (Skills, hero-type, specific Traits), and ideally you'll want them to be at the highest Hero Value possible (by maxing out their Traits). Other than that, you can send them without a single piece of equipment and they'll perform well once sent to Valhalla.
_Chained Echoes_ is an absolute masterpiece. Crazy to think this game was spearheaded by a single dude. He managed to make the game feel NOSTALGIC while giving it a modern spin at the same time. Few devs can pull that.
While I absolutely loved Chained Echoes, it is not 100% original and not really a game that is necessary to be studied.
Instead, just like teachers tell us to check the cited sources instead of the Wikipedia article, let's study it's influences first, such as Chrono Trigger, FF7, Suikoden, and Xenogears. And especially Xenogears, I think Chained Echoes is the first Xenogears-inspired indie which is a great thing since Xenogears itself is kinda "one of a kind" among JRPGs.
Happy Birthday to Valkyrie Profile
I'd recommend Digimon World for the ps1. The sense of exploring an open world, the risk of losing your Digimon from death or neglecting it and rebuilding the town was pretty unique.
Also Outward. That is great for similar reasons. That great sense of adventure.
These are both imperfect games, but they give an experience like no other.
Only RPG to nail the feeling of looking for a rest stop on a road trip while someone in the car needs to poop.
These are some BANGERS. Good stuff bro.
Thank you!
While I agree with the Chained Echoes point, I think it is worth mentioning that several of its exploration features/things that incentivize exploration were introduced in the Xenoblade games first
You're right! In Xenoblade X, you can fly around in a mech and explore a huge 3D world.
Live-A-Live has held the title of my all-time favorite game full stop for a long time, but in October, I spent the entire month replaying SaGa Frontier, and I think that might've taken its place at least as my favorite RPG. It's very hard to get into, because it's very open, the mechanics have NOVELS written about how everything works, and you don't know which of the seven scenarios to start with, and even once you get past that, it can be brutally difficult at times. I couldn't recommend it to everyone, but those who are able to get into it will find some great characters, unusual stories, and an incredible world made up of dozens of smaller worlds with unbelievable detail packed into them. It's very open and pretty grindy, but it all fits together very well, because the story bits in each scenario each have a satisfying enough ending that you aren't desperate to get back to it, so grinding isn't torturous. It's so quirky you can't always tell what's a bug and what's a feature, but the core design philosophy is really solid.
Again, incredible first vid bro! Can’t wait for more :)
Thanks, dude. I appreciate all your support.
that old capcom logo theme still gives me a chub, when i was a kid and heard that i new i was playing a top tier game.
Great video, really loved the angle you took speaking about playing games in order to learn good game design.
Thank you!
Valkyrie profile is the most underrated rpg in gaming history
It's def a good one more people should play
I had no idea Chained Echos was that in depth, seems criminal they aren't bigger or more popular!
Great video, hope to see more!
It's a great game, imo, jumped into my top 10 after I played it. I hope you check it out. Thanks for the kinds words, I appreciate it.
Definitely a top 10 RPG for me as well
And it was made by 1 person
it would have been more popular had they made the char designs a bit nicer, I'd say.. there's really no particularly great artist behind it - and it's a small thing to do to hire a popular artist and goes a long way.
@@julz19 I mean I want to say you’re right about the one person, but he definitely hired someone else to do the music and that person hired 20 people to be musicians and singers. Easy to see during the credit scroll. But that does not take away from the fact that one man wrote an implemented the entire scenario
Great video, I liked your picks and the editing! I am expecting awesome content from your channel in the future!
I appreciate your nice words, thank you for watching.
Yooooooooooo, glad to see someone talk about Crystal Project, checked the game out like a month after it released and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Sequoia. Glad to see that other people are finally recognizing it a bit more
The game definitely deserves more recognition. 👍
I'm definitely going to check it out.
Thank you for showing me Crystal Project
No problemo 👍
this is a much more interesting "top X" list than just "my personal faves"
I have to agree in part...but how do you create a strong structured narrative in a world where you can go anywhere at any given time. At least for me, the point of rpgs is more about the story and the plot rather than anything else, it's why I don't think Crystal Project lined up well with me, I Love the basic idea, adore job/class systems. Ect. But The plot from what I remember of the demo, was.... very light. and, that's just not going to hold my interest.
Yeah, there's a very basic plot in Crystal Project, it's not at all the main focus. For me, after years of playing RPGs, I really appreciate breaks in the pattern. I don't necessarily think a strong narrative has to be a requirement in an RPG, or any game for that matter, but, I can't disagree that the game could be even better with a strong narrative.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
It's doable with a basic "get every elemental crystal" FF plot, but certainly tricky if you're trying to add depth and consequence to the order the story is done.
