Dude, thank you for giving Ys X some love. Absolutely one of the best games of 2024 and deserves world wide acclaim. Tbh I’m still shocked that Ys and Trails games aren’t shouted from the rooftops on every platform. Even though they have lower budgets than the big dogs, their storytelling far exceeds almost any modern game.
My Number 1 would be Eiyuden Chronicles. It is just the perfect Turn Based JRPG for me. Yes you have dozends of heroes you can invite in your party, but from start to finish you can also stick with the same cast of characters or just your favorites as you gather them up along the way. It sounded SOOOO bad on paper yet the execution was suprisingly well made for the most part. Secondly, the story - while being fairly simple - with its characters just catched me. I had FUN. And for me, thats the main reason to play a game.
Interesting video. I don't own or played these games. I did pre-order Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for my Steam Deck. I get to play in January. My games of the year are Unicorn Overlord, Persona 3 Reload, SMT Vengence, Dragon Quest 3, and my favorite Metaphor ReFantazio. I'm a huge Atlus fan. I played a bunch of Trails in the Sky 1st. I stopped and decided I want to play the remake. Thanks Brandon.
Excellent choices! My list order would probably be: 1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 2. Fantasian: Neo Dimension 3. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes 4. Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven 5. Metaphor Re:Fantazio
I started Jeanne D'Arc from Level-5. It has a remaster on the PS4/5 (so, technically for this list) , but I started the psp version on my Anbernic RG505. Great game for my earlier Fire Emblem fix...
I finally was able to get Mana after clearing out a few games on my back log. I was also remembering the peer pressure you, David and Tantacles were giving me at PAX. Looking forward to this next adventure. Great work as always Branden. 👍
I really enjoyed Visions of Mana and would highly recommend it to anyone. However I'd still put Metaphor in before it, maybe call Visions a good #6. All the same, great list!
Wild to see a top 5, a legitimate and well considered one, and there are several others in the genre that. Ours have made the list. Fans are eating good this year. Also, wow, dressing up for a work meeting! I can’t tell you the last time I put on a nicer shirt for an on camera call.
Digging the blazer! That's a great list of JRPGs I didn't have time for this year! I'm excited to dig into them in 2025 hopefully. My personal RPG of the year was Unicorn Overlord, but again, I didn't play a lot of the 2024 bangers.
I am a HUGE Trails and Falcom fan since playing Sky FC in 2014 on the Vita. Trails Through Daybreak would be my number 1 pick for GOTY if it wasn't for Rebirth. So yeah, great list!! New sub for you!
PSA: Fantasian is ruining my life right now. I started up what I thought was a mobile port of a middling JRPG from two years ago and got a time machine back to Final Fantasy VIII with once in a lifetime PHYSICALLY BUILT AND PAINTED BACKGROUNDS in every scene. i feel like crying every time I play it its so god damned perfect.
First the nasal strip and now business casual??? Good Lord dude! So I can't watch your talk on Fantasian because I'm going to play it and trying to avoid everything about it. Visions of Mana looks... Alright. I appreciate that you loved it but it just didn't catch my fancy unfortunately. I'm just like you, I missed the Ys ship for so long until I started watching JRPG UA-camrs a few years ago and discovered them. I played Ys 1 first, intending to go in release order, but ain't nobody got time for that, so I jumped right to Ys 8 and absolutely loved it. I loved Ys 1 as well, such a banger soundtrack. Is that boat drifting on the ocean? That's not how boats work... Dude you don't need to dress up for us. Your content is epic no matter what you wear. I'm way back on trails, need to play 3rd chapter. So skipping this one too, sorry my dude. And I'm waiting to play the FF7 remake trilogy until it's complete. People that get upset over UA-camr opinions on games will never make sense to me. They just like being angry... Like people who dislike Motoi Sakuraba. 😂😂😂 Have a Merry Christmas my dude. Thank you for a wonderful year of entertainment. You are awesome.
Great list, the thing a love about this list is, all these games have beautiful worlds with incredibly Varied and bright colour palletes which i personally believe is the best use in High fantasy games. The beautiful thing about FF7 among practically everything, is manages to have that triple AAA graphical style wilst still using many beautiful and interesting colours you would see in an anime game without the anime tropes thrown in.
hell yea for including Visions on here. It was an excellent adventure and revitalized the mana series in my opinion. Im sure we'll see more Mana games thanks to the success of this game. My game of the year, let alone JRPG of the year, is Metaphor. Leaps and bounds, the greatest game released this year.
