Dragon Warrior (Quest) was my first RPG, followed by Pokemon, Fire Emblem when the seventh game was localized, then Phanatsy Star Online for the Game Cube. Out of those franchises, I dropped Pokemon due to the whole National Dex fiasco. On a side note, I only got to play the original Phanatsy Star when it was ported to the GBA. Now I have the Sega Collections for the Switch to play Phanatsy Star IV.
I knew, that Falcom was already a big JRPG number in the 80s, but in my opinion, they made and will make themselves immortal with the Legend of Heroes series. Trails in the Sky and - especially - Trails of Cold Steel and a third and final one after CS4 or Ys9. As rumored. The Ys series, too, of course. Tokyo Xanadu (ex+) is an underrated hidden JRPG gem. I played Phantasy Star on the PS via PSN Store and it is really difficult at the beginning.
It's cool to see how fast anime art styles and story telling methods took over when RPGs came to Japan, even in the text based era. Japanese developers added so much to a genre that was dominated by D&D aesthetics for so long. Nice vid, Erick!
Nice video! Looking forward to the part 2. And Dragon Slayer was also ported to Gameboy in Japan and that version was way easier to get (to emulate, at least). Since the game has almost no text, it is easy to play but rather boring. And I think there is another version of the game on Sega Saturn alongside Xanadu and the first Ys, but also only in Japan.
That was an excellent video man! I think I learned a few things. Looking forward to see your 90's video. Personally, the game that got me into jrpg's was Crystalis on NES.
Mister Tago Mago the first time I played Dragon Quest was when I was a little kid and I had no idea what was going on. It wasn’t til probably Chrono Trigger that I finally “got” jrpgs. Cut to last year, I find out that a bunch of old DQ’s are out on mobile. I play through the first three games on my phone and I was SO impressed by the groundwork these games laid. I admit it probably helped that they gave some quality of life improvements, save anywhere etc... it made 2 an enjoyable experience, and from what I hear it was a horror in its original form. 3 though, 3 blew me away. By the third entry they just got so much RIGHT with the genre. Also a lot of stuff was sadly lost... I had a reason to talk to everyone and sometimes even keep notes because those games did not hold your hand on where to go next at all. I never really had to grind because natural exploration of the world (which was totally necessary) got me to the levels I needed to be. I just loved the detective element, searching every nook and cranny for a clue as to your next move. The reveal of 3 being a prequel blew me away in 2019! Makes me wish more jrpgs put the work in to give us sequels set in the same world with the same landmarks, towns and history. Not enough do that, and when they do it’s usually so worth it. Mainly thinking of the first 3 DQ’s, the Lunar series, and Suikoden. But I digress... yeah for sure I get why DQ3 is your favorite.
Also I’ll say I tried to continue on after 3 and was disappointed to find that the version of 4 on mobile is a port of the I think DS version with polygonal graphics? So disappointed, that era in terms of graphics has NOT aged well in my opinion and really wish they just gave us some beautiful sprites. Oh well,
Hated all RPGs until late 90s (so I only tried a few now and again) then I had to go back and play lots of the ones I missed. Strange really as I have always loved stories and really like reading and writing guess I was just to fixated on my notion games had to be mostly action since they are interactable. Since then ive just been looking for games that engage me whether they can do it through just story or just gameplay or a mixture of both is irrelevant to me. Overall I have found RPGs and Fighters to be the two genres I engage with most.
@@Hereticbliss322 Sadly no I did not. Well to be exact I spent about 10 min with one entry I believe it was Ultima 4 (looking back now). I always mean to give Ultima VII a go one day though.
this is a terrific list; I remember all of these games; I still love Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Phantasy Star to this day; they have aged very well
Mark Anderson in some ways they made me remember some of the things that made jrpgs so good that have been slowly lost over time. The detective work! You really had to seek out your next move by talking to everyone, and sometimes even taking notes. You weren’t just handed your next location, and it felt great sometimes once you figured out what you had to do. Also, the maze like dungeons and limited inventory space meant you had to do these little dungeon runs, and watch your resources! It was so engaging, was this the time I was going to get through? Nope, I’m too low on potions. Hopefully I can get back out to the surface. Now I’m lost. For a long time I hated this, only now to realize how much more fun it made the games.
So, Falcom was godfather of JRPGs and was the first one, that combines addictive real-time action + heavy story-driven narrative? Played Ys 1 I was astonished, how almost all the basic elements of this game from 1987(!!!) are still present today! Yes, they have come a long way of evolution, but almost everything is still actual, yet more refined, detailed and bigger in scale.
