I really wish there were more Sci-Fi JRPGs out there. There's a TON of untouched potential for some truly awesome games. Star Ocean, Xenosaga, Phantasy Star, all show it can be done right IMO.
Thank you for mentioning those. I don’t the the creator of the video has heard of them. Lol! But I’m not done watching the vid so if he does speak on them then disregard that.
@@bigdaddynero A massive downer sadly... just want more heavy Scifi settings but still makes me wonder... Final Fantasy wtih magiclessness would make me feel happy but mostly because there's not many big name Sci-fi games if at all... more as much as say settings where DEATH is the top dog...
Phantasy Star 4 is a game I've tried, recommending to JRPG fans I know who have asked on social media for 'new' jrpgs to play. I pitch them the game and they instantly get dismissive because it was on the Genesis. It doesn't matter that you can get the game on everything from PS2 to Switch, they for some reason find it not appealing because of a long dead platform despite how easy it is to get. Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 1 & 2, Beyond Oasis are great games to play from the Genesis, Shining in the Darkness is pretty good if a bit dated and if you like real old school hard Phantasy Star 2 is hard - just way more rough than PSIV. PSIV is so good, playing it blind, not knowing what was going to happen next was awesome. It was mind blowing flying to different planets in a jrpg for the first time. I rarely ever skipped the cutscene. It also has mechanics I wish other games copied, a Macro system to make combo attacks faster to pull off or random battles easier to stomp through. Or you know pre-boss buffs?? and the biggest one- TALK function. Didn't play the game for a few days or MONTHS? Go to "Talk" the party will, IN CHARACTER, discuss where to go. You know- that thing that Breath of Fire 3 & 4 also used and is, so, GOOD for. Wish a lot of other games had this function but, most don't. Tales usually at least has a library so you know what you're doing next
Star Ocean and Xenosaga will always bring back some good memories for me. They were also the only sci fi rpgs I've played lol. One day Ill try and give phantasy star a shot.
I think it is akin to star wars, a science fantasy world and I like it a lot as I think they managed to find a perfect mix between tech and fantasy and it all blends well together (as for star wars)
I'm surprised you left Robotrek out. I own or have owned every thing on the list and I love them. I have a huge soft spot for Infinite Space because one thing I dislike in many scfi RPGs is that your character or party often has access to an armed ship but the ship only fights in cutscenes rather then allowing the player to control the ship in battle. Another one I like is Saga/Final Fantasy Legend III. It has more fantasy elements then many of the listed games but a lot of scifi elements as well. One of your main goals is to reassemble an interdimensional time traveling warship to use it to end an invasion of your homeworld via artificial flood generating monster launched from another dimension. The story is kid of a reverse Terminator with most of your party being sent back from a dark future as the Resistance's last installation was being overrun in hopes of changing history.
Chrono Trigger is about time travel, Interdimensional beings, and has a half man half motorcycle. Even dabbles in how evolution works. How much more science fiction could you get?
the man's insane. and questioning how sci-fi star ocean is? saying it may only be considered sci-fi because of it's name!? I don't believe he quite understands what science fiction is...
@@melsmith245 Right. I haven't played Star Ocean on SNES in a really long time, but if I remember correctly the opening credits cutscene is on a spaceship or something leaving the planet. I mean you might as well say orcs and goblins are not fantasy enough to be included in a fantasy monster top ten.
@@melsmith245 to be fair Star Ocean is often criticized for largely abandoning sci-fi for an underdeveloped planet and basic fantasy cliches that take most of the games times.
He has an extremely narrow view of what constitutes sci fi. He probably thinks Dune is not sci fi. God only knows what he would think of Ursula K Leguin's novels
Check out Starflight. It was on the Sega Genesis and even had the little yellow expanded capability for the cartridge. It also came with the game manual that was like 200 pages. It was an epic game where you could choose the species of each of your crew members, and explore dozens if not hundreds of solar systems. The different species had different strengths and certain ones were warring with each other. So if you tried to optimize your crew and have the best of all the races for their specialized jobs then any ship encountered would automatically attack you since you had an enemy life form on board. It even had a great plot twist that I won’t spoil. It was a true masterpiece that I was lucky enough to own a copy of in the 90s and played tons.
Thank you! So the only reason why we didn’t include that one is because we just talked about it in more detail in our recent video about 8 great mecha JRPGs and wanted to spread the love to other Xeno games we didn’t talk about in that vid. But yes otherwise it absolutely fits and would be a great one to include here. Still holding out hope for that Switch port as well.. it gets so overlooked just being on the Wii U
@@GamingBroductions huh, I'm subscribed with the bell, but I didn't get a notification. Also, was Front Mission in that video? Edit: never mind: found the video and yes it was in notifications, sorry I have a memory problem that flares up from time to time.
Damn, man. Star Ocean 2 is so special to me. I remember the first night I owned it. I remember I had lost to a boss fight a few times in a row and stopped playing out of frustration. Then, without level up any, I tried it again before I went to bed and it was like 2 different fights. It was stupid easy. I remember going to be even more frustrated lol I was just so confused with how I died multiple times.
Here's my two cents: the Front Mission series could very well be in there, even though it's closer to a tactical RPG. That said, I've only played a fan translation of the very first game on SNES, but MAN was it a good one. Should deffo try the other ones someday though.
