Octopath Traveler 2 is an absolute MASTERPIECE. I can't stress this enough, if you love JRPG's - give this game a chance! This is coming from someone who didn't care for the first game at all. It took me a long time to even give OT2 a try, waited for a Steam sale, then after about 10 hours I genuinely felt guilty I waited nearly a year & didn't pay full price! If any game deserved $60, it was this one. Probably best overall JRPG I've played the past decade. Never thought I'd ever feel that way, as Atlus RPG's are typically my favorite, but can't deny how much I enjoyed this.
Seriously, Tales of Arise is so underrated, the characters all grow so much. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has my favorite characters. That cast will always be seen as my friends.
It's pretty nice that you went ahead and updated it when you were reminded of adventures that you adored. My own JRPGs with great characters are as follow: Tales of Berseria and Final Fantasy 16. I love a variety of characters in different JRPGs. They are special and great. But Berseria's and XVI's cast of characters, from main group to supporting NPCs is unmatched. My love for them is immense. Cannot get enough of them.
I have to admit to loving the characters in Scarlet Nexus. I didn't know if i was going to like it but the different personalities meshed so well. The fact you needed to make use of everyone's abilities helped greatly and the mental abilities used were done so well.
They're a huge part of the game, and the main component in its overall theming. :) Their problems all relate to living in a world of connections (for better or worse) and are very relatable.
I'll post my comment from the last video here too: Ys 8 and 9 are comforting games to play because it's like being among friends and family again. I love the characters and the community you build with those characters over the course of each game. While I probably prefer Ys 8 in terms of setting and story, I might prefer Ys 9 in terms of characters, but it's hard to decide. I'd definitely include those games in the list. As for Trails, I'm finally playing my first Trails game, Trails Through Daybreak, thanks to your video on it recently and thanks to the fact that there's a free, substantial demo that can be downloaded and played from the PS5 store. If the ones you recommend have characters that good, I may give it a try, though I admit that turn-based combat, especially from much older JRPG's, isn't my favorite thing. I've always loved the way the characters are portrayed in FFVII Remake. Playing Rebirth was a good reminder of how much I like their characterization. They got depth and things about them to take seriously, but there's also some good humor surrounding them too.
I'm so glad to see 13 Sentinels added to the list!! It's hard to play that game without falling in love with the cast. Thank you for the wonderful content as always Alex.
I'm going to add some more here: *Tales of Xillia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Scarlet Nexus, the Tears to Tiara series, the Utawarerumono series.*
Total agreed with octopath traveler II , especially osvalds Story Made me Play this Game for hours longer than i wanted at that evening Back then. Just so sad that this Game is going under the Radar for so many people...
Man I love everything you have out in the background. You got a nice collectiob of CE's and other cool stuff. As for some of my favorite jrpgs with great characters, I'll say Tales of the Abyss and Dot hack GU. Xenosaga has some amazing characters as well
Tales of Vesperia has my favorite cast and I love everybody, which is extremely rare. Symphonia, the only character I don't like is Zelos. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Goddess of Dawn has my favorite cast of characters. Mia, I adore and imprinted myself on her, Nephenee is so adorable and then falls head of heels with Heather in the sequel. Heather, to my knowledge, is the first openly lesbian character in the series. But I have to give a shoutout to Marisa from Sacred Stones, she's left-handed, like me!
I just finished Octopath Traveler II and can confirm that all the characters were awesome and had incredible stories. I especially loved the interactions between the 8 characters even though those interactions were limited.
A couple games I loved on the PS3 are Tales of Graces f and Ar Tonelico Qoga. The latter being a very fan service type of jrpg, but the story is pretty interesting and is a jrpg series that has multiple endings depending on who you romanced. There's also a bad ending, strongly recommend wearing headphones for the game in case your room isn't well insulated/soundproof. There's no nudity, but some of the girls do make suggestive sounds even though nothing sexual is going on 😂. And in the Ar series, I call it, only women can use magic and it's more potent the less they're wearing, can't make them nude thankfully. The magic system uses the PS3 motion controls to make the magic stronger. The premise of the story follows the save the world from the evil empire shtick, but has its own twists and turns. Tales of Graces f I really liked cause our protagonist starts as a kid and we get to see a bit of his childhood before the time skip to his teenage years. Much like most if not all the Tales games, it's a very long and interesting game. If you're not speed running it, it's easily around 50-100 hours of story and side quests. And the protagonist only hooks up with 1 girl. I haven't played either game in a long time, but I do remember that I really enjoyed playing them
I think, currently, my absolute favorite characters ate in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy. You just spend so much time with them, and I think they're much deeper and more well-rounded than they were in the OG. Final Fantasy X is a more "intimate" story than most other FF games and it shows. I also really love the characters in Blue Dragon. That game was a joy to play.. I also love the quirkiness of the characters in Okage: Shadow King. They're not the deepest characters, but they are a lot of fun.