In thousands of years all records of humanity will be lost, except this video... It will be used to educate the youth of generations to come for many millennia.
Fire emblem bomb but a brilliant daddy and the GameCube made fire emblem a house hold name in the most important cross over sequel of all time. If daddy sakuira could of made it work fire emblem would had become well known two years sooner.
I freaked out when you told me that you reside in guadalajara ( im from CDMX ) i totally love your channel and if you ever come to mexico city dont doubt to let me know and maybe we can hang!!! Great video BTW
@8:30 :You forgot to mention that Ys 1&2 were also Remastered and are currently available on Steam for PC (and also fully translated!). The remasters actually look fairly nice, though they still have the "bump" fighting mechanics of the time which some younger players may or may not enjoy.
@@ikagura Well admittedly some of them received huge changes, such as Oath in Felghana (aka Ys3), it went from side-scroller to three-quarters overhead action.
@@ikagura Absolutely! Oath is an awesome rendition of that game. Now, granted, I will occasionally fire up Ys3 for the SNES just for nostalgic reasons, but Oath is a far better way to experience the story.
Good research. So this is why many of the rpgs and other games I imagine in Nintendo's early library, sucked. A lot of ports from the early/mid 80's. I'm playing my first Fire Emblem game (almost finished), 'Shadows of Valencia'. It's ok, and that's only because of the story and character interaction. The two protagonist are really well made characters. But, compared to other tactical rpgs, like Shining Force, it's no where near as good. All attacks in the Fire Emblem game have only one-on-one battles. Magic only effects one character at a time, unlike in Shining Force where a single magic attack or technique can hit multiple enemies. The battles aren't as interesting in Fire Emblem.
3:10 Falcom's first JRPG knew that they could not make much with limited technology, thus is the reason why a sexy bikini girl in a fantasy setting having a sword in her hands and monsters lurking around her in a threatening setting really does sell copies. Even if the game itself was not always successful. They are doing the same thing as 1950s American Comics did with Jungle Girl comics. Japan often learns things from America and makes it their own.
Sorry, but I couldn't care less about mobile phone games =/ I don't care about Anatomia, I want a proper console sequel for the series, not some fan service, lame ass phone spin-off =(
You've tried the worst in the series (not bad games at all, but nowhere near as good as some others). Try the GBA ones or at least, if you can, the GC and Wii ones. If you don't like those, then there's nothing else to do =/
Professor Landon is school us in the ancient arts of vintage RPGs.
Dragon Warrior (Quest) was my first RPG, followed by Pokemon, Fire Emblem when the seventh game was localized, then Phanatsy Star Online for the Game Cube. Out of those franchises, I dropped Pokemon due to the whole National Dex fiasco.
On a side note, I only got to play the original Phanatsy Star when it was ported to the GBA. Now I have the Sega Collections for the Switch to play Phanatsy Star IV.
I knew, that Falcom was already a big JRPG number in the 80s, but in my opinion, they made and will make themselves immortal with the Legend of Heroes series. Trails in the Sky and - especially - Trails of Cold Steel and a third and final one after CS4 or Ys9. As rumored. The Ys series, too, of course. Tokyo Xanadu (ex+) is an underrated hidden JRPG gem.
I played Phantasy Star on the PS via PSN Store and it is really difficult at the beginning.
Dragon Slayer was the first "Legend of Heroes" game.
DRAGON WARRIOR! My first RPG on a console!
same :) although i "saw" and wanted to play Final fantasy first i wasnt allowed near it lol Dragon Warrior was my 1st to actually play.
Same here, and to this day, Dragon Quest series along with Fire Emblem is my favorite franchise.
It's cool to see how fast anime art styles and story telling methods took over when RPGs came to Japan, even in the text based era. Japanese developers added so much to a genre that was dominated by D&D aesthetics for so long. Nice vid, Erick!
Thank you.
Really nice job 👍
I love these educational videos
Nice video! Looking forward to the part 2. And Dragon Slayer was also ported to Gameboy in Japan and that version was way easier to get (to emulate, at least). Since the game has almost no text, it is easy to play but rather boring. And I think there is another version of the game on Sega Saturn alongside Xanadu and the first Ys, but also only in Japan.
That was an excellent video man! I think I learned a few things. Looking forward to see your 90's video. Personally, the game that got me into jrpg's was Crystalis on NES.
Dragon Quest iii is probably my favorite traditional turn based rpg ever.
Mister Tago Mago the first time I played Dragon Quest was when I was a little kid and I had no idea what was going on. It wasn’t til probably Chrono Trigger that I finally “got” jrpgs.