Strong, structure narratives for what reason? That's not a requirement for games.
Look at Terraria, Stardew Valley, Minecraft. Popular examples that prove you can have broad or deep games with little to no story, a focus on exploration, and yet be so popular that people still play them 10+ years later over and over again.
Lack of a story contributes to replay value as well because you're not sitting through the same dialog over and over. It's a blank canvas for you to make your own story in your head, if you wanted.
If storytelling WAS the core feature of a game, then yeah the rest of the game will have to work around that. That never happened here though.
@@MinecraftMartin Specifically the video mentioned RPGs I would not consider any of those games as RPGs. From the games shown I was thinking of JRPGs. Which are almost entirely story driven.
I am a child of the 80s. Why do I get that “sigh” moment wen there’s no “waypoint”? Getting lazy, I guess. Give me Mystic Quest🤪
I haven't played Mystic Quest in so long, I think about it some times. I always remember using the claw hookshot to traverse, that kind of stuff was fun for me.
My first RPG
So there were some examples in Xenogears where you needed to be in your mech to get somewhere and then had to get out to go into a people sized area, it was mostly just in little side areas in a few of the dungeons that you had to platform in your mechs to get to, or spots where you had to hop out of your mech to go into a room to flip a switch before getting back in the mech to continue but it added a fun little extra bit to exploration that would have been nice to see expanded on if it had ever gotten a direct squeal (I don't recall the first xenosaga game doing the same thing).
Explorations one of those things that I always really valued in an RPG, especially since I grew up on Paper Mario and the like instead of Final Fantasy and more traditional RPGs. Another thing I really love are decently involved dungeons. Recently i've been playing Star Ocean 3 again and I only grow more and more appreciative of that games dungeon design as I grow older since you're never doing the same things in that game, almost every dungeon is something different and they tow that line of just being involved enough to not overstay their welcome with my only real issue with them being how many have shortcuts but only work one way.
Absolutely loved Live A Live and Chained Echoes. My dude, you HAVE to play Monster Sanctuary if you like the metroidvania/turn based RPG battle mechanics. It’s such a gem, and the back half of the OST fucking SLAPS
I'll def research it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Wow, I did not expect Crystal Project to be on this list. Instantly Subscribed!
Right on, thank you! Love me some Crystal Project 👍
This was a great video. Also, one of the things that I've talked about for years (and always get shit on about) is how Final Fantasy 13-2 has a really fantastic time travel system, but lots of people I know didn't like 13 so they couldn't be bothered. Then there's the entire SMT series which thankfully is gaining popularity lately.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it. 🙂
Yes I when played 13-2 was like "this feels better than 13-1", from what I remember it time travel was more of what I call "an x,y axis map" since you were traveling on time (x axis) and alternate dimensions (y axis), kind of how it was on Chrono Cross.
Glad you included Crystal Project, that game was magical. Definitely my favorite indie JRPG of the recent years.
I'm so glad I found that game, glad there are so many others that like it as well.
Good video, you gained a subscriber. Excited to see what you come up with in the future
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
I've played tons of RPGs, but The World Ends With You on the DS is one that I keep thinking about.
I didn't knew about these RPG's even tho it is one of my most love genre. Thank you for this video, i have seen wonderfull things!!
My pleasure 👍
Player freedom, exploration and non-linear storytelling are hardly rare in the industry, and frankly i'd like to see less of them. Those elements don't necessarily make games more fun, and they are already so pervasive that they're even creeping outside of rpgs into other genres. So why exactly should these games be studied again?
Valkyrie Profile is my lifelong companion, as well as the Gothic dilogy. Replaying every year, never gets old.
I really need to play Valkyrie Profile. Everything I hear about it tells me it would be right up my street, and that combo of early 3D and really, really gorgeous late pixel art is such a good combo!
Awesome video. Love to hear anyone gush about Crystal Project. I hadn't heard of Valkyrie Profile, I might need to check that out.
Crystal Project actually reminds me of the new-ish Pokémon clone Cassette Beasts, which also includes Metroidvania style progression, rewards exploration and actually has some skill based platforming to reach treasure
Sounds so much like another game called Monster Sanctuary!
You talked about Valkyrie Profile and DIDN'T mention the battle system! C'mon! It's the second best thing about it after character stories. And you didn't mention them either!
But the battle system's already been studied and done in other games, so I think it gets a pass.
