The Trails series is like the One Piece of JRPGs. Immaculate world building and adventure. Both are super intimidating to get into because they’re so big, but both are worth the investment.
I'm kind of glad I played Trails in the Sky while being ignorant of the rest of the Trails games because I probably would have been too intimidated to start the series if I had know the trilogy I was starting was really a 13+ game series that is still on going. Its kind of funny I got in to Trails in the Sky because I heard the battle theme in some other random video and I found the game on steam and it was 50% off (10$) when I found it on steam. I was completely clueless to the massive, but fantastic rabbit hole that silly little 10$ rpg I bought on a whim would take me down.
@@WhiteFangofWar Reverie is the 5th game of the third arc in the series, it's most definitely the worst entry point in the entire franchise. I suggest you start with one of the first games of an arc, with sky being the first one chronologically, though if you find it outdated you could always pick up the new trails through daybreak, which is the entry point of the calvard arc
That's funny because I think it has the same flaw as one piece. One piece is great but because there's so many characters and so much going on sometimes the story lacks focus and you have a lot of moments where you don't really care about what's going on. It makes it so that the highs are really high because of the buildup but the lows are really low. It could have been an even better story in my opinion if each arc were more conscise but I don't mind it because the story starts strong and the weekly format makes it almost impossible to not have moments where the pacing is not great. Trails do the same thing but unlike one piece the stories don't really start strong so it's like if one piece started with dressrosa. In my opinion it doesn't really give you good reasons to be invested yet spend time talking about the favorite color of a side character and I find it so boring. Sometimes it feels like game writers think more text means better story but I think they would benefit from more editing and more direct stories. I tried playing many trail games but every time it just felt like the writers were more concerned with flexing their writing skills than getting the player invested in the story. They just kinda expect you to endure the boring parts to get to the fun part but you wouldn't need to endure the bad part of the story started by giving you reasons to care. That's why I could never get into the series. the closest I've been to a proper playthrough was with trails in the sky but even then I dropped it after a few hours. Trails of steel starts with a daily school life thing and I stopped as soon as I realized that. I feel like the only way to enjoy those games is to just turn off your brain and mindlessly read until you get to the good part and that's not how any story should be written.
I think the more recent Yakuza/Like a Dragon games deserve to be on here even though they both start kinda slow. Ichiban is an absolute joy to play as.
Agreed to this. Ngl, at first I was skeptical having Ichiban as the successor after coming from the legendary Kiryu but Ichiban is a different kind of fun to play as.
Like a Dragon's biggest flaw is being too easy for like 3/4 of the game, and they give you no harder difficulty option till you beat the game and do ng+. If they fixed that, the first Like a Dragon is a literal 10/10 hall of famer, but as it stands, it's a big flaw for me
i finished FFX and trails but man with all due respect, X feels just like a filler or written clumsily when u played trails or persona 3-5 games.. i don't know about tactics they said its good tho
Final Fantasy X is really good game, but the story is not what stands out for me, but the combat system. I think it's the best combat. From Final Fantasy i think 6,7,8,9,12, 13, 14 have a better story thann x, 14 being the best.
Dragon Quest V, Star Ocean 2, Persona 4, Final Fantasy IV, Sukoden V, Xenogears, Legend of Hero: Trails of Cold Steel, Tales of Berseria, Radiant Historia, Lunar Silver Star Story, and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
Xenogears and p4 are certified bangers, but ff4? A great game but the best final Fantasy story? Really? No hate, but if you could elaborate a bit I'd appreciate it
I started playing the trails series last year and it was probably the best choice I made, videogame-wise, it quickly became my fav jrpg series of all times
13 Sentinels blew me out of the water with its story! I still wish it had won the Game Award for Best Narrative in 2020. FYI, did you know the lengths English VAs had to go through to record their lines for the game? They had to record at home and the audio quality they managed to pull off is amazing, you'd think they recorded in an actual studio. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is the reason I ended up getting a PS3 lol. I did get it again on the PS4 too, love it that much. I knew with Studio Ghibli involved in this game, the story would be charming and amazing. Playing this game is what got me to try Pokemon for the first time lol. My 2 fav JRPG stories though come from my 2 fav games. Even though Eternal Sonata IS my fav game and I loved the story it was telling, I do think Grandia 2's story is better because it flips the script more AND it turned me into a better person. Both games though make you THINK.
Gotta love another person promoting Trails! Over the last four years playing Trails games, I wholeheartly agree these are some of the greatest stories in gaming today! Great video!
Speaking of Falcom, I'd recommend giving the Ys series a shot. It's an action RPG starring a red haired silent protagonist: Adol. You can start almost anywhere in the series, and play through without context from other games in the series, so I can recommend starting with Ys: The Oath in Felghana or Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for one of the best experiences you can get.
the stories of the Ys games are wonderfull. My only complain about it (and I really don't care cause I give a shit bout story if gameplay is good, and Ys gameplay has been always overall good) is that the story always begins with a shipwreck hahahaha
Trails!!! I'm glad it's getting more love now. Cold Steel definitely brought it out of obscurity. I can't say much there as CS1 was what got me into the series, but I went back after the second CS game and played all the Sky games and then when Zero finally released for English speakers properly and not just a patch on the computer, I played that. I did get distracted unfortunately while playing to Azure, but I plan to return to it in the near future. I've been playing the mobile game too recently and seeing all of my favorite characters is so much fun.