Cut to last year, I find out that a bunch of old DQ’s are out on mobile. I play through the first three games on my phone and I was SO impressed by the groundwork these games laid. I admit it probably helped that they gave some quality of life improvements, save anywhere etc... it made 2 an enjoyable experience, and from what I hear it was a horror in its original form.
3 though, 3 blew me away. By the third entry they just got so much RIGHT with the genre. Also a lot of stuff was sadly lost... I had a reason to talk to everyone and sometimes even keep notes because those games did not hold your hand on where to go next at all. I never really had to grind because natural exploration of the world (which was totally necessary) got me to the levels I needed to be. I just loved the detective element, searching every nook and cranny for a clue as to your next move.
The reveal of 3 being a prequel blew me away in 2019! Makes me wish more jrpgs put the work in to give us sequels set in the same world with the same landmarks, towns and history. Not enough do that, and when they do it’s usually so worth it. Mainly thinking of the first 3 DQ’s, the Lunar series, and Suikoden.
But I digress... yeah for sure I get why DQ3 is your favorite.
Also I’ll say I tried to continue on after 3 and was disappointed to find that the version of 4 on mobile is a port of the I think DS version with polygonal graphics? So disappointed, that era in terms of graphics has NOT aged well in my opinion and really wish they just gave us some beautiful sprites. Oh well,
DQIII is a perfect game
Hated all RPGs until late 90s (so I only tried a few now and again) then I had to go back and play lots of the ones I missed. Strange really as I have always loved stories and really like reading and writing guess I was just to fixated on my notion games had to be mostly action since they are interactable. Since then ive just been looking for games that engage me whether they can do it through just story or just gameplay or a mixture of both is irrelevant to me. Overall I have found RPGs and Fighters to be the two genres I engage with most.
Weston Meyer I guess you didn’t play the Ultima series.
@@Hereticbliss322 Sadly no I did not. Well to be exact I spent about 10 min with one entry I believe it was Ultima 4 (looking back now). I always mean to give Ultima VII a go one day though.
this is a terrific list; I remember all of these games; I still love Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Phantasy Star to this day; they have aged very well
Mark Anderson in some ways they made me remember some of the things that made jrpgs so good that have been slowly lost over time.
The detective work! You really had to seek out your next move by talking to everyone, and sometimes even taking notes. You weren’t just handed your next location, and it felt great sometimes once you figured out what you had to do.
Also, the maze like dungeons and limited inventory space meant you had to do these little dungeon runs, and watch your resources! It was so engaging, was this the time I was going to get through? Nope, I’m too low on potions. Hopefully I can get back out to the surface. Now I’m lost. For a long time I hated this, only now to realize how much more fun it made the games.
So, Falcom was godfather of JRPGs and was the first one, that combines addictive real-time action + heavy story-driven narrative?
Played Ys 1 I was astonished, how almost all the basic elements of this game from 1987(!!!) are still present today!
Yes, they have come a long way of evolution, but almost everything is still actual, yet more refined, detailed and bigger in scale.
I see Ys, I click like
Illuminati confirmed with the cover of that Panorama game ROFL
In thousands of years all records of humanity will be lost, except this video... It will be used to educate the youth of generations to come for many millennia.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Yeah just imagine in the future video games becoming a hologram platform
Spent last days watching plenty of your videos, cool man! Keep up the good work :)
my first RPG was Adventure on Atari 2600; I feel ancient
As a little kid, the dragons in Adventure used to scare me for some reason.
Phantasy Star was the first rpg and my favorite on the list.
Fire emblem bomb but a brilliant daddy and the GameCube made fire emblem a house hold name in the most important cross over sequel of all time. If daddy sakuira could of made it work fire emblem would had become well known two years sooner.
I freaked out when you told me that you reside in guadalajara ( im from CDMX ) i totally love your channel and if you ever come to mexico city dont doubt to let me know and maybe we can hang!!!
Great video BTW
¡Gracias!
What was the bg music playing? Why i have this feeling i played it before but i cant really say what game is it.
Really?? Number 1 it’s more like 3rd or 4th
@8:30 :You forgot to mention that Ys 1&2 were also Remastered and are currently available on Steam for PC (and also fully translated!). The remasters actually look fairly nice, though they still have the "bump" fighting mechanics of the time which some younger players may or may not enjoy.
Almost every main game are on Steam now
@@ikagura Well admittedly some of them received huge changes, such as Oath in Felghana (aka Ys3), it went from side-scroller to three-quarters overhead action.
@@Dhalin For the best yeah
@@ikagura Absolutely! Oath is an awesome rendition of that game