Most of my year playing JRPGs has been claimed by Cold Steel so I have yet to play any of those five. Ys X and Daybreak are definitely on my letter to Santa, you might have nudged Visions of Mana onto my wishlist, and I won't get Rebirth before I've played Remake (this one stayed in my backlog for so long that I'm starting to wonder if I should not wait for the third to be released before jumping in). My own GOTY so far would be Like a Dragon 8 Infinite Wealth, but I welcome any contenders (I already have P3R and Metaphor lined up).
PSA do not buy Ys Nordics yet - the new edition was just announced but it has not been released yet and it's going to have upgrades and extended content - it's called ys nordics proud edition
I'm almost done with Ys 10, and it's an amazing game, definitely top 5 of the year for me. If you want to wait two years for Proud Nordics, be my guest, but I definitely don't want to wait two more years to play this game.
I wonder how big the Ys series will be by the end of 2025... Maybe they'll have a couple million more new fans who would like to experience the earlier Ys titles, or something. When looking through the vast amounts of JRPG's available, it's wise to travel light with Just The Gems! 😁
I kind of expected not to see Rebirth at the top even though it's my number one as well! I'm still working my way through the Trails games but am excited for the story that is unfolding. I'm gushing over FF7 Rebirth this year as well.
EDIT: Speaking of Trails, Sky 1st is getting a remake. Trailer just released. Same combat system as Daybreak. Looks amazing. Not having played any other Mistwalker titles, you gotta go back and play Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story. That said, Blue Dragon is the most basic game in that list.
@JustTheGems is it tactical like are you actually thinking while you're engaged in the combat or is it just a formality once you enter into combat that either your gear is strong enough to defeat the enemy or is the outcome dependent on the the choices and moves you make during combat?
Metaphor is probably the biggest oversight, but also understandable. I haven't played it yet either. I loved Ys 10 and Daybreak, and I'm at a point now where Falcom has ruined gaming for me because I always compare other stuff to their games. I played Nier Automata, and while I completely get why it's considered one of the best games ever made, I dropped it well into the second arc because it just wasn't that fun anymore. Compare that to Ys 10, which has a very similar dual-protagonist thing going on, and Ys 10 just melts away hours and you never notice because it's all so much fun to play. My backlog of top games this year is growing: Gran Blue Fantasy, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, FF 7 Remake (I haven't played remake yet, which I want to do before Rebirth), the Mana game (I downloaded and played the demo and didn't like the demo. I also disliked the demo for Octopath Traveler 2, which was an awesome game, so I'm not going to skip Mana just because I didn't care for the demo, but it will move down the list), Dragon Quest 3 (this is my likely next game to play, I think), Euyden Chronicles, Fantasian Neo Dimension, Unicorn Overlord, and on and on. For people who have a very demanding day job, and lots of other stuff going on in their lives, it's impossible to play everything and to give everything the time it deserves. I know if Falcom games are coming out, those go to the top of the list, so my Valetine's day in 2025 is completely booked, and whenever Sky first chapter comes out in the fall of next year, that's a day 1 buy and play. However, other than that, there's a lot of jockeying, and I think the important thing is to play the games that catch your fancy and to not worry about FOMO. In this new golden age, everyone is missing out on something. Like the suit, and I am subbed to the channel and I always like and comment. Hope that's enough to get me into the 99% of not mean people.
Need to play my VoM copy, might be a decent action combat unlike the last I will mention. Eiyuden Chronicles is around number 1 (PC) and lowest game (Switch) of the year. FF7-rebirth I have to put down on my list quite a bit (maybe #20), since I will never play it again. I just can not stand the combat and one section (Cait's) I would not wish on my worst enemy. Saying this I like where they are taking the story, just not a fan that most of the story is put into side-quest. Y also seems not important to be in the game, which I hope gets fixed with FF7-r3. PS: I am not putting down your picks, everyone likes what they like which is fine.
But everyone knows about Metaphor. Tbh I’m very grateful Ys and Trails is getting some much deserved love and attention. Metaphor was unquestionably a masterpiece and everyone knows that. But Ys X and Trails Through Daybreak is just as good and tbh, I like Ys and Trails storytelling much more than Metaphor.