One of the best choices in JRPGs was when Trails in the Sky decided to have Olivier and Zin as 2 of the 8 party members. Everyone else, Estelle, Joshua, Tita, Agate, Schera, and Kloe, were all either natives of Liberl or had lived in Liberl for a long time. Zin and Olivier were foreigners to Liberl who join the main party and become key parts of the story. That's one of the reasons why it feels like everything in trails was already there with Sky FC. Unlike every other JRPG, Sky FC teases you about the great world outside, with Olivier serving as our first look into Erebonia and Zin serving as our look into Calvard. The fact that we hear so much about the two super-powers and yet in the entire Sky trilogy, we never visit Calvard and only briefly visit Erebonia (in the ending of Sky SC) leaves so much mystery to everything. At the end of the Sky trilogy, we know these two giant super-powers are out there, and we've felt how they have affected every single aspect of our protagonist's lives, and when we finish it, we can't wait to get out there and go to these nations.
I agree, also starting from the point of view of 16-year-olds on the cusp of adulthood, about to have their eyes opened to what the world is really like - it really works to draw you in to that sense of a great drama unfolding in front of you
SHIT YKNOW WHAT THANK YOU FOR THIS I forgot Zin was a Calvardian and thought him being in Kuro/Daybreak wwas just "Oh, hes just doin stuff in Calvard I guess"
Nice list! I know ultimately everyone got their own preferences. Me personally, I always enjoy story with deep personal stake a lot more than "you need to save the world" where the MC just kinda stumble upon it.
What about Xenogears, Nier, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Baten Kaitos or even original Final Fantasy VII for that matter? Aegis Rim is a great modern pick loved that one.
You'll probably have to wait for them to remaster or redo unless you have a PS2 or 3DS but my favorite JRPG story is Tales of the Abyss. Story and Character arcs abound.
Fantastic List. Sky sc and Azure are easily the 2 best trails games imo. Love the sky trilogy and crossbell arc way more than the cold steel arc personally.
As far as story goes, I really enjoyed the original Parasite Eve, also as far as Xenoblade games, I really enjoyed 2 and Torna the golden country. The story of fire emblem three houses was really fun to learn. I love the fact that you had to play through all the different routes to get the entire story. Final Fantasy nine and 10 were also really good. Nier Automata, Xenogears,
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (regardless of what people say this is the best version, due to added quality of life features and a great voiceover). If you love time travel you will love this. It dethroned Chrono Trigger as the best for me. Also the Yakuza series is fantastic.
My first experience with Star Ocean was Second Evolution on PSP. I loved that game so much that after finishing it the first time, I got the official guide used so I could find out about secrets and also enjoy the extra art that they do for official guides. I also played it multiple times.
I understand you didnt list FFT, FFX, FFXIV, Suikoden, Illusion of Gaia and even Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger. But why, in the name of the holy Mother of Nissan, Xenogears is not in this list?
I should say that Xenogears, Chrono series, Fire Meblem Genealogy of War, FInal FAntasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Phantasy Star Original Series are among the best ones ever.
Definitely a story over gameplay game, but Infinite Space on the DS was incredible. It built out a universe that could have launched dozens of other games or stories very naturally. It follows a young man from his first trip off a planet to becoming a privateer over multiple decades where he takes on universe changing trials, and it does so quite well. It deals with love, loss family, politics, violence, war, tough choices, etc. etc. And does so quite well. If i could make a game into a movir franchise, this would be up there for me.
I think remake is a hard story to recommend when it's not done. Yes, it's awesome, but it obviously feels like a very incomplete story. If i wanted to recommend a final Fantasy story i would do 10. It's a great game, and it's complete and satisfying. My favorite final Fantasy story, however, and my favorite video game story ever is final Fantasy 9. Not every character is perfect, but the highs in that games story are the highest highs in video game writing. Also the ending is simply peak. It's the only video game that i feel no need to have more of, because the original story was that perfect. If they do a remake, i just want them to make the graphics nicer and polish up the battle system. Don't change anything else, and it would be the greatest video game ever made.
@@germanicusternus1982 And? Saying it would have been even better given more time doesn't mean its current form isn't still better than every other rpg
@slam-zany I'm jealous how much fun you're going to have. Rean literally inspired me to take better care of myself IRL his strong character development had that effect on me. I have a $120 Displate of him from CS2 hanging up at work, lmao. Would LOVE some videos of you reviewing each title in cold steel. Subbed
I gotta play Dragon Quest XI. Sold. But I couldnt get past Drippy's annoying quirks in Ni no kuni. I tried multiple times I even looked for a setting where he shuts up or something. Im it is loved by so many though.
List is definitely missing Nier Automata in my opinion, but great list nonetheless. Happy to see you highlight smaller franchises that don’t get enough love.
No Final Fantasy IX, no Final Fantasy VI, no Xenogears? I easily drop Final fantasy VII for these games taking into consideration plot as a main argument.
Thank you! It's not just me. While the writing in many on this list is okay, they definitely wouldn't be as popular without the modern day graphics. All of the FF games that predated the PS2 were great because of the writing, music, and graphics which were cutting edge for their time, but still hold up today.
@@davidmckenzie3608 Many on the list seem recent too, with the exception of Ni No Kuni. Trails could have been added due to curiosity of older games since it is a continuous series. I'm guessing there is a lot of recency bias in play here. For example, how did Chrono Trigger not make the list?
@TheUderfrykte yeah, it wasn't that great. If it had any other title it would be an above average JRPG, but this is a Final Fantasy title we're talking about and that sets the bar a little higher
I love your inclusion of FF7 Remake here as your thoughts mirrored mine exactly. I'm new to your channel so don't know your stance on the FF MMOs but FFXIV Shadowbringers is just an incredible story within the greater FFXIV narrative.