Tales of Vesperia, Radiant Historia, Lost Odyssey, Chrono Trigger, Nier (Original), Suikoden 2 & 5, Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2, Mana Khemia 1 & 2, Phatom Brave, Radiata Stories. etc. It's hard to make a list. But those are the ones I'll forever .
It's the Definitive Edition remaster! xD This does bring up a mildly related topic: I am shocked that, despite the NES/SNES FF games having their localizations completely redone from scratch and then revised, along with other games like Star Ocean 2 getting the same treatment with their rereleases, that the PSone FF trilogy never got anything of the sort? It's weird that a version of FFVII that released in 2019 (the Switch/Xbox versions) still has spells named like "Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3"
Ethel on the thumbnail. :om: Think all the XC's do something great, but I kind of agree that the character development is the best especially for the main characters like Mio. Game spends an amazing time building the characters throughout the game. Side note, the lore/world behind XC3 makes the game my personal favorite. Getting into politics has made me appreciate how the game criticizes the two party system (Agnus/Keves) and the control of the oligarchy (Mobius) over the means of production to perpetuate a neverending cycle. Game also gives great meaning behind life and death. Another thing XC does well in general is you don't have to play any of the previous games to get into the story (even though they're all related).
Just finished legend of heroes trails to daybreak, enjoyed it alot and I loved when I played through the crossbell arc. I do miss the simplesity of Trails in the sky to crossbell shits gotten very different after cs4 but cant wait for the next game!
With Tales games, generally speaking I would say: Take your pick. You'll love at least one of them. :) The longer answer is that Namco tends to organize its writing from a big-picture perspective, which leaves some holes when it comes to the smaller scale plot details. To make up for this, they tend to have to put a lot of emphasis on characters' individual personalities and finding ways to relay that information as often as possible throughout the game, meaning you'll never go long periods of time without hearing them react to what's going on around them. I've always appreciated this about the series.
Strong charcters are a must for me to truly enjoy an rpg as they are long games spent with them. The Yakuza cast are iconic and probably my favourite outside of an FF game.
A good list made even better. I still think Chrono Trigger's party has a special dynamic. I'd also be interested to see a top 10 or 15 parties list with the one per franchise rule removed. Would love to see where the Phantom Thieves, SEES, FFIX and the remainder of Xeno might land without our being overshadowed by the other pics.
Valkyria chronicles 1 Outside Rosie Largo and Alicia the squad is yours are you going to pick the same things again or not. How it shows the every person being throws into war their racial biases perk and weakness, the allegory for nuclear weapond that just blends into a perfect soup. Yes you can just spam order save scump get to the end A rank mission in 2-3 turns but something missing
Havent watched the video but glad to see another Arise enjoyer, Im tired of people acting like the story is a massive dumpster fire with nothing good going for it.
There were some aspects to the story I didn't like as much, which is why I prefer Berseria's story overall, but I still like the characters in Arise a lot. I haven't had the chance to play the DLC though.
Glad to see P4 here. In my opinion the best game in the series and a big reason for that is its great characters writing, which unfortunately lead me to disappointment when I played Persona 5.
Appreciate you mentioning the Trails Crossbell games. The SSS and their allies are truly one of the best casts I've seen in any story.
Octopath Traveler 2 is an absolute MASTERPIECE.
I can't stress this enough, if you love JRPG's - give this game a chance!
This is coming from someone who didn't care for the first game at all. It took me a long time to even give OT2 a try, waited for a Steam sale, then after about 10 hours I genuinely felt guilty I waited nearly a year & didn't pay full price!
If any game deserved $60, it was this one. Probably best overall JRPG I've played the past decade. Never thought I'd ever feel that way, as Atlus RPG's are typically my favorite, but can't deny how much I enjoyed this.
Seriously, Tales of Arise is so underrated, the characters all grow so much. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has my favorite characters. That cast will always be seen as my friends.
Explain to me how this game is underrated? The game sold well, got best rpg of the year. You really abuse this word.
It's pretty nice that you went ahead and updated it when you were reminded of adventures that you adored.
My own JRPGs with great characters are as follow:
Tales of Berseria and Final Fantasy 16.