@@benedict6962like where? Indivisible and not in a good way? Anywhere else?
@@vsolyomi ...damn, did you hate indivisible that much?
I think Project X Zone dipped a little in there too, with Shaman King being even closer to a fighting game.
@@benedict6962 No I don't, it's just pretty flawed overall to my knowledge. And all the games you listed are all obscure. The system was never used to its full potential.
Wow! This was a great video! Definitely subscribing!
Thank you, I appreciate it
Got me wanting to play all of these now, cant believe live a live came out in 94!!
Hell yeah! If you play'em, I hope you enjoy'em. 👍
i think this guy likes exploration
You study them the platforms right there
It's wonderful that people are discovering the original Valkyrie Profile all over again. Very few games have done anything like it since. Credit goes to Indivisible for serving us the combat and the fun 2d navigation/puzzle solving I'd been craving.
I don't want to undermine your points in this video. We all need to shout about the things we love and want more of much more often than we do. So when I say that it sounds like you want more western style rpgs it's because I want you to get the stuff you're hankering for.
Your video reminds me of the old comparison between JRPGS and WRPGS, linear vs. non-linear, discovery vs. progression, that sort of thing. I'm not sure what your gaming background is, but Morrowind and some of the Ultima games (ask an expert which ones, IX is literally unplayable without fanmods) would hit a lot of the notes you're describing. Arcanum was _incredibly_ ambitious and suffered for it, but most of that ambition was achieved.
All that being said, I sure haven't heard of anything like what you've described coming out in the last decade. Some games really should be required learning for devs.
YOOOOOO! Banger first video!!!!!
Thanks, dude!
hello, just saying at first glance your thumbnail, the font you choose made me read "Studied" as "Stupid"
it got me to click and watch the video tho. =3
@35infinite follow up video!
Live a Live is really good, but when you play through Sundown Kid and Oersted's stories, you see why they weren't going to bring this over from Japan in the 90s. It would've been censored so hard that it wouldn't have made any sense. I still really like that the game has about 5, maybe 6 distinct endings.
Also, as cool as VP is, some of the things you need if you're playing it for the A ending require you to have a guide and go against the natural impulses of the game. Like one of the first artifacts you're supposed to send to Odin in Valhalla, you should actually keep for when you get the super secret item in Lezard's tower. That kind of "use a guide or fuck yourself over forever" design in the PS1 era leads to annoying bad habits in RPGs where you hoard elixirs or hang on to junk items because you never know when the game's going to require it for some side quest.
A similar open-ended, build your own party RPG is the Romancing Saga series. I've only really played 3 but I enjoy how you get to pick one of several protagonists, customize their starting weapon, and then once you've played through the beginning of their story, you can recruit whoever you want, learn whatever skills you want, and complete the game in any order you like. And it's got some wacky potential party members, like a snowman or a humanoid lobster.
Chained Echoes is truly a game of all time. Easily one of my games of the year, and I can't stop whistling the soundtrack around the house, months and months later.
Totally agree. I get the Rohlan Fields song stuck in my head all the time. Such a great OST.
It might be Final Fantasy's fault that I hate exploring 😂 I was always trying to get from A to B as fast as possible so I wouldn't have to fight more monsters and possibly die along the way. I still do this when I play games.
And when the game tells me the story is urgent you better believe I beeline for the objective for more story and not dilly dally looking for stuff.
Loved the video and all the info about the games I haven't played yet. Live a Live is definitely an interesting and fun game .
Thanks dude, I appreciate it
This list reminded me of Eternal Eyes for the ps1, such an underrated rpg
I've never played it but I always remember the cover art. Appreciate you watching.
A game largely hindered by slow animations, obtuse gem upgrades not elaborated ingame, and painful xp loss if your puppets die.
You could do a lot more with it today. Human characters with gem-cost skills, more varied puppet movement and passives, etc.
I think there's several JRPGs in the PSX catalog that are worth mentioning, with intricate systems that haven't really been used again. Things like Vagrant Story with the orb-like targeting (first seen on Parasite Eve although vastly improved with timed attacks and parries), Legend of Legaia with the directional input for arts, Legend of Dragoon with timed attacks in the reticle system, and so on. Nowadays, it feels like all these reimaginations of oldschool JRPGs have the same turn based action selection combat systems, reminiscent of the first DQ/FF games. And that's just mentioning combat systems.
There is an old "indie" game called "Three the Hard Way", where money is very difficult to come by. Just like in real life, haha ... Which makes powering up slow, and also feels very rewarding.