I’m here to recommend everyone who cares about story to give Suikoden II a try. I’m not very good with words, but at its core the story is about 2 close friends, separated by fate, they end up at opposing warring nations. There are many great memorable scenes throughout this game, and the lore behind its universe is very fascinating. Not to mention, the antagonist of the game is freaking iconic in the series.
good video! I think we'd have a lot of the same choices. 13 Sentinels (for my money the best video game story ever told) Undertale (if it counts. not far off 13S) Mother 3 (can't mention UT without this one. oof.) Xenoblade (I put the entire series here but if I have to pick one, yeah 1 is winning. I know others are going to say Xenogears but it just does not do it for me.) Trails in the Sky FC/SC/3rd (unpopular opinion: this is the only Trails game going here. but damn does it deserve it) Suikoden (the entire series but largely 2) Radiant Historia (time-travel perfection) Final Fantasy 6/7 (6 is my personal fave but I've been thinking a lot about 7 thanks to the remake... I am extremely unhappy with the ending of Rebirth but we'll see where they take it) Tales of the Abyss (I feel like it's a more flawed story than most here but it's a personal choice, it stuck with me) Bravely Default (this is the DEFINITION of "peaks and valleys" but when it hits, oh man it hits!!!!! best villain reveal of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Valkyrie Profile (not much to say here. it's just a really good story.) Chained Echoes (brought down a bit by how much I hate Kylian. felt like a bad parody of like "morally gray" characters. the ending really annoyed me for reasons you can probably guess. go away Kylian. but yes otherwise fantastic) Danganronpa (not a JRPG technically but amazing at what it does while also being completely stupid. god bless.) DQ11 is probably my favorite game ever but I am not sure if I'd put it on a list of best stories. I think the overall effect is really good and the halfway (third of the way?) twist is nuts and I loved it though. Octopath II had fantastic individual stories, but once you take a step back and look at the picture as a whole, the number of DRAMATIC BETRAYALS starts straining your sense of disbelief quite hard lol SOSS/SOSSR - completely falls apart in the second half. P3R - yeah probably should have been on this list, this or P5R. NNK - honestly I dislike this game so much I don't really like the story either. I feel like it runs really hard off Ghibli aesthetics and a dead mom.
For me I enjoy Rean’s story more than Lloyd’s. I don’t know maybe it’s the giant robots. No comment on Sky, it could possibly be better, but I’ve never played it.
Having Xenoblade Chronicles but no Xenogears is criminal.. You made up for it though by having P3 and not P5. I like 5 but the story is very overrated imo Personally I’d put SMT 4 somewhere on the list too
Final Fantasy X is not only the best jrpg story but one of the best stories in the medium of gaming and fiction as a whole. List is automatically disqualified lmaooo
Wow - no Tales games listed - Tales of Berseria is the most memorable game I have ever played and the only one that ever made me actually cry. Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube was the first JRPG I ever played and I have loved them since. Another game where the story stayed with me was Shadowhearts Covenant from the New World.
Berseria didn’t hit with me the first time I tried playing it but I went back recently and it is really an all around amazing game. It actually made another list of mine recently.
Don't fool yourself Sky is and will always be the best entry point but if you really can't deal with the graphics (which I'd argue have a lot of charm) then Daybreak is fine to start with I guess I guarantee the franchise won't hit the same when starting with daybreak though
@@neoandroid8586 There is that, and I agree with you that starting with Daybreak is fine, however, the one thing about high barriers to entry is that it keeps the normies out. Every other dev is bending over backwards to get more normies (and their money) into their products. It's nice that one thing out there doesn't seem to care. If trails ever tried to cater to normies, it wouldn't be trails anymore.
If talking about recent JRPGs I fail to see Unicorn Overlord, a 2024 very good game with an engaging story. If you are taking into account all time JRPGs I don't know how did you miss Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, which precisely, their story and storytelling is their best asset. I also miss Suikoden 2 in the list.
Ni No Kuni really took me by surprise. I didn't really pay attention to the game in the beginning and just wrote it off as a "little kid game." I was so bored with games and needed something, so I just decided to try it. I couldn't believe how sucked into the game I was and how much it affected me. The story, the world, the characters, the combat, the familiars, everything was so interesting and fun. It's one of my favorite games of all time.
Well for me. It would have to be persona 5 or persona 3 reload or final fantasy vii or whatever. Maybe if you wanted to add a pokemon platinum quarter or A super mario rpg or too for 25 of 10 storylines or more 😊
I won’t play a game unless it has a good story. That’s number one. Good list. I’d just say Trails is one story with several arcs. So, I’d cheat, and give the entire series one spot. Tales of Abyss, FF10, Persona 4, Star Ocean 3, Xenosaga, Radiant Historia, and a bunch of others could have been on this list. JRPGs tend to be story based, so there’s plenty of good ones.
Xenogears’ story is epic, but falls way short on story telling. The pacing was horrible, and it was terrible at keeping you immersed and engaged throughout all the twists and turns. As a result most of the later game plot points and revelations fell flat. It is definitely a story that deserves a second chance to be retold, but as it is it’s hard to call it a great story
@@AJfromLA818 way short? It’s critically acclaimed from the day it dropped to today 😂. Stop rehashing what you see on some losers RUclips review. This games script touches topics that movies don’t even approach anymore. It’s banned in Europe because of its script lol. No one craps on Gears that actually played it 🤷
@@EugeneKurlikin don’t get me wrong it’s a great game, and I remember purchasing it when it came out and replayed it multiple times. I’m not arguing the story has the potential to be great, I’m arguing it fails on story telling. It’s told in a way that’s very hard for casual gamers to follow, which is why on its own the story fails in its medium as a game. Even on a recent playthrough I had to watch numerous RUclips videos to help me understand the story as it was too difficult to capture the immensity through just the dialogue.