I got really into Star Ocean 3 when it came out. super thought-provoking and the battle system/weapon enhancement was awesome. might be time for a replay.
@@PsychomachineryEBM I didn't say I didn't liked it, but when the game explained to the characters they were in a game, it kinda ruined the immersion of the game. I still enjoyed playing it.
@@wildndetroit That in itself is a sci-fi element. There is a theory that we right now are just living in a simulation because eventually we will reach a point of technology where we solve all of life’s problems and there is no where left to go, so instead we simulate the part of our civilization where we felt the most alive. Another way to look at it is, who is to say we aren’t just NPCs in an MMORPG made by some more advanced humans?
Hard disagree with you mate, I definetly view Chrono Trigger as more of a sci-fi than fantasy game. Even in the present, the game starts throwing stuff like robots and time machines down your throat, and the sci-fi elements only become more apparent as you progress through the game.
star ocean 2 is absolutely one of my favorite PS1 games along with Castlevania Symphony of the Night. A lot of people never paid much attention to Star Ocean 2 at the time due to the mania over PS1's Final Fantasy games but if you compare it to FF7.... Star Ocean 2 has so much more going on with its battle system, item creation system, personal actions, sheer amount of gameplay and hours you can dump into it...dont get me wrong ff7 is an amazing game as well but for me Star Ocean 2 is the one to play from that generation
If you skip some story elements early when you choose the Dude as the MC, you can use the phaser that breaks to power level since it only stops working after a certain scene.
Thank you for the interesting video. There are a few on that list I haven't played that look interesting and it's always nice to see Phantasy Star IV getting some love. I love science fiction as a genre, especially when it combined with elements of fantasy and horror. My preference for that mix is probably one of the reasons that Phantasy Star IV is my favorite game of all time, it is a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy with some darker elements that even cross over into cosmic horror at times. That, and it also has my favorite battle system of any turn-based RPG (though some of the Shin Megami Tensei games come in as close runners-up).
Great list! Going through Star Ocean 4 right now and while I like it, it definitely should not be on this list lol. Gonna check out Phantasy Star IV whenever I put it down, it’s only $1 on Steam!
It's odd that for as much as I love sci-fi, I've only played a handful of these, and some of them I hadn't even heard of. I wonder why sci-fi JRPGs are so rare, there's so much unexplored potential there.
I was gonna touch on this in the outro but forgot. My theory is though that despite Phantasy Star being pretty popular, ultimately it didn’t sell quite as well as the more fantasy oriented Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Maybe developers took that as a hint that gamers wanted more fantasy rpgs and not sci-fi so they decided not to take the risk? Idk lol. Granted that was like 30 years ago now so you would think there would have been more willing to try it out over time
The problem for phantasy star being its platform. Unfortunately the master system and megadrive (but especially the master system) didn't have a good market share in Japan. In the US, South America and a bit in Europe, the brand got a better impact (until the tidale wave FF7) Also PSII and PSIII were rushed in their development and PSIV was great but expensive and arrived at the end of the life of the console
Science Fiction isn’t as popular as you might think. I think this will work as a metaphor to help you understand. Pure Sci-Fi is like strong black coffee whereas Fantasy is like sweet milk. A lot of people like the mixture of the two with a greater proportion of sweet milk, but the strong black coffee only crowd is fairly niche. As an example, Xenoblade chronicles which has very strong fantasy elements to it is extremely popular but Xenoblade X which despite having really high production values didn’t do nearly as well. Xenoblade X is very sci-fi, I’d say it’s kind of like the movie Prometheus in terms of plot.
@@ianbraun271 a separate save slot for the 300 trophies yes but you can fill up a memory card going after them all since you may use multiple play throughs/save files
I liked Infinite space, what I hated about it was the volume. I could only hear good with a head set it was just to low over the Ds speakers. I thought it had a pc port at one time but the infinite space on steam is not the same thing. Rogue Galaxy was my last new Ps2 game I bought, I had a blast with it. Star ocean 3 is the best in the serious im sure most will agree, though I thought 1 was pretty good too. Those are some nice game selections, good job! :D
Appreciate you always watching! You don’t have to worry about that. No hate at all on channels that do stuff like that but that’s not really our style or the type of content we plan on making
Great list for Sci-Fi RPG not JRPG . Anachronox and Cosmic Star Heroine werent Made in Japan . The most obvious answer to what is the difference between JRPGs and RPGs is the region these games are developed in. A typical RPG is used to refer to a Western game and/or a blanket term for the genre. A JRPG then is anything developed in Japan aka a Japanese role-playing game
Man I’m playing SO4 and I think it may be my favorite in the series. I played 3 as a kid and loved it and decided to dive into the full series and 4 is surprisingly becoming one of my favorites
4 is great. I love the space travel aspect of this one because it feels like you're going on a grand space journey compared to the other ones where you're stuck on a backwater planet for 3/4 of the game. I hope 6 has as much fun with exploration as 4 did.
Infinite Space is one of my all time fave stories in games. It had a mid game twist and becomes much more mature and in depth. I'd love a sequel to to it. Another one is MS Saga: A New Dawn. It's a turn based, highly customizable rpg based on the Gundam universe. The story is cliche and the characters are goofy. But gameplay and difficulty are great.