Probably because he hasn't played it yet. I haven't either, but I am almost done with Ys 10 and will pick up another game soon. The problem is choice: Dragon Quest 3, FF 7 Remake (I haven't played the first one yet), Metaphor, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, the mana game Brandon mentioned, Fantasian, etc. I don't know which one I want to play next.
I personally didnt like rebirth its just to long and most of the content wasnt really good. If it didnt have ff7 attached to it everyone would have complained that it was just another ubisoft clone. Also aerith scene is such a massive disrespect to how the original was composed they have no care for 7 and its legacy. I hope part 3 sells even worse so square enix doesnt try anything like this again. they can barely make a good ff game now. What is the last new ip that was successful relying on ips where most people are in their 30s just isnt a good strategy. Metaphor Refantazio is what happens when a company builds what they have been making for decades. Now their system is so refine that press turn system is in all their games as it just doesnt get old. Even if this game is still to long it has less filler than all of rebirth which is already stretching a 30 hour game into 90 and probably end at 150 hours and you wouldnt even get an experience like 7. I hate that everyone is rewarding square enix for such a sloppy game.
None of thesevjrpgs were interesting to me for 2024. Granblue fantasy relink, fairy tail 2, dq3hd. An an older title but better ys experience legend of nayuta were great.
Looking super handsome Branden! I loved all the picks!
I love to see you guys interacting, I watch both of you religiously. Both of you make great content.
@jonvallee4573 totally agree 100%
Dude, thank you for giving Ys X some love. Absolutely one of the best games of 2024 and deserves world wide acclaim. Tbh I’m still shocked that Ys and Trails games aren’t shouted from the rooftops on every platform. Even though they have lower budgets than the big dogs, their storytelling far exceeds almost any modern game.
Visions of mana not getting enough love, thanks for including it in your list!
My Number 1 would be Eiyuden Chronicles. It is just the perfect Turn Based JRPG for me. Yes you have dozends of heroes you can invite in your party, but from start to finish you can also stick with the same cast of characters or just your favorites as you gather them up along the way. It sounded SOOOO bad on paper yet the execution was suprisingly well made for the most part.
Secondly, the story - while being fairly simple - with its characters just catched me. I had FUN. And for me, thats the main reason to play a game.
You’ll love the suiko remasters
Fantastic list!!! This year has had too many games and I’m still getting to them!!! It’s nuts!
I'm just gonna say it, this might be the best year ever for JRPGs. The only year that could possibly top it is 2025! We are in a golden age for JRPGs!
Good year but 2018 was insane as well
Interesting video. I don't own or played these games. I did pre-order Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for my Steam Deck. I get to play in January. My games of the year are Unicorn Overlord, Persona 3 Reload, SMT Vengence, Dragon Quest 3, and my favorite Metaphor ReFantazio. I'm a huge Atlus fan. I played a bunch of Trails in the Sky 1st. I stopped and decided I want to play the remake. Thanks Brandon.
I hope you enjoy Rebirth as much as I did!
I'm guessing Brandon didn't include Metaphor because he hasn't played it yet, it came out late in the year.
Excellent choices!
My list order would probably be:
1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
2. Fantasian: Neo Dimension
3. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
4. Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven
5. Metaphor Re:Fantazio
I started Jeanne D'Arc from Level-5. It has a remaster on the PS4/5 (so, technically for this list) , but I started the psp version on my Anbernic RG505. Great game for my earlier Fire Emblem fix...
I finally was able to get Mana after clearing out a few games on my back log. I was also remembering the peer pressure you, David and Tantacles were giving me at PAX. Looking forward to this next adventure. Great work as always Branden. 👍
I really enjoyed Visions of Mana and would highly recommend it to anyone. However I'd still put Metaphor in before it, maybe call Visions a good #6. All the same, great list!
Appreciate you, brother! Happy Holidays!
100% agree on FF Rebirth 🙌🏻
Wild to see a top 5, a legitimate and well considered one, and there are several others in the genre that. Ours have made the list. Fans are eating good this year.
Also, wow, dressing up for a work meeting! I can’t tell you the last time I put on a nicer shirt for an on camera call.
This year I started playing Trails games, started with Estelle's journey, currently on Zero, can't wait to make it to Daybreak.
This is a perfect list. FF7 Rebirth was pure magic.
I'm surprised Metaphor: Refantazio didn't get any mention.
he didnt play it has he fears an atlus updated version
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is my favorite JRPG I’ve played in maybe a decade. So many amazing JRPGs this year.