Great video! The story and characters are always the most important part to me. Some of my favorite stories in jrpgs huh? In no particular order, here's some of my favorites. Suikoden 5, Fire Emblem Awakening, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Ys 9, Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4
I'm a big fan of that Star Ocean story. It's not that the story is bad or even weak. It's that lots of the character moments that happen especially with secondary characters are done via the private actions and so people don't view that as part of the story even though there is clear character development happening in those that helps explain certain actions taken by characters. If you skip the private actions, there are bits missing outside of the main two characters.
Trails to Azure is a masterpiece! The Trails series will go down as the greatest JRPG series once it's all done, if not so already. No one comes close, especially the overrated FF series.
Dragon Quest 11 is awsome, buy Journey of the curses king will forever be the best imo. 11 could have final taken that spot, but.... Spoiler alert..... The story and character progression was top notch...until the end. When you go back in time to "correct the wrongs".....you destroy so much character development for half the party! The growth and development they go through from loosing both the battle and a friend is completely undone. "That was a super awsome and emotional journey we just took you on! So many memorable and heartfelt moments! It was great! But.....guess what? Now that we went through all of that...we are going to go back in time, erase all of that. Making dozens of hours of character development and growth completely pointless! All just to save the life of one very annoying character, who's sister ended up MUCH better off without, and get the most cliche trope landed ending!" If the game would have ended right before the time shenanigans.....it would have been perfect. But that ending just to add more game time....nope. That ruined it for me!
This is hard, I'm not sure what JRPG stories really stood out to me. Most of them follow tried & true tropes, though they'll put their own spin on them. Here's my list (in no order): 1. Xenoblade Chronicles DE 2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 3. Octopath Traveler 2 4. Persona 5 Royal 5. Persona 3 Reload 6. Star Ocean Second Story R 7. Trials of Mana 8. Chained Echoes 9. Dragon Quest XI-S 10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses Aside from Xenoblade, I'd say none of those games have extremely unique stories, just good ones with enjoyable characters.
The Trails series is like the One Piece of JRPGs. Immaculate world building and adventure. Both are super intimidating to get into because they’re so big, but both are worth the investment.
I'm kind of glad I played Trails in the Sky while being ignorant of the rest of the Trails games because I probably would have been too intimidated to start the series if I had know the trilogy I was starting was really a 13+ game series that is still on going.
Its kind of funny I got in to Trails in the Sky because I heard the battle theme in some other random video and I found the game on steam and it was 50% off (10$) when I found it on steam. I was completely clueless to the massive, but fantastic rabbit hole that silly little 10$ rpg I bought on a whim would take me down.
Definitely intimidating. Trying Trails into Reverie and spent 3+ hours lost in the enormous city of Crossbell after the intro with no clue what to do.
@@WhiteFangofWar Reverie is the 5th game of the third arc in the series, it's most definitely the worst entry point in the entire franchise. I suggest you start with one of the first games of an arc, with sky being the first one chronologically, though if you find it outdated you could always pick up the new trails through daybreak, which is the entry point of the calvard arc
That's funny because I think it has the same flaw as one piece. One piece is great but because there's so many characters and so much going on sometimes the story lacks focus and you have a lot of moments where you don't really care about what's going on. It makes it so that the highs are really high because of the buildup but the lows are really low. It could have been an even better story in my opinion if each arc were more conscise but I don't mind it because the story starts strong and the weekly format makes it almost impossible to not have moments where the pacing is not great.
Trails do the same thing but unlike one piece the stories don't really start strong so it's like if one piece started with dressrosa. In my opinion it doesn't really give you good reasons to be invested yet spend time talking about the favorite color of a side character and I find it so boring. Sometimes it feels like game writers think more text means better story but I think they would benefit from more editing and more direct stories. I tried playing many trail games but every time it just felt like the writers were more concerned with flexing their writing skills than getting the player invested in the story. They just kinda expect you to endure the boring parts to get to the fun part but you wouldn't need to endure the bad part of the story started by giving you reasons to care. That's why I could never get into the series. the closest I've been to a proper playthrough was with trails in the sky but even then I dropped it after a few hours. Trails of steel starts with a daily school life thing and I stopped as soon as I realized that. I feel like the only way to enjoy those games is to just turn off your brain and mindlessly read until you get to the good part and that's not how any story should be written.
Don't insult one piece like that.
I am so happy you picked Trails in the Sky. It seems so many have forgotten it for Cold Steel but Trails in the Sky is my absolute favorite.
I think the more recent Yakuza/Like a Dragon games deserve to be on here even though they both start kinda slow. Ichiban is an absolute joy to play as.
Agreed to this. Ngl, at first I was skeptical having Ichiban as the successor after coming from the legendary Kiryu but Ichiban is a different kind of fun to play as.
Amazing series. Got into them about 2 years ago and finished them all including ichin and judgment
Like a Dragon's biggest flaw is being too easy for like 3/4 of the game, and they give you no harder difficulty option till you beat the game and do ng+.
If they fixed that, the first Like a Dragon is a literal 10/10 hall of famer, but as it stands, it's a big flaw for me
The best story from RGG Studio is Lost Judgment.
I am a little surprised that FInal Fantasy X was not on this list.
If there is ever a FF that belongs on the best story lists it’s not FFX, it’s not even FFVII or FFVI. It’s Tactics
@@aaronanderson16 6 and 9 are the best.
But 10 is just as good as 7 even if 7 has a better villain, 10 has a better world
i finished FFX and trails but man with all due respect, X feels just like a filler or written clumsily when u played trails or persona 3-5 games.. i don't know about tactics they said its good tho
@@aaronanderson16 Actually it's 14 that has the best story. At least from Heavensward thru Endwalker.
Final Fantasy X is really good game, but the story is not what stands out for me, but the combat system. I think it's the best combat. From Final Fantasy i think 6,7,8,9,12, 13, 14 have a better story thann x, 14 being the best.