And, damn, LiveALife ... never completed it. Played it with an emulator maybe 10+ years ago, love the concepts, but ... because of the sheer ambition of the game, it could not be developed in time, and it showed. Just glad to see the game reappearing.
Coming by cash slowly sounds pretty cool, and also irritating, lol, I'll have to research that game.
If you ever see the remake of Live A Live for cheap, I highly suggest picking it up and giving it another shot.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
@Chengyuan79 Are u referring to the classic RPG Maker 2000 game “Three The Hard Way?” It’s really cool to see it get mentioned, it touches a special place of nostalgia and half forgotten memories for me.
@@MerkhVision Yes, sir~! 🙂
Would Ultima IV count? Released in 1985, it featured concepts mind blowing even compared to today such as a complex karma system, jobs, party members, and a unique storyline I still have not seen replicated or references to this day.
If you think it counts, then it counts 👍
It’s a shame garriot couldn’t make the jump to modern gaming well. Tabula Rasa had all the right pieces, they just never clicked into place. But what he produced up through SI was, frankly, an experience that is still barely touched in gaming. I know he is something of a fallen hero these days, but damn, did Spoony’s anthology capture the tone. Guess it’s time for a re-watch!
Played and loved VP and Live A Live prior to watching this video, but learned of, purchased, and can’t wait to try Chained Echoes as a result of this video. Thanks in advance!
That's awesome! I hope you enjoy it!
I bought Valkyrie profile when it first came out on psx and I really didn’t get it. I replayed it on psp and I finally realized how amazing it is.
Maybe not exactly an RPG but E.G.G. (Elemental Gimmick Gear) for the Dreamcast comes to mind as a game that deserves a second look. It was such an amazing action/adventure game with RPG elements and unique puzzle/exploration sprinkled in. Hand drawn graphics/backgrounds gave it a (for the time) unique charm. I bought a dreamcast again a couple years back literally just to play this game 😂
Live a Live is so special
Monster Sanctuary. So good. So satisfying.
3:20 When I first started playing the game I didn't think I was gonna like it all that much, first playthrough got me the B ending. Then when I read everything you had to do for the A ending I jumped back in determined to see what was the true story and I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved the story and characters and the tragedy of everything that was happening. It all clicked and the story didn't seem disjointed any longer and I became a fan. I still want Hrist to get her own story since the other two sisters have had their own.
I'd put out the recent Octopath Traveler 2 for study. It's got the multiple stories like Live A Live and it's 100% worth a play to anyone that likes JRPGs.
I love Octopath 2, good choice 👍
Since someone else already mentioned Treasure of the Rudras you should also check out Dark Half. Yet another Japan-only SNES RPG that's really weird but also cool as hell.
I'll look it up, thanks for the suggestion. 👍
This was beautiful. Thank you.
My pleasure 👍
Great content. Thanks for some really good game recommendations!
Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing more :)
Thank you, I appreciate it 👍
i came when you said vast exploration < 3
Valkyrie Profile is the goat. Goes against the grain of every RPG in almost every way.
I really enjoyed how different it was fo sho
I noticed that a few other small RPG titles have used open-world elements recently, including Breath of the Wild, Elder Scrolls, and nearly every other major title to be released in the last 10 years.
I'm a Live-A-Live fan already and I know of Valkyrie Project, but Crystal Project was new- definitely putting it on my Steam Wish list!
Also, do you know if Chained Echoes physical edition is one where you can purchase it after it's reached the release-date whenever that is, or will you ONLY be able to get one if you pre-order?
I'm not sure. I'd assume First Press would still sell copies if they have them, but it's my first time buying through them.
Glad Crystal Project is on your radar, hope you enjoy it 👍
Paladin’s Quest’s mercenary system is a nice feature. In fact, any game that lets you choose who you want in your party adds a level of customization and replayability
Agreed 👍
Nice to see ppl acknowledge Live A Live
You can also jump like that from everywhere in the last Zelda game (was it Breath of the Wild ?)
I think a mechanic that should return is the shadow of mordor nemesis system there’s so much potential with that system. If they implemented that into a Star Wars game it would be amazing
Nemesis system is dope. I can imagine it in a Star Wars game where some random bounty hunter you bested comes back for revenge.
Another game worth taking notes from is Wild ARMs XF for the PSP. If you're a normal person who's never played it, it's a grid-based strategy RPG in the Wild ARMs universe. The game itself is fine, but they solved a longstanding problem with traditional FF-style class systems.