I love a variety of characters in different JRPGs. They are special and great.
But Berseria's and XVI's cast of characters, from main group to supporting NPCs is unmatched. My love for them is immense. Cannot get enough of them.
I have to admit to loving the characters in Scarlet Nexus. I didn't know if i was going to like it but the different personalities meshed so well. The fact you needed to make use of everyone's abilities helped greatly and the mental abilities used were done so well.
They're a huge part of the game, and the main component in its overall theming. :) Their problems all relate to living in a world of connections (for better or worse) and are very relatable.
I'll post my comment from the last video here too:
Ys 8 and 9 are comforting games to play because it's like being among friends and family again. I love the characters and the community you build with those characters over the course of each game. While I probably prefer Ys 8 in terms of setting and story, I might prefer Ys 9 in terms of characters, but it's hard to decide. I'd definitely include those games in the list.
As for Trails, I'm finally playing my first Trails game, Trails Through Daybreak, thanks to your video on it recently and thanks to the fact that there's a free, substantial demo that can be downloaded and played from the PS5 store. If the ones you recommend have characters that good, I may give it a try, though I admit that turn-based combat, especially from much older JRPG's, isn't my favorite thing.
I've always loved the way the characters are portrayed in FFVII Remake. Playing Rebirth was a good reminder of how much I like their characterization. They got depth and things about them to take seriously, but there's also some good humor surrounding them too.
You can “remake” it too and add another game 😊
I love the Ys 9 characters, it really feels like a weird little family
I'm so glad to see 13 Sentinels added to the list!! It's hard to play that game without falling in love with the cast. Thank you for the wonderful content as always Alex.
I'm going to add some more here:
*Tales of Xillia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Scarlet Nexus, the Tears to Tiara series, the Utawarerumono series.*
Total agreed with octopath traveler II , especially osvalds Story Made me Play this Game for hours longer than i wanted at that evening Back then. Just so sad that this Game is going under the Radar for so many people...
Man I love everything you have out in the background. You got a nice collectiob of CE's and other cool stuff. As for some of my favorite jrpgs with great characters, I'll say Tales of the Abyss and Dot hack GU. Xenosaga has some amazing characters as well
KISARA IN THE THUMBNAIL WOOP WOOP!!!!!
That's how you can tell it's NEW!
Who's the other thumbnail girl
Kisara was the best character in Arise hands down to be. Something about the badass also being the group mom archtype just works for me.
@@mcbill7352 : Wish I could remember the name, but I know she's from Xenoblade 3.
Oh, I saw it in a comment: Ethel.
@@mcbill7352 ethel aka Sword mami
Tales of Vesperia has my favorite cast and I love everybody, which is extremely rare. Symphonia, the only character I don't like is Zelos.
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Goddess of Dawn has my favorite cast of characters. Mia, I adore and imprinted myself on her, Nephenee is so adorable and then falls head of heels with Heather in the sequel. Heather, to my knowledge, is the first openly lesbian character in the series. But I have to give a shoutout to Marisa from Sacred Stones, she's left-handed, like me!
I just finished Octopath Traveler II and can confirm that all the characters were awesome and had incredible stories. I especially loved the interactions between the 8 characters even though those interactions were limited.
A couple games I loved on the PS3 are Tales of Graces f and Ar Tonelico Qoga. The latter being a very fan service type of jrpg, but the story is pretty interesting and is a jrpg series that has multiple endings depending on who you romanced. There's also a bad ending, strongly recommend wearing headphones for the game in case your room isn't well insulated/soundproof. There's no nudity, but some of the girls do make suggestive sounds even though nothing sexual is going on 😂. And in the Ar series, I call it, only women can use magic and it's more potent the less they're wearing, can't make them nude thankfully. The magic system uses the PS3 motion controls to make the magic stronger. The premise of the story follows the save the world from the evil empire shtick, but has its own twists and turns.
Tales of Graces f I really liked cause our protagonist starts as a kid and we get to see a bit of his childhood before the time skip to his teenage years. Much like most if not all the Tales games, it's a very long and interesting game. If you're not speed running it, it's easily around 50-100 hours of story and side quests. And the protagonist only hooks up with 1 girl. I haven't played either game in a long time, but I do remember that I really enjoyed playing them
Graces may have one of the best title screens... ever. :D
I think, currently, my absolute favorite characters ate in the Final Fantasy VII Remake Trilogy. You just spend so much time with them, and I think they're much deeper and more well-rounded than they were in the OG.