Dragon Quest V, Star Ocean 2, Persona 4, Final Fantasy IV, Sukoden V, Xenogears, Legend of Hero: Trails of Cold Steel, Tales of Berseria, Radiant Historia, Lunar Silver Star Story, and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
Not FFIV
Xenogears and p4 are certified bangers, but ff4? A great game but the best final Fantasy story? Really? No hate, but if you could elaborate a bit I'd appreciate it
Someone who knows what's talking
I’d add VI or IX over IV, personally, but a sold list too.
I started playing the trails series last year and it was probably the best choice I made, videogame-wise, it quickly became my fav jrpg series of all times
Such an amazing series!
Dragon Quest XI is truly a masterpiece. Great video!
Yes it
Is. Its a very well timed modernist rpg😊
You need to play xenogears, the best story for a game in all past and future.
Xenogears honestly has one of the best story's that's ever been written imo
I was thinking excatly the same. No Xenogears? Wrong list
13 Sentinels blew me out of the water with its story! I still wish it had won the Game Award for Best Narrative in 2020. FYI, did you know the lengths English VAs had to go through to record their lines for the game? They had to record at home and the audio quality they managed to pull off is amazing, you'd think they recorded in an actual studio.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is the reason I ended up getting a PS3 lol. I did get it again on the PS4 too, love it that much. I knew with Studio Ghibli involved in this game, the story would be charming and amazing. Playing this game is what got me to try Pokemon for the first time lol.
My 2 fav JRPG stories though come from my 2 fav games. Even though Eternal Sonata IS my fav game and I loved the story it was telling, I do think Grandia 2's story is better because it flips the script more AND it turned me into a better person. Both games though make you THINK.
For me the Trails series are for my the best JPRG series of all time
W
Gotta love another person promoting Trails! Over the last four years playing Trails games, I wholeheartly agree these are some of the greatest stories in gaming today! Great video!
More people need to experience these games. They are remarkable
W
Breath of Fire 3: "Am I a joke to you?"
Great list! The Trails series is peak JRPG storytelling.
Xenogears
Speaking of Falcom, I'd recommend giving the Ys series a shot. It's an action RPG starring a red haired silent protagonist: Adol. You can start almost anywhere in the series, and play through without context from other games in the series, so I can recommend starting with Ys: The Oath in Felghana or Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana for one of the best experiences you can get.
the stories of the Ys games are wonderfull. My only complain about it (and I really don't care cause I give a shit bout story if gameplay is good, and Ys gameplay has been always overall good) is that the story always begins with a shipwreck hahahaha
no Xenogears makes me sad T-T
The absence of Xenogears invalidates this top ten
@@FrankiesLair that game isn't easily accessible though
Tales of Games are amazing too. I loved Tales of Arise and Tales of Berseria. Such amazing games.
Trails!!! I'm glad it's getting more love now. Cold Steel definitely brought it out of obscurity. I can't say much there as CS1 was what got me into the series, but I went back after the second CS game and played all the Sky games and then when Zero finally released for English speakers properly and not just a patch on the computer, I played that. I did get distracted unfortunately while playing to Azure, but I plan to return to it in the near future. I've been playing the mobile game too recently and seeing all of my favorite characters is so much fun.
Azure is so good! One of my favorites in the series.
One of the best choices in JRPGs was when Trails in the Sky decided to have Olivier and Zin as 2 of the 8 party members. Everyone else, Estelle, Joshua, Tita, Agate, Schera, and Kloe, were all either natives of Liberl or had lived in Liberl for a long time. Zin and Olivier were foreigners to Liberl who join the main party and become key parts of the story. That's one of the reasons why it feels like everything in trails was already there with Sky FC. Unlike every other JRPG, Sky FC teases you about the great world outside, with Olivier serving as our first look into Erebonia and Zin serving as our look into Calvard. The fact that we hear so much about the two super-powers and yet in the entire Sky trilogy, we never visit Calvard and only briefly visit Erebonia (in the ending of Sky SC) leaves so much mystery to everything. At the end of the Sky trilogy, we know these two giant super-powers are out there, and we've felt how they have affected every single aspect of our protagonist's lives, and when we finish it, we can't wait to get out there and go to these nations.
I agree, also starting from the point of view of 16-year-olds on the cusp of adulthood, about to have their eyes opened to what the world is really like - it really works to draw you in to that sense of a great drama unfolding in front of you
SHIT YKNOW WHAT THANK YOU FOR THIS
I forgot Zin was a Calvardian and thought him being in Kuro/Daybreak wwas just "Oh, hes just doin stuff in Calvard I guess"
Nice list! I know ultimately everyone got their own preferences.
Me personally, I always enjoy story with deep personal stake a lot more than "you need to save the world" where the MC just kinda stumble upon it.
What about Xenogears, Nier, Chrono Trigger/Cross, Baten Kaitos or even original Final Fantasy VII for that matter?
Aegis Rim is a great modern pick loved that one.
You'll probably have to wait for them to remaster or redo unless you have a PS2 or 3DS but my favorite JRPG story is Tales of the Abyss. Story and Character arcs abound.
I really need to finish Xenoblade. I stopped playing 15-20h in when I got my steam deck and it's hard to go back to it.
Fantastic List. Sky sc and Azure are easily the 2 best trails games imo. Love the sky trilogy and crossbell arc way more than the cold steel arc personally.
Yea I am at the beginning of the Cold Steel arc and it’s gonna be really hard to top azure I think.
@@slam-zany Cold steel drags on massively, especially the first two games. Third one picks up hard though.
Dragon Quest XI is my favorite game of all time. Final Fantasy VII Remake is in my top 6 games of all time.