For sure, it’s very polarizing as some aspects are executed excellently while others are handled pretty poorly (mainly the story and gameplay balance I think). We covered the game in a full retrospective awhile back and I give my thoughts there. I felt similarly, really loved the game and especially the setting but damn does it still have some flaws
loads of fantasy and magic thrown in, and the time travel is facilitated by, if not magical, then non-scientific means (speculated by the heroes to be the planet trying to relive its memories)
Rogue Galaxy NEEDS a Remake. NOT a remaster but a full from the ground up Remake with added content and QOL changes. It is an AMAZING game with a LOT of good content and it is Definitely worth a play [Especially seeing as I believe it is free on the classics catalogue on the playstation store for members]
If H.G. Well's Time Machine is considered science fiction, which I believe it is, then I suppose Chrono Trigger would have to be considered a science fiction fantasy adventure. The time machine makes it sci fi.
Pretty good list, but Anachronox being mentioned reminded me of another early 2000s one that could've fit the list, at least I personally like it. Hybrid Heaven, besides being one of the handful N64 RPGs period, it's damn interesting in it's own right. Low-key the N64's Metal Gear Solid, and that battle system? Brilliantly out there idea. Easily the best part, but the rest is no slouch for both crowds either
Anachronox is not really a JRPG... But if you include it, should also include NieR: Automata/Replicant - those at least are Japan ones lol There are at least 20 JRPGs which can be easily included into the list. Kind of strange to talk about Xenosaga 1-3, but not to say anything about Xenogears which (in my opinion) is a superior game.
I'm surprised you didn't have the Super Robot Wars series on here. Also Star Ocean 2 is on PS4, in Japan. For whatever reason they decided to release every Star Ocean game in the series on PS4 outside of Japan except for the best one.
Chrono trigger has an alien as the main bad guy that helped mankind grow so it could use it for fuel to go and eat another planet …. Time travel. Robot . Luca looks like a retro space girl with a ray gun . Needs a remake but for better and not just talking
For sure, there are some callback references but I would say they’re not essential to understanding the plot and just extra to those that have played some of the previous ones
tbh it was the first one I played. If you go backwards in the series (from 4 to 2 to 1) you get to view it like an archaeologist discovering more and more ancient civilizations at the same time you won't know a few things, like why Motavia is a desert when it used to be a paradise, or who Alis/Alisa is, Who Lassic/La Shiec is, or once all of Rune's whole deal is revealed you won't understand the impact. Also you won't get the impact of fighting Dark Force/Dark Fals more than once. I do recommend playing them in order though; PStar 1 and 2 have been retranslated by fans (as have their PS2 versions), the PStar2 sidegames have been translated and fill in the backstories of the companions (they're adventure games instead of RPGs), 3 is optional but excellent with the fan retranslation, and 4 is...well, stick with the official English script and get the level 99 bugfix because the retranslation project is currently not 100%
I love all the star ocean games. My rating Star ocean 2 Star ocean 3 (the 1st half) Star ocean 4 Star ocean 1 Star ocean 3 (the later half, I can't stand the 4D shit, and how how all the games are just a Computer program) Star ocean 6
The only one I found annoying in Star Ocean 4 was Sarah. Really wish I could mute her dialogue. And I remember not being able to stand the third game, but I forget why it's been so long ago.
I clicked because I recognized the cover image as one of the battles against Dark Force in Phantasy Star 4, the best RPG ever made. Except you screwed with the characters fighting the thing. Chaz is the only one who actually belongs there.
Phantasy Star is what Star Ocean should have been, what SO always tried and failed to be. Parasite Eve is also a very good sci-fi JRPG. Isn't Digital Devil Saga also sci-fi?
Great list, great pics, I would love to see Xenosaga get an HD trilogy re-release too since i never got the chance to play any of them! Those outro clips get me every time, always my favorite part of your vids. :D
2:38 - Infinite Space - you know, this game brings back memories of my favorite moments of time served in the US Army. I arrived at USAG Mannheim in 2010... nearly a dozen years ago. I was stationed initially with 72nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion's Rear Detachment - which is, I suppose, a fancy way of saying I was part of the cleanup crew in preparation for shutting down the whole base. In any case, one day I was so bored out of my gourd I coulda nailed my foot to the floorboard of a ford. I don't remember why I got Infinite Space - other than the obvious "I was looking for a game" explanation - but the game totally captivated my attention. When I finished the game, though... it felt a little too short. Like, "overselling it with the word infinite"-short.
Finally someone's giving Infinite Space some love! That's one of my favorite games of all time, and I never meet anyone who's even heard of it! In a slightly different reality, Infinite Space was the beginning of an epic franchise. Sadly, we are not in that reality...
Infinite Space is such an underrated hidden gem, it´s criminal. It is a true space opera and has one of the best storylines in gaming history. The first few hours are hard to get into, why I almost dropped the game. But after figuring out the battle system, the game becomes extremly addicting up until the end.
Great list, I went back and played Star ocean 2 a decade ago to see if it held up and I've since played it like 4 more times, its fantastic. Story, audio, graphics, gameplay, love it to death. I really need to getting around to SO3 and 4 sometime. 4 I saw a buddy play the international version with Japanese audio & the girls were all WAY more tolerable, so I wanna give that a go, plus its on steam in HD. Phantasy Star IV deserves all the love it can get and I would LOVE a modern version of that series.
Nice video but man, the way you put higher tone at end of half your sentences is annoying as hell. Sounds like a teen being forced to read in front of class.