Digging the blazer! That's a great list of JRPGs I didn't have time for this year! I'm excited to dig into them in 2025 hopefully. My personal RPG of the year was Unicorn Overlord, but again, I didn't play a lot of the 2024 bangers.
I am a HUGE Trails and Falcom fan since playing Sky FC in 2014 on the Vita. Trails Through Daybreak would be my number 1 pick for GOTY if it wasn't for Rebirth. So yeah, great list!! New sub for you!
PSA: Fantasian is ruining my life right now. I started up what I thought was a mobile port of a middling JRPG from two years ago and got a time machine back to Final Fantasy VIII with once in a lifetime PHYSICALLY BUILT AND PAINTED BACKGROUNDS in every scene. i feel like crying every time I play it its so god damned perfect.
First the nasal strip and now business casual??? Good Lord dude!
So I can't watch your talk on Fantasian because I'm going to play it and trying to avoid everything about it.
Visions of Mana looks... Alright. I appreciate that you loved it but it just didn't catch my fancy unfortunately.
I'm just like you, I missed the Ys ship for so long until I started watching JRPG UA-camrs a few years ago and discovered them. I played Ys 1 first, intending to go in release order, but ain't nobody got time for that, so I jumped right to Ys 8 and absolutely loved it. I loved Ys 1 as well, such a banger soundtrack. Is that boat drifting on the ocean? That's not how boats work...
Dude you don't need to dress up for us. Your content is epic no matter what you wear.
I'm way back on trails, need to play 3rd chapter. So skipping this one too, sorry my dude.
And I'm waiting to play the FF7 remake trilogy until it's complete.
People that get upset over UA-camr opinions on games will never make sense to me. They just like being angry... Like people who dislike Motoi Sakuraba. 😂😂😂
Have a Merry Christmas my dude. Thank you for a wonderful year of entertainment. You are awesome.
Great list, the thing a love about this list is, all these games have beautiful worlds with incredibly Varied and bright colour palletes which i personally believe is the best use in High fantasy games.
The beautiful thing about FF7 among practically everything, is manages to have that triple AAA graphical style wilst still using many beautiful and interesting colours you would see in an anime game without the anime tropes thrown in.
Hey Branden, nice suit, but yeah, always a lot a great games to play! thanks for the list!
hell yea for including Visions on here. It was an excellent adventure and revitalized the mana series in my opinion. Im sure we'll see more Mana games thanks to the success of this game. My game of the year, let alone JRPG of the year, is Metaphor. Leaps and bounds, the greatest game released this year.
Most of my year playing JRPGs has been claimed by Cold Steel so I have yet to play any of those five.
Ys X and Daybreak are definitely on my letter to Santa, you might have nudged Visions of Mana onto my wishlist, and I won't get Rebirth before I've played Remake (this one stayed in my backlog for so long that I'm starting to wonder if I should not wait for the third to be released before jumping in).
My own GOTY so far would be Like a Dragon 8 Infinite Wealth, but I welcome any contenders (I already have P3R and Metaphor lined up).
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an absolute masterpiece.
PSA do not buy Ys Nordics yet - the new edition was just announced but it has not been released yet and it's going to have upgrades and extended content - it's called ys nordics proud edition
I'm almost done with Ys 10, and it's an amazing game, definitely top 5 of the year for me. If you want to wait two years for Proud Nordics, be my guest, but I definitely don't want to wait two more years to play this game.
I wonder how big the Ys series will be by the end of 2025... Maybe they'll have a couple million more new fans who would like to experience the earlier Ys titles, or something. When looking through the vast amounts of JRPG's available, it's wise to travel light with Just The Gems! 😁
I kind of expected not to see Rebirth at the top even though it's my number one as well! I'm still working my way through the Trails games but am excited for the story that is unfolding. I'm gushing over FF7 Rebirth this year as well.
EDIT: Speaking of Trails, Sky 1st is getting a remake. Trailer just released. Same combat system as Daybreak. Looks amazing.
Not having played any other Mistwalker titles, you gotta go back and play Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story. That said, Blue Dragon is the most basic game in that list.
I can't get past those mobile graphics on Fantasian ugh
You play some of Romancing Saga 2?. If not I know you would love it!
is final fantasy VII rebirth hybrid combat or just action Kombat
It's pretty much action combat. There's the ability to slow time while you're in a menu, but I'd call it full on action RPG combat.