Good games! Surprised Chrono Trigger wasn’t on this though.
I enjoy your narration and point of view!!! Great video!!
Definitely the trails series for me too, you know a story grip you good if u wished u could replay it blind
As far as story goes, I really enjoyed the original Parasite Eve, also as far as Xenoblade games, I really enjoyed 2 and Torna the golden country. The story of fire emblem three houses was really fun to learn. I love the fact that you had to play through all the different routes to get the entire story. Final Fantasy nine and 10 were also really good. Nier Automata, Xenogears,
Where is Xenogears ? That game is not only the best history never told in the jrpg, but also the best history never told in a videogame !
And it's probably on your list. Not everyone has the same opinion.
@@domitabs Sure. Thats only my subjective opinion, anything more
dint expect ni no kuni was on the list , subscribed after knowing that, bro is a real OG.
Chrono trigger, Xenogears, Ff6,7,9 & 10>
Xenogears > Xenoblade
I prefer Xenoblade for a lot of reasons, but I agree that in general the story of Xenogears deserves better
Radiant Historia is the best story game for me, adult story and time traveling genre like chrono triggers was really great
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (regardless of what people say this is the best version, due to added quality of life features and a great voiceover). If you love time travel you will love this. It dethroned Chrono Trigger as the best for me. Also the Yakuza series is fantastic.
Great video!!! SO many good games on this list and I really need to give Trails in the Sky a chance!
If you like stories in JRPGs then the Trails series is just about as good as it gets. Trails in the Sky is really amazing.
You have great taste brother! I enjoyed the stores in all these games that I've actually played a ton! The rest are still in my backlog lol
Thank you!!
My first experience with Star Ocean was Second Evolution on PSP. I loved that game so much that after finishing it the first time, I got the official guide used so I could find out about secrets and also enjoy the extra art that they do for official guides. I also played it multiple times.
Trails at number 1. Nice
I understand you didnt list FFT, FFX, FFXIV, Suikoden, Illusion of Gaia and even Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger. But why, in the name of the holy Mother of Nissan, Xenogears is not in this list?
The Utawarerumono trilogy needs to be talked about more
by far the best story and character writing ive seen in jrpgs in the past 20 years. Gameplay is mid but jesus the story is mind blowing
I should say that Xenogears, Chrono series, Fire Meblem Genealogy of War, FInal FAntasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Phantasy Star Original Series are among the best ones ever.
Definitely a story over gameplay game, but Infinite Space on the DS was incredible. It built out a universe that could have launched dozens of other games or stories very naturally. It follows a young man from his first trip off a planet to becoming a privateer over multiple decades where he takes on universe changing trials, and it does so quite well. It deals with love, loss family, politics, violence, war, tough choices, etc. etc. And does so quite well.
If i could make a game into a movir franchise, this would be up there for me.
Stories?
Dragon quest 7
Dragon quest 8
Chrono trigger
Suikoden 2
I think remake is a hard story to recommend when it's not done. Yes, it's awesome, but it obviously feels like a very incomplete story. If i wanted to recommend a final Fantasy story i would do 10. It's a great game, and it's complete and satisfying. My favorite final Fantasy story, however, and my favorite video game story ever is final Fantasy 9. Not every character is perfect, but the highs in that games story are the highest highs in video game writing. Also the ending is simply peak. It's the only video game that i feel no need to have more of, because the original story was that perfect. If they do a remake, i just want them to make the graphics nicer and polish up the battle system. Don't change anything else, and it would be the greatest video game ever made.
Trails is PERFECT! 🤩
Cannot w8 for Daybreak!!!!
Une vidéo de toi sur The Last Story is all I need in my life
No Xenogears no video
came here to say that too. xenogears is head-and-shoulders above any other rpg for story and themes and im not even big on scifi
It wasn’t even finished.
@@germanicusternus1982 And? Saying it would have been even better given more time doesn't mean its current form isn't still better than every other rpg
Slam did you finish cold steel 4 yet?
I took a break from trails after Azure because of all the releases early this year, but I’m making my way through Cold Steel 1 right now. Loving it!!
@slam-zany I'm jealous how much fun you're going to have. Rean literally inspired me to take better care of myself IRL his strong character development had that effect on me. I have a $120 Displate of him from CS2 hanging up at work, lmao. Would LOVE some videos of you reviewing each title in cold steel. Subbed
For the OGs Valkyrie profile Lenneth and Silmeria
Lost Odyssey is a good one
I gotta play Dragon Quest XI. Sold. But I couldnt get past Drippy's annoying quirks in Ni no kuni. I tried multiple times I even looked for a setting where he shuts up or something. Im it is loved by so many though.
My favorite is shin megami tensei 4 and devil survivor. They just stuck w me
I think ff6 and dq11 are true masterpieces.
List is definitely missing Nier Automata in my opinion, but great list nonetheless. Happy to see you highlight smaller franchises that don’t get enough love.
Nier Automata is incredible. There’s a lot of games that could’ve made the list and Nier is definitely one of them.
Nier ain't an rpg really . More action adventure imo
No Final Fantasy IX, no Final Fantasy VI, no Xenogears? I easily drop Final fantasy VII for these games taking into consideration plot as a main argument.
Thank you! It's not just me. While the writing in many on this list is okay, they definitely wouldn't be as popular without the modern day graphics.
All of the FF games that predated the PS2 were great because of the writing, music, and graphics which were cutting edge for their time, but still hold up today.
@@davidmckenzie3608 Many on the list seem recent too, with the exception of Ni No Kuni. Trails could have been added due to curiosity of older games since it is a continuous series. I'm guessing there is a lot of recency bias in play here. For example, how did Chrono Trigger not make the list?