Haha narration/public speaking is something I’ve always struggled with and makes me cringe a bit to go back and listen to these older videos tbh, but it is something I’ve been actively working on and even took a VO class last year to try to improve. My teacher made me very well aware of my inflection and rhythm problem. Still got work to do but I think there’s been some pretty big improvements in our most recent vids compared to these older ones
You forget two important very good rpg-s on MSX-Turbo-R and on MSX-2. That is Illusion city from Microcabin: th-cam.com/video/X9p38YDWMrU/w-d-xo.html. And offcourse SD-Snatcher: th-cam.com/video/W5IFDaWwjIs/w-d-xo.html.
Been meaning to play Rogue Galaxy. Personally, I do hard with PSO Ver. 2 on the Dreamcast. Check me out for weekly streams as well and keep up the good work!
I would argue Chrono Trigger can be considered Sci-Fi... I mean time travel, Robo, the Mammon machine, the black bird, the black omen, the kingdom of Zeal (Ok Zeal is mainly magic but it is floating because of machines, notably the mammon machine).
Xenosaga was just OK for me. Best card minigame ever in the first game, but otherwise minigames were a pain. Crazy amount of cutscenes. Battles that dragged on and on. The story had a lot of potential, but it was too dragged out and convoluted. And a very odd remake of Shion after the first game going from average-looking scientist to total airhead babe.
No, the third one is the best, just alone cause of the story and the revealing ending it has to be 3. The end of 3 makes you think so much. Creator: "You are just a pile of 0's and 1's" EPIC
Rogue Galaxy is a damn good game. I remember being hard stuck at the Jupis boss fight in the factory. I had to grind to to get Simon's Missile Squall up just to get through that fight.
I'm surprised the Ar Tonelico series wasnt' on this list ^^ but then again it's already a bit past sci-fi . so much so that it basically almost came full circle to fantasy... it's hyper sci-fi.
The SO2 port for the psp is my favorite because of the intro song "Start" from scandal. It made the game over screen less frustrating whenever that song plays.
My favorite games of all time are Xenogears/Xenosaga series. They're all sci fi especially the saga series. I haven't played anything beyond Xenosaga III though.
I really wish there were more Sci-Fi JRPGs out there. There's a TON of untouched potential for some truly awesome games. Star Ocean, Xenosaga, Phantasy Star, all show it can be done right IMO.
Thank you for mentioning those. I don’t the the creator of the video has heard of them. Lol! But I’m not done watching the vid so if he does speak on them then disregard that.
I want to go back and play Xenosaga now that i'm not 13 and might actually sit through the MGS length cutscenes
@@JMrealgamerPhantasy Star is still popular well the newer one is and Xeno games aren’t dying anytime soon
People that have the passion to make sci-fi are apparently just bad at making games.
@@bigdaddynero A massive downer sadly... just want more heavy Scifi settings but still makes me wonder... Final Fantasy wtih magiclessness would make me feel happy but mostly because there's not many big name Sci-fi games if at all... more as much as say settings where DEATH is the top dog...
Phantasy Star 4 is a game I've tried, recommending to JRPG fans I know who have asked on social media for 'new' jrpgs to play.
I pitch them the game and they instantly get dismissive because it was on the Genesis. It doesn't matter that you can get the game on everything from PS2 to Switch, they for some reason find it not appealing because of a long dead platform despite how easy it is to get.
Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 1 & 2, Beyond Oasis are great games to play from the Genesis, Shining in the Darkness is pretty good if a bit dated and if you like real old school hard Phantasy Star 2 is hard - just way more rough than PSIV.
PSIV is so good, playing it blind, not knowing what was going to happen next was awesome. It was mind blowing flying to different planets in a jrpg for the first time. I rarely ever skipped the cutscene.
It also has mechanics I wish other games copied, a Macro system to make combo attacks faster to pull off or random battles easier to stomp through. Or you know pre-boss buffs?? and the biggest one- TALK function.
Didn't play the game for a few days or MONTHS? Go to "Talk" the party will, IN CHARACTER, discuss where to go. You know- that thing that Breath of Fire 3 & 4 also used and is, so, GOOD for. Wish a lot of other games had this function but, most don't. Tales usually at least has a library so you know what you're doing next
Star Ocean and Xenosaga will always bring back some good memories for me. They were also the only sci fi rpgs I've played lol. One day Ill try and give phantasy star a shot.
Phantasy Star 4 isn't a purely sci-fi there is fantasy elements like Magic in it and the last boss is a evil spirit of darkness.
I think it is akin to star wars, a science fantasy world and I like it a lot as I think they managed to find a perfect mix between tech and fantasy and it all blends well together (as for star wars)
It's a perfect mix of sci-fi and fantasy.
I'm surprised you left Robotrek out. I own or have owned every thing on the list and I love them. I have a huge soft spot for Infinite Space because one thing I dislike in many scfi RPGs is that your character or party often has access to an armed ship but the ship only fights in cutscenes rather then allowing the player to control the ship in battle.
Another one I like is Saga/Final Fantasy Legend III. It has more fantasy elements then many of the listed games but a lot of scifi elements as well. One of your main goals is to reassemble an interdimensional time traveling warship to use it to end an invasion of your homeworld via artificial flood generating monster launched from another dimension. The story is kid of a reverse Terminator with most of your party being sent back from a dark future as the Resistance's last installation was being overrun in hopes of changing history.