@JustTheGems is it tactical like are you actually thinking while you're engaged in the combat or is it just a formality once you enter into combat that either your gear is strong enough to defeat the enemy or is the outcome dependent on the the choices and moves you make during combat?
Metaphor is probably the biggest oversight, but also understandable. I haven't played it yet either. I loved Ys 10 and Daybreak, and I'm at a point now where Falcom has ruined gaming for me because I always compare other stuff to their games. I played Nier Automata, and while I completely get why it's considered one of the best games ever made, I dropped it well into the second arc because it just wasn't that fun anymore. Compare that to Ys 10, which has a very similar dual-protagonist thing going on, and Ys 10 just melts away hours and you never notice because it's all so much fun to play.
My backlog of top games this year is growing: Gran Blue Fantasy, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, FF 7 Remake (I haven't played remake yet, which I want to do before Rebirth), the Mana game (I downloaded and played the demo and didn't like the demo. I also disliked the demo for Octopath Traveler 2, which was an awesome game, so I'm not going to skip Mana just because I didn't care for the demo, but it will move down the list), Dragon Quest 3 (this is my likely next game to play, I think), Euyden Chronicles, Fantasian Neo Dimension, Unicorn Overlord, and on and on.
For people who have a very demanding day job, and lots of other stuff going on in their lives, it's impossible to play everything and to give everything the time it deserves. I know if Falcom games are coming out, those go to the top of the list, so my Valetine's day in 2025 is completely booked, and whenever Sky first chapter comes out in the fall of next year, that's a day 1 buy and play. However, other than that, there's a lot of jockeying, and I think the important thing is to play the games that catch your fancy and to not worry about FOMO. In this new golden age, everyone is missing out on something.
Like the suit, and I am subbed to the channel and I always like and comment. Hope that's enough to get me into the 99% of not mean people.
Spoiler: pick #1 is his beard.
Need to play my VoM copy, might be a decent action combat unlike the last I will mention.
Eiyuden Chronicles is around number 1 (PC) and lowest game (Switch) of the year.
FF7-rebirth I have to put down on my list quite a bit (maybe #20), since I will never play it again. I just can not stand the combat and one section (Cait's) I would not wish on my worst enemy. Saying this I like where they are taking the story, just not a fan that most of the story is put into side-quest. Y also seems not important to be in the game, which I hope gets fixed with FF7-r3.
PS: I am not putting down your picks, everyone likes what they like which is fine.
No metaphor?!
dang, no metaphor is crazy
But everyone knows about Metaphor. Tbh I’m very grateful Ys and Trails is getting some much deserved love and attention. Metaphor was unquestionably a masterpiece and everyone knows that. But Ys X and Trails Through Daybreak is just as good and tbh, I like Ys and Trails storytelling much more than Metaphor.
they don't know about final fantasy VII? @@mikedelgrande5296
No metaphor is CRIMINAL
Probably because he hasn't played it yet. I haven't either, but I am almost done with Ys 10 and will pick up another game soon. The problem is choice: Dragon Quest 3, FF 7 Remake (I haven't played the first one yet), Metaphor, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, the mana game Brandon mentioned, Fantasian, etc. I don't know which one I want to play next.
Just goes to show how ridiculously stacked this year was to be honest
You are sleeping on yakuza series and atlus games :(
I personally didnt like rebirth its just to long and most of the content wasnt really good. If it didnt have ff7 attached to it everyone would have complained that it was just another ubisoft clone. Also aerith scene is such a massive disrespect to how the original was composed they have no care for 7 and its legacy. I hope part 3 sells even worse so square enix doesnt try anything like this again. they can barely make a good ff game now. What is the last new ip that was successful relying on ips where most people are in their 30s just isnt a good strategy.
Metaphor Refantazio is what happens when a company builds what they have been making for decades. Now their system is so refine that press turn system is in all their games as it just doesnt get old. Even if this game is still to long it has less filler than all of rebirth which is already stretching a 30 hour game into 90 and probably end at 150 hours and you wouldnt even get an experience like 7. I hate that everyone is rewarding square enix for such a sloppy game.
None of thesevjrpgs were interesting to me for 2024. Granblue fantasy relink, fairy tail 2, dq3hd. An an older title but better ys experience legend of nayuta were great.