@@MattAlchemy I know! I'm also annoyed that none of the Wild Arms or Suikoden titles didn't make the list
FFIX was pretty bad though
@TheUderfrykte yeah, it wasn't that great. If it had any other title it would be an above average JRPG, but this is a Final Fantasy title we're talking about and that sets the bar a little higher
I love your inclusion of FF7 Remake here as your thoughts mirrored mine exactly. I'm new to your channel so don't know your stance on the FF MMOs but FFXIV Shadowbringers is just an incredible story within the greater FFXIV narrative.
I love the MMOs. I have had hundreds of hours of fun with 14. Welcome to the channel!!
I’m here to recommend everyone who cares about story to give Suikoden II a try. I’m not very good with words, but at its core the story is about 2 close friends, separated by fate, they end up at opposing warring nations. There are many great memorable scenes throughout this game, and the lore behind its universe is very fascinating. Not to mention, the antagonist of the game is freaking iconic in the series.
I really need to continue 13 sentinels. I feel guilty every time I boot up unicorn overlord when I was really deep in 13.....and Odin's sphere. 😅
good video! I think we'd have a lot of the same choices.
13 Sentinels (for my money the best video game story ever told)
Undertale (if it counts. not far off 13S)
Mother 3 (can't mention UT without this one. oof.)
Xenoblade (I put the entire series here but if I have to pick one, yeah 1 is winning. I know others are going to say Xenogears but it just does not do it for me.)
Trails in the Sky FC/SC/3rd (unpopular opinion: this is the only Trails game going here. but damn does it deserve it)
Suikoden (the entire series but largely 2)
Radiant Historia (time-travel perfection)
Final Fantasy 6/7 (6 is my personal fave but I've been thinking a lot about 7 thanks to the remake... I am extremely unhappy with the ending of Rebirth but we'll see where they take it)
Tales of the Abyss (I feel like it's a more flawed story than most here but it's a personal choice, it stuck with me)
Bravely Default (this is the DEFINITION of "peaks and valleys" but when it hits, oh man it hits!!!!! best villain reveal of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Valkyrie Profile (not much to say here. it's just a really good story.)
Chained Echoes (brought down a bit by how much I hate Kylian. felt like a bad parody of like "morally gray" characters. the ending really annoyed me for reasons you can probably guess. go away Kylian. but yes otherwise fantastic)
Danganronpa (not a JRPG technically but amazing at what it does while also being completely stupid. god bless.)
DQ11 is probably my favorite game ever but I am not sure if I'd put it on a list of best stories. I think the overall effect is really good and the halfway (third of the way?) twist is nuts and I loved it though. Octopath II had fantastic individual stories, but once you take a step back and look at the picture as a whole, the number of DRAMATIC BETRAYALS starts straining your sense of disbelief quite hard lol
SOSS/SOSSR - completely falls apart in the second half. P3R - yeah probably should have been on this list, this or P5R. NNK - honestly I dislike this game so much I don't really like the story either. I feel like it runs really hard off Ghibli aesthetics and a dead mom.
Great list of games right there. DQ11 is really just so good. I also love Danganronpa.
Radiant História!!
For me I enjoy Rean’s story more than Lloyd’s. I don’t know maybe it’s the giant robots. No comment on Sky, it could possibly be better, but I’ve never played it.
Having Xenoblade Chronicles but no Xenogears is criminal..
You made up for it though by having P3 and not P5. I like 5 but the story is very overrated imo
Personally I’d put SMT 4 somewhere on the list too
The Trails series has THE best video game stories of all time.
Octopath 2 love!!!
Final Fantasy X is not only the best jrpg story but one of the best stories in the medium of gaming and fiction as a whole. List is automatically disqualified lmaooo
Wow - no Tales games listed - Tales of Berseria is the most memorable game I have ever played and the only one that ever made me actually cry. Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube was the first JRPG I ever played and I have loved them since. Another game where the story stayed with me was Shadowhearts Covenant from the New World.
Berseria didn’t hit with me the first time I tried playing it but I went back recently and it is really an all around amazing game. It actually made another list of mine recently.
i like berseria but i curious which part can made you cry?
@@boeta9778 If I had to guess, it's when Laphicet finally yelled at Velvet when she was at her lowest.
Act. Like. A. Dove.
I'm leaving a comment, I love you
❤- Sean
I have so many to play and finish 😂😭
Xenoblade 1 is the definition of a masterpiece
You should give props to Tales of Berseria, it was a great game about revenge.
Luckily Trails Daybreak will be an amazing jumping on point for new comers
Releasing in less than three weeks! Can't wait!
@@SuperSupersoda I can’t wait either, it feels similar to Tales of Xillia that I adored
Don't fool yourself Sky is and will always be the best entry point but if you really can't deal with the graphics (which I'd argue have a lot of charm) then Daybreak is fine to start with I guess
I guarantee the franchise won't hit the same when starting with daybreak though
@@rannel7644 does it really matter tho? By having such a long “you must play x first” will in the end stagnant the fanbase
@@neoandroid8586 There is that, and I agree with you that starting with Daybreak is fine, however, the one thing about high barriers to entry is that it keeps the normies out. Every other dev is bending over backwards to get more normies (and their money) into their products. It's nice that one thing out there doesn't seem to care. If trails ever tried to cater to normies, it wouldn't be trails anymore.
No vagrant story or ff tatics ?
Was looking for someone to mention Tactics.
I feel like Suikoden 1 and/or 2 need to be on this list. Those stories are heralded as some of the greatest of all time. Great list though!