Chrono Trigger is about time travel, Interdimensional beings, and has a half man half motorcycle. Even dabbles in how evolution works. How much more science fiction could you get?
the man's insane. and questioning how sci-fi star ocean is? saying it may only be considered sci-fi because of it's name!? I don't believe he quite understands what science fiction is...
@@melsmith245 Right. I haven't played Star Ocean on SNES in a really long time, but if I remember correctly the opening credits cutscene is on a spaceship or something leaving the planet. I mean you might as well say orcs and goblins are not fantasy enough to be included in a fantasy monster top ten.
@@melsmith245 to be fair Star Ocean is often criticized for largely abandoning sci-fi for an underdeveloped planet and basic fantasy cliches that take most of the games times.
He has an extremely narrow view of what constitutes sci fi. He probably thinks Dune is not sci fi. God only knows what he would think of Ursula K Leguin's novels
@@rooty I only know Leguin's Earthsea series, pretty high fantasy stuff, what is a work of hers in the sci genre you recommend?
Check out Starflight. It was on the Sega Genesis and even had the little yellow expanded capability for the cartridge. It also came with the game manual that was like 200 pages. It was an epic game where you could choose the species of each of your crew members, and explore dozens if not hundreds of solar systems. The different species had different strengths and certain ones were warring with each other. So if you tried to optimize your crew and have the best of all the races for their specialized jobs then any ship encountered would automatically attack you since you had an enemy life form on board. It even had a great plot twist that I won’t spoil. It was a true masterpiece that I was lucky enough to own a copy of in the 90s and played tons.
Nice video! I'd include Xenoblade X personally, AKA, the game that needs a Switch port the most.
Thank you! So the only reason why we didn’t include that one is because we just talked about it in more detail in our recent video about 8 great mecha JRPGs and wanted to spread the love to other Xeno games we didn’t talk about in that vid. But yes otherwise it absolutely fits and would be a great one to include here. Still holding out hope for that Switch port as well.. it gets so overlooked just being on the Wii U
@@GamingBroductions huh, I'm subscribed with the bell, but I didn't get a notification. Also, was Front Mission in that video? Edit: never mind: found the video and yes it was in notifications, sorry I have a memory problem that flares up from time to time.
@@CrocvsGator Haha no worries! Hope you enjoyed that one too
Awesome video! I’m really thinking I should play Phantasy Star IV!
Thank you! Yeah you should check it out!
Damn, man. Star Ocean 2 is so special to me. I remember the first night I owned it. I remember I had lost to a boss fight a few times in a row and stopped playing out of frustration. Then, without level up any, I tried it again before I went to bed and it was like 2 different fights. It was stupid easy. I remember going to be even more frustrated lol
I was just so confused with how I died multiple times.
Saw the thumbnail and clicked.
Here's my two cents: the Front Mission series could very well be in there, even though it's closer to a tactical RPG. That said, I've only played a fan translation of the very first game on SNES, but MAN was it a good one. Should deffo try the other ones someday though.
Not closer, it is a tactical rpg all along 🤷
Nintendo DS had some awesome popular and niche RPG’s. Thanks for mentioning some of those I haven’t even heard of yet!
I got really into Star Ocean 3 when it came out. super thought-provoking and the battle system/weapon enhancement was awesome. might be time for a replay.
I stopped playing once they broke the 4th wall. Otherwise it was decent
The second disc was real hard to get through.. and the final boss battle, just stupidly ridiculous.
@@wildndetroit decent? Lol the game kicks ass
@@PsychomachineryEBM I didn't say I didn't liked it, but when the game explained to the characters they were in a game, it kinda ruined the immersion of the game. I still enjoyed playing it.
@@wildndetroit That in itself is a sci-fi element. There is a theory that we right now are just living in a simulation because eventually we will reach a point of technology where we solve all of life’s problems and there is no where left to go, so instead we simulate the part of our civilization where we felt the most alive.
Another way to look at it is, who is to say we aren’t just NPCs in an MMORPG made by some more advanced humans?
Hard disagree with you mate, I definetly view Chrono Trigger as more of a sci-fi than fantasy game. Even in the present, the game starts throwing stuff like robots and time machines down your throat, and the sci-fi elements only become more apparent as you progress through the game.
Chrono Cross is much more scifi though, and it had a lukewarm reception by a lot of people.
star ocean 2 is absolutely one of my favorite PS1 games along with Castlevania Symphony of the Night. A lot of people never paid much attention to Star Ocean 2 at the time due to the mania over PS1's Final Fantasy games but if you compare it to FF7.... Star Ocean 2 has so much more going on with its battle system, item creation system, personal actions, sheer amount of gameplay and hours you can dump into it...dont get me wrong ff7 is an amazing game as well but for me Star Ocean 2 is the one to play from that generation
If you skip some story elements early when you choose the Dude as the MC, you can use the phaser that breaks to power level since it only stops working after a certain scene.
@@jamesdickens3120
BUUUUUURN
distinct lack of Xenogears! I know you mentioned it briefly but Xenogears is such a masterpiece.
Yesss Strange Journey!! 🤘
Thank you for the interesting video. There are a few on that list I haven't played that look interesting and it's always nice to see Phantasy Star IV getting some love. I love science fiction as a genre, especially when it combined with elements of fantasy and horror. My preference for that mix is probably one of the reasons that Phantasy Star IV is my favorite game of all time, it is a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy with some darker elements that even cross over into cosmic horror at times. That, and it also has my favorite battle system of any turn-based RPG (though some of the Shin Megami Tensei games come in as close runners-up).