Final Fantasy X is a more "intimate" story than most other FF games and it shows.
I also really love the characters in Blue Dragon. That game was a joy to play..
I also love the quirkiness of the characters in Okage: Shadow King. They're not the deepest characters, but they are a lot of fun.
Seconded FFX. Not a fully balanced cast but a very well-made one. Gotta love Auron and Rikku.
XENOBLADE AND YAKUZA MENTIONED!!!!!!
Tales of Vesperia, Radiant Historia, Lost Odyssey, Chrono Trigger, Nier (Original), Suikoden 2 & 5, Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2, Mana Khemia 1 & 2, Phatom Brave, Radiata Stories. etc.
It's hard to make a list. But those are the ones I'll forever .
There's no ignoring how Yuri Lowell was basically banned from character popularity contests because he was just too damn popular. XD
It's the Definitive Edition remaster! xD
This does bring up a mildly related topic: I am shocked that, despite the NES/SNES FF games having their localizations completely redone from scratch and then revised, along with other games like Star Ocean 2 getting the same treatment with their rereleases, that the PSone FF trilogy never got anything of the sort? It's weird that a version of FFVII that released in 2019 (the Switch/Xbox versions) still has spells named like "Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3"
Ethel on the thumbnail. :om: Think all the XC's do something great, but I kind of agree that the character development is the best especially for the main characters like Mio. Game spends an amazing time building the characters throughout the game.
Side note, the lore/world behind XC3 makes the game my personal favorite. Getting into politics has made me appreciate how the game criticizes the two party system (Agnus/Keves) and the control of the oligarchy (Mobius) over the means of production to perpetuate a neverending cycle. Game also gives great meaning behind life and death. Another thing XC does well in general is you don't have to play any of the previous games to get into the story (even though they're all related).
Just finished legend of heroes trails to daybreak, enjoyed it alot and I loved when I played through the crossbell arc. I do miss the simplesity of Trails in the sky to crossbell shits gotten very different after cs4 but cant wait for the next game!
With Tales games, generally speaking I would say: Take your pick. You'll love at least one of them. :)
The longer answer is that Namco tends to organize its writing from a big-picture perspective, which leaves some holes when it comes to the smaller scale plot details. To make up for this, they tend to have to put a lot of emphasis on characters' individual personalities and finding ways to relay that information as often as possible throughout the game, meaning you'll never go long periods of time without hearing them react to what's going on around them. I've always appreciated this about the series.
a2, kaine, emil, popola & devola my absolute favorites
Xenoblade 3 is something I need to play again, I am so tempted to relive the story and its characters once more. Great list overall!
Strong charcters are a must for me to truly enjoy an rpg as they are long games spent with them. The Yakuza cast are iconic and probably my favourite outside of an FF game.
>Great Characters
>Backlog
>Ethel and Kisara
I see what you did there.
I got scared you remade the video to include Tales cos of my suggestion, got thing that wasnt the case lol. Love the vids btw!
@@KingK1421 thank you! I see that you enjoyed my thumbnail LOL
Hell yeah Ichiban
Hell yeah indeed!
I looked at your list and realised that I, too, do not remember all of the games that I played 😂😂😂
Didn't comment on the original video, but definitely was surprised Xenoblade was missing. Glad to see it recognized now - love the update!
A good list made even better. I still think Chrono Trigger's party has a special dynamic. I'd also be interested to see a top 10 or 15 parties list with the one per franchise rule removed. Would love to see where the Phantom Thieves, SEES, FFIX and the remainder of Xeno might land without our being overshadowed by the other pics.
Valkyria chronicles 1
Outside Rosie Largo and Alicia the squad is yours are you going to pick the same things again or not.
How it shows the every person being throws into war their racial biases perk and weakness, the allegory for nuclear weapond that just blends into a perfect soup.
Yes you can just spam order save scump get to the end A rank mission in 2-3 turns but something missing
Havent watched the video but glad to see another Arise enjoyer, Im tired of people acting like the story is a massive dumpster fire with nothing good going for it.
I loved it so much that I've got it installed on my Steam Deck to replay through it again!
There were some aspects to the story I didn't like as much, which is why I prefer Berseria's story overall, but I still like the characters in Arise a lot. I haven't had the chance to play the DLC though.
I love Arise from start to finish honestly and I think the characters are why. I just really wanted these guys to be happy!
Glad to see P4 here. In my opinion the best game in the series and a big reason for that is its great characters writing, which unfortunately lead me to disappointment when I played Persona 5.