13 Sentinels has to have one of if not THE best narratives in all of gaming
cold steel and yakuza like a dragon shloud be here
Utawarerumono games have a amazing story
If talking about recent JRPGs I fail to see Unicorn Overlord, a 2024 very good game with an engaging story. If you are taking into account all time JRPGs I don't know how did you miss Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, which precisely, their story and storytelling is their best asset. I also miss Suikoden 2 in the list.
@@greatteacherpablizuka Gameplay of Unicorn Overlord is masterpiece, but I think the story is pretty generic.
Ni No Kuni really took me by surprise. I didn't really pay attention to the game in the beginning and just wrote it off as a "little kid game." I was so bored with games and needed something, so I just decided to try it. I couldn't believe how sucked into the game I was and how much it affected me. The story, the world, the characters, the combat, the familiars, everything was so interesting and fun. It's one of my favorite games of all time.
Well for me. It would have to be persona 5 or persona 3 reload or final fantasy vii or whatever. Maybe if you wanted to add a pokemon platinum quarter or A super mario rpg or too for 25 of 10 storylines or more 😊
I won’t play a game unless it has a good story. That’s number one. Good list. I’d just say Trails is one story with several arcs. So, I’d cheat, and give the entire series one spot. Tales of Abyss, FF10, Persona 4, Star Ocean 3, Xenosaga, Radiant Historia, and a bunch of others could have been on this list. JRPGs tend to be story based, so there’s plenty of good ones.
No Xenogears? Come on....
This 100%
As far as pure narrative ambition and boldness, XG is on a mountaintop alongside a select few games of any genre. We’re taking single digits here.
Xenogears’ story is epic, but falls way short on story telling. The pacing was horrible, and it was terrible at keeping you immersed and engaged throughout all the twists and turns. As a result most of the later game plot points and revelations fell flat. It is definitely a story that deserves a second chance to be retold, but as it is it’s hard to call it a great story
@@AJfromLA818 way short? It’s critically acclaimed from the day it dropped to today 😂. Stop rehashing what you see on some losers RUclips review. This games script touches topics that movies don’t even approach anymore. It’s banned in Europe because of its script lol. No one craps on Gears that actually played it 🤷
@@EugeneKurlikin don’t get me wrong it’s a great game, and I remember purchasing it when it came out and replayed it multiple times. I’m not arguing the story has the potential to be great, I’m arguing it fails on story telling. It’s told in a way that’s very hard for casual gamers to follow, which is why on its own the story fails in its medium as a game. Even on a recent playthrough I had to watch numerous RUclips videos to help me understand the story as it was too difficult to capture the immensity through just the dialogue.
Great video! The story and characters are always the most important part to me.
Some of my favorite stories in jrpgs huh? In no particular order, here's some of my favorites. Suikoden 5, Fire Emblem Awakening, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Ys 9, Persona 3 Reload, Persona 4
Give some love to Suikoden hehe
Especially Suikoden 2
I've added Ni No Kuni to the backlog! Thanks Man - haven't played a single game on this list, got my work cut out for me haha
Ni no Kuni is the only one I’ve played so far 😅
Play Trails too, they’re so good!
Then you are very lucky, as most of these games are the best of the best💎
You will love Ni no kuni 😊
No No Kuni is a great game. I really enjoy the sequel as well.
I'm surprised you didn't have any tales games on here my list would be pretty similar with more trails games swirch ff7r for ff9
I would put Tales of the Abyss
@@pedrobeckup456 that's my personal favorite
@@jaysonking4055 Nice taste! It is one of my favorite RPGs
xENOBLADE 2 , Octo, Nino kuni :D!
Star Ocean? Interesting. I heard a lot of people saying that the game had pretty weak story
I'm a big fan of that Star Ocean story. It's not that the story is bad or even weak. It's that lots of the character moments that happen especially with secondary characters are done via the private actions and so people don't view that as part of the story even though there is clear character development happening in those that helps explain certain actions taken by characters. If you skip the private actions, there are bits missing outside of the main two characters.
You are a man of culture.
IMO Suikoden 2 and Dragon Quest has the best story ❤️
ORIGINAL FF7, Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Chrono Trigger. 😅
Where are any of the tales games! 😁😁
13 Sentinels dont get discussed enough
Trails to Azure is a masterpiece! The Trails series will go down as the greatest JRPG series once it's all done, if not so already. No one comes close, especially the overrated FF series.
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross?
Dragon Quest 11 is awsome, buy Journey of the curses king will forever be the best imo. 11 could have final taken that spot, but....
Spoiler alert.....
The story and character progression was top notch...until the end. When you go back in time to "correct the wrongs".....you destroy so much character development for half the party! The growth and development they go through from loosing both the battle and a friend is completely undone. "That was a super awsome and emotional journey we just took you on! So many memorable and heartfelt moments! It was great! But.....guess what? Now that we went through all of that...we are going to go back in time, erase all of that. Making dozens of hours of character development and growth completely pointless! All just to save the life of one very annoying character, who's sister ended up MUCH better off without, and get the most cliche trope landed ending!"
If the game would have ended right before the time shenanigans.....it would have been perfect. But that ending just to add more game time....nope. That ruined it for me!
Ys VIII is my number one
I would definitely recommend the .hack GU series. The story is fantastic can captivating.
This is hard, I'm not sure what JRPG stories really stood out to me. Most of them follow tried & true tropes, though they'll put their own spin on them.
Here's my list (in no order):
1. Xenoblade Chronicles DE
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
3. Octopath Traveler 2
4. Persona 5 Royal
5. Persona 3 Reload
6. Star Ocean Second Story R
7. Trials of Mana
8. Chained Echoes
9. Dragon Quest XI-S
10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Aside from Xenoblade, I'd say none of those games have extremely unique stories, just good ones with enjoyable characters.
top 10 best combat in JRGs?
Kinda bummed that Chrono Trigger isn’t on here but to each their own