Great list! Going through Star Ocean 4 right now and while I like it, it definitely should not be on this list lol. Gonna check out Phantasy Star IV whenever I put it down, it’s only $1 on Steam!
It's odd that for as much as I love sci-fi, I've only played a handful of these, and some of them I hadn't even heard of. I wonder why sci-fi JRPGs are so rare, there's so much unexplored potential there.
I was gonna touch on this in the outro but forgot. My theory is though that despite Phantasy Star being pretty popular, ultimately it didn’t sell quite as well as the more fantasy oriented Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. Maybe developers took that as a hint that gamers wanted more fantasy rpgs and not sci-fi so they decided not to take the risk? Idk lol. Granted that was like 30 years ago now so you would think there would have been more willing to try it out over time
The problem for phantasy star being its platform.
Unfortunately the master system and megadrive (but especially the master system) didn't have a good market share in Japan.
In the US, South America and a bit in Europe, the brand got a better impact (until the tidale wave FF7)
Also PSII and PSIII were rushed in their development and PSIV was great but expensive and arrived at the end of the life of the console
@@GamingBroductions
Well, Final Fantasy 7 is the most successful series in the franchise and it's genre is sci fi with few fantasy elements.
Science Fiction isn’t as popular as you might think. I think this will work as a metaphor to help you understand.
Pure Sci-Fi is like strong black coffee whereas Fantasy is like sweet milk. A lot of people like the mixture of the two with a greater proportion of sweet milk, but the strong black coffee only crowd is fairly niche.
As an example, Xenoblade chronicles which has very strong fantasy elements to it is extremely popular but Xenoblade X which despite having really high production values didn’t do nearly as well. Xenoblade X is very sci-fi, I’d say it’s kind of like the movie Prometheus in terms of plot.
@@xxJing Xenoblade Chronicles X doing poorly is probably because the Wii U flopped. A Switch port could do it well.
It’s satisfying as hell to hear anyone say kind words about Star Ocean 3. It my personal favorite of the series and probably one of my top jrpgs ever
Star Ocean 3? Isn't that the game that required an entire memory card just for the Trophy System?
@@ianbraun271 a separate save slot for the 300 trophies yes but you can fill up a memory card going after them all since you may use multiple play throughs/save files
This was a solid list!
Thanks my dude!
Happy to see Anachronox receiving some recognition here. Criminally underrated game, stupid how people didn't give it a chance.
I liked Infinite space, what I hated about it was the volume. I could only hear good with a head set it was just to low over the Ds speakers. I thought it had a pc port at one time but the infinite space on steam is not the same thing. Rogue Galaxy was my last new Ps2 game I bought, I had a blast with it. Star ocean 3 is the best in the serious im sure most will agree, though I thought 1 was pretty good too. Those are some nice game selections, good job! :D
Love your videos! Please don't ever make a top 10 hot rpg characters or best waifus or any of that...those videos are in poor taste.
Appreciate you always watching! You don’t have to worry about that. No hate at all on channels that do stuff like that but that’s not really our style or the type of content we plan on making
Poor taste lol who do you think you are? The moral police?
@@marshmallowcello7528 Nah, I just like quality content, like this channel provides...you're welcome to like whatever you want. I really don't care.
@@alexiere quality is subjective. Just admit you're a fanservice hater and you look down anyone who likes them.
Being a huge Phantasy Star IV fan, I did a double take with that thumbnail haha 😉
Quite the squad don’t you think ha?
Great list for Sci-Fi RPG not JRPG . Anachronox and Cosmic Star Heroine werent Made in Japan . The most obvious answer to what is the difference between JRPGs and RPGs is the region these games are developed in. A typical RPG is used to refer to a Western game and/or a blanket term for the genre. A JRPG then is anything developed in Japan aka a Japanese role-playing game
Curiosity brought me, stayed for the content. 👍
Man I’m playing SO4 and I think it may be my favorite in the series. I played 3 as a kid and loved it and decided to dive into the full series and 4 is surprisingly becoming one of my favorites
4 is my favourite too. Really don't get how it's so hated.
4 is great. I love the space travel aspect of this one because it feels like you're going on a grand space journey compared to the other ones where you're stuck on a backwater planet for 3/4 of the game. I hope 6 has as much fun with exploration as 4 did.
I had SUCH a great time with Cosmic Star Heroine
Imagine if we got a Phantasy Star 5 today.
Infinite Space is one of my all time fave stories in games. It had a mid game twist and becomes much more mature and in depth. I'd love a sequel to to it.
Another one is MS Saga: A New Dawn. It's a turn based, highly customizable rpg based on the Gundam universe. The story is cliche and the characters are goofy. But gameplay and difficulty are great.
Infinite Space i have great fun too but shitty ending and i hated the 'twist'.
I had a hard time getting into Rogue Galaxy. The gameplay just really couldn't hold my attention especially after having played Final Fantasy XII.
Lol RG gameplay is better
I'll get around to playing this list someday. Anacronox looks really interesting. I have played Xenosaga series though great video subscribed.
Anachronox is absolutely amazing, highly recommended.