The traditional system of switching to a class, leveling it up, and unlocking new class abilities that are partially or wholly lost upon changing classes again typically punishes and therefore discourages players from changing classes by taking away abilities and/or stats when switching to new classes, with the new one almost always being weaker until leveled up. And as a result, all-rounder classes that are good enough for any situation tend to outshine specialty classes, even in the situations where the specialist would be good, since it often isn't worth the extra effort to level up a new class when a basic knight is good enough.
Wild ARMs XF fixes this by unlocking all of a class's abilities as soon as you switch to it, while leveling up the class allows those abilities to be available for other classes as well. Because leveling up doesn't actually improve the class you're leveling (since it's just making the abilities available for other classes), you're encouraged to regularly switch up your party composition, as you only get the benefits of leveling up a class when you switch to a different class. Frankly, you're actually punished for not switching regularly, which can make the early game frustrating until you figure out that you need to approach it differently than other games in the genre.
The game does a pretty good job of supporting this too, with a number of non-standard mission objectives and specially crafted arenas and scenarios that force you to take advantage of different classes. By late game, you're mixing and matching abilities from all over the place and basically creating new pseudo-classes specifically tailored to the obstacles of the next stage.
I do love me some PSP, you make the game sound interesting. I'll keep it on my radar. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I really need to replay that game now that I understand tactics and throwing people off cliffs better.
Experimentation is the key, but theres a catch of course, either you make a change in a series fans will dislike for being too diff from the series standard or just didn't work as intended, second catch is making a new IP that can have a niche fan base n hardly living for a sequel or your game just doesn't work as intended n you go bankrupt, theres the third less commom alternative, the game is just ahead of it's time, considering how indie is just advanced is hard to make something that no one never did that puts you ahead in time as well bankrupt you
Crystal Project reminds of a 2D Minecraft. And you know what? Such game could be great as a Pokémon spin-off.
It's definitely a style worth looking into for other games.
Definitely would have been a good direction for pokemon if a majority of the fandom wasn't pushing for 3D graphics.
Chained Echoes is really a game I need to check out. Might be a game I cover on my own channel some day. Great video by the way. I kinda want to check out Crystal Projects at some point.
Chained Echoes would totally be worth your time 👍
Great video! New subscriber! I'm glad you reminded me of Chained Echoes... I need to preorder that.
My pleasure, and thank you, I appreciate it.
These were some amazing points you made of these games that I haven't played and It got me interested. But I have seen Valkyrie Profile throughout the years in stores, conventions and online and I feel like I see it every month or every other month. I feel like at this point I should just get it and give it a tr. It does look like a fun game. Cool video. ^_^
Thank you so much for the kind words. I hope when you play Valkyrie Profile that you enjoy it.
@@35infinite You're welcome. Hopefully I find and play it the beginning of next year. Thank you. ^_^
There's a unique mode in Soul Calibur 3 i think it's called Chronicles of the Sword. It was a awesome mix of RTS RPG Fighter that was absolutely brilliant and it's a shame they never touched on it again. I just wanted to share. It was something that was so totally unique in the day and I think you'd like it a lot
3 is prob my fav SoCal, though I'm not really a big fan of the series. I totally remember using the Barbarian class to lame out the AI, lol. It was a cool addition to a fighting game.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Oh my god! I’d been trying to find that mode for years. Couldn’t remember which version it was in. Thank you, truly.
MAN, that crystal project system would make for good pokemon traversal.
Aside from all of this, however, I think you should definitely give Tactics ogre a shot, feeling almost like a Psuedo-dnd campaign before CRPG's even were a thing.
Legend of mana was in a class of its own. The house system along with exploring during certain seasons was brilliant. Also felt like every item in the game had a use which was fantastic along with the bridge data that allowed you to have a chocobo as a pet if the ps read that you had ff7 save data ...fking nuts
I'm always shocked no developers copy Panzer Dragoon Saga and make random battles that are super fun and fluid. It still feels like an RPG and even feels like turn based combat because it's based on timed meters...but it's actually really fun, almost like a rhythm game. That was a quarter century ago and when I played it upon release I figured it would just be the new type of battle experience...nope. It wouldn't have to be exactly like that, just something sort of like it. The rest of the game on a technical level wasn't really that revolutionary, just a very early 3D RPG, but the battles (and the general art direction) really are worthy of the game's legendary collector status.
honestly this is a pretty great list dude , im 100% agreed with what you have here , valkyrie profile basically ruined me on the standard jrpg template , afterwards i would always crave something more creative ; i would add Xenogears and the Ultima series 4/5/6/UW/7/UW2/SI/8
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.