There's so much I dislike about rogue Galaxy yet I still love it. Absolutely amazing game, warts and all.
For sure, it’s very polarizing as some aspects are executed excellently while others are handled pretty poorly (mainly the story and gameplay balance I think). We covered the game in a full retrospective awhile back and I give my thoughts there. I felt similarly, really loved the game and especially the setting but damn does it still have some flaws
KOS-MOS waifu
How is Chrono trigger not a sci-fi game? The whole plot of the game is based around time travel.
loads of fantasy and magic thrown in, and the time travel is facilitated by, if not magical, then non-scientific means (speculated by the heroes to be the planet trying to relive its memories)
This guy likes saying "with that said"
Phantasy Star 4 M is THE BEST!!!
Rogue Galaxy NEEDS a Remake.
NOT a remaster but a full from the ground up Remake with added content and QOL changes.
It is an AMAZING game with a LOT of good content and it is Definitely worth a play [Especially seeing as I believe it is free on the classics catalogue on the playstation store for members]
If H.G. Well's Time Machine is considered science fiction, which I believe it is, then I suppose Chrono Trigger would have to be considered a science fiction fantasy adventure. The time machine makes it sci fi.
Pretty good list, but Anachronox being mentioned reminded me of another early 2000s one that could've fit
the list, at least I personally like it. Hybrid Heaven, besides being one of the handful N64 RPGs period,
it's damn interesting in it's own right. Low-key the N64's Metal Gear Solid, and that battle system?
Brilliantly out there idea. Easily the best part, but the rest is no slouch for both crowds either
Anachronox is not really a JRPG... But if you include it, should also include NieR: Automata/Replicant - those at least are Japan ones lol There are at least 20 JRPGs which can be easily included into the list. Kind of strange to talk about Xenosaga 1-3, but not to say anything about Xenogears which (in my opinion) is a superior game.
I will not play a xenosaga remake I forbid the creation of a remaster it’s is ANATHEMA! PS2 is the way god intended for us mortals to experience
That thumbnail...Iunno who big boy over there in the background is, but I DO know he's probably completely screwed. :P
I'm surprised you didn't have the Super Robot Wars series on here.
Also Star Ocean 2 is on PS4, in Japan. For whatever reason they decided to release every Star Ocean game in the series on PS4 outside of Japan except for the best one.
Chrono trigger has an alien as the main bad guy that helped mankind grow so it could use it for fuel to go and eat another planet …. Time travel. Robot . Luca looks like a retro space girl with a ray gun . Needs a remake but for better and not just talking
SO3...umm...if you want to get into the series, consider playing it first. Its story is...weird....
s02 is gold
I like the story and the whole civilization concept and them being behind century behind. Gameplay and battle lines are super good!
biggest problem with SO3 is the big twist invalidates every game before it. SO4 tries to clean things up but it still doesn't actually matter
Xenosaga is pretty rough to play these days, much rather Anachronox even if it's ugly 3D doesn't hold up well.
Is it okay to play phantasy star IV without playing the previous games?
For sure, there are some callback references but I would say they’re not essential to understanding the plot and just extra to those that have played some of the previous ones
tbh it was the first one I played. If you go backwards in the series (from 4 to 2 to 1) you get to view it like an archaeologist discovering more and more ancient civilizations
at the same time you won't know a few things, like why Motavia is a desert when it used to be a paradise, or who Alis/Alisa is, Who Lassic/La Shiec is, or once all of Rune's whole deal is revealed you won't understand the impact. Also you won't get the impact of fighting Dark Force/Dark Fals more than once.
I do recommend playing them in order though; PStar 1 and 2 have been retranslated by fans (as have their PS2 versions), the PStar2 sidegames have been translated and fill in the backstories of the companions (they're adventure games instead of RPGs), 3 is optional but excellent with the fan retranslation, and 4 is...well, stick with the official English script and get the level 99 bugfix because the retranslation project is currently not 100%
I love all the star ocean games.
My rating
Star ocean 2
Star ocean 3 (the 1st half)
Star ocean 4
Star ocean 1
Star ocean 3 (the later half, I can't stand the 4D shit, and how how all the games are just a Computer program)
Star ocean 6
The only one I found annoying in Star Ocean 4 was Sarah. Really wish I could mute her dialogue. And I remember not being able to stand the third game, but I forget why it's been so long ago.
I clicked because I recognized the cover image as one of the battles against Dark Force in Phantasy Star 4, the best RPG ever made. Except you screwed with the characters fighting the thing. Chaz is the only one who actually belongs there.
Speaking of Star Ocean, Everyone buy the 6th game.
For the love of The Lord, we need the franchise to stay alive (As well as Tri-Ace.).
Phantasy Star is what Star Ocean should have been, what SO always tried and failed to be. Parasite Eve is also a very good sci-fi JRPG. Isn't Digital Devil Saga also sci-fi?
infinite space is superb. to bad the sales where poor and no part 2 will come.
Add Septerra Core
I love this channel
totally agreed with SO2+3 xD Specially 3! We need a remake of 3 too!
Is my problem with Rogue Galaxy is the encounter rate is stupid annoying high
I only played a little of it, but you might want to check out Lagrange Point for the Famicom, even if only for it's music.
Wonder why they would make 1 and 3 available on ps4 and not localize the already made so2 for it
SO4 only one character is great cringe Welch she is great a human helper who helps you make things that is it if her role was bigger like ships AI
Great list, great pics, I would love to see Xenosaga get an HD trilogy re-release too since i never got the chance to play any of them!
Those outro clips get me every time, always my favorite part of your vids. :D
I am surprised you did not put Xenogears or Xenoblade Chronicles X on the list. Great video!
Good video. I didn't care for some of the games you put on your list but your video was quite well done.
I tried rouge galaxy on PS Now and could not get past the very beginning because of a button layout issue
2:38 - Infinite Space - you know, this game brings back memories of my favorite moments of time served in the US Army. I arrived at USAG Mannheim in 2010... nearly a dozen years ago. I was stationed initially with 72nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion's Rear Detachment - which is, I suppose, a fancy way of saying I was part of the cleanup crew in preparation for shutting down the whole base. In any case, one day I was so bored out of my gourd I coulda nailed my foot to the floorboard of a ford. I don't remember why I got Infinite Space - other than the obvious "I was looking for a game" explanation - but the game totally captivated my attention. When I finished the game, though... it felt a little too short. Like, "overselling it with the word infinite"-short.
Rogue Galaxy is great I remember playing in my PS2 back in the day
Cosmic Star Heroine was super fun
Why show Ness in your thumbnail if you’re not going to show Earthbound?
Brooooo what about Xenogears??? The greatest RPG on the Playstation.
I’m surprised NieR Automata didn’t make the list.
Finally someone's giving Infinite Space some love! That's one of my favorite games of all time, and I never meet anyone who's even heard of it! In a slightly different reality, Infinite Space was the beginning of an epic franchise. Sadly, we are not in that reality...
Infinite Space is such an underrated hidden gem, it´s criminal. It is a true space opera and has one of the best storylines in gaming history. The first few hours are hard to get into, why I almost dropped the game. But after figuring out the battle system, the game becomes extremly addicting up until the end.
I think SMT: Strange Journey is pretty scifi
You put in tales of destiny character select for star ocean.
Yooo infinite space! One of my favorite games of all time
Great list, I went back and played Star ocean 2 a decade ago to see if it held up and I've since played it like 4 more times, its fantastic. Story, audio, graphics, gameplay, love it to death. I really need to getting around to SO3 and 4 sometime. 4 I saw a buddy play the international version with Japanese audio & the girls were all WAY more tolerable, so I wanna give that a go, plus its on steam in HD. Phantasy Star IV deserves all the love it can get and I would LOVE a modern version of that series.
Nice video but man, the way you put higher tone at end of half your sentences is annoying as hell. Sounds like a teen being forced to read in front of class.
Haha narration/public speaking is something I’ve always struggled with and makes me cringe a bit to go back and listen to these older videos tbh, but it is something I’ve been actively working on and even took a VO class last year to try to improve. My teacher made me very well aware of my inflection and rhythm problem. Still got work to do but I think there’s been some pretty big improvements in our most recent vids compared to these older ones
Praying we get remasters of any of the earlier xeno games.
You forget two important very good rpg-s on MSX-Turbo-R and on MSX-2. That is Illusion city from Microcabin: th-cam.com/video/X9p38YDWMrU/w-d-xo.html. And offcourse SD-Snatcher: th-cam.com/video/W5IFDaWwjIs/w-d-xo.html.
Been meaning to play Rogue Galaxy. Personally, I do hard with PSO Ver. 2 on the Dreamcast. Check me out for weekly streams as well and keep up the good work!
I would argue Chrono Trigger can be considered Sci-Fi... I mean time travel, Robo, the Mammon machine, the black bird, the black omen, the kingdom of Zeal (Ok Zeal is mainly magic but it is floating because of machines, notably the mammon machine).
I enjoyed the games you mention. Anachronox is one of them I absolutely must try it (and finish)
I just feel like it's never quite been nailed yet.
I hated star ocean 3 but star ocean 2 look fun
Xenosaga was just OK for me. Best card minigame ever in the first game, but otherwise minigames were a pain. Crazy amount of cutscenes. Battles that dragged on and on. The story had a lot of potential, but it was too dragged out and convoluted. And a very odd remake of Shion after the first game going from average-looking scientist to total airhead babe.
No, the third one is the best, just alone cause of the story and the revealing ending it has to be 3.
The end of 3 makes you think so much. Creator: "You are just a pile of 0's and 1's" EPIC
Excited for star ocean second story r!
I liked the little rascals clip.
Rogue Galaxy is a damn good game. I remember being hard stuck at the Jupis boss fight in the factory. I had to grind to to get Simon's Missile Squall up just to get through that fight.
Xenosaga shout out! Yes sir! One of my favorite series. Star Ocean 4 on the other hand is fun, but so cringe I'm not sure if I will finish it.
games not made by japan are not jrpg.
Earthbound plz.
I'm surprised the Ar Tonelico series wasnt' on this list ^^ but then again it's already a bit past sci-fi . so much so that it basically almost came full circle to fantasy... it's hyper sci-fi.
i really loved the first Xenosaga game back in the day. i never got around to the sequels tho for whatever reason.
The SO2 port for the psp is my favorite because of the intro song "Start" from scandal. It made the game over screen less frustrating whenever that song plays.
My favorite games of all time are Xenogears/Xenosaga series. They're all sci fi especially the saga series. I haven't played anything beyond Xenosaga III though.
I love popular "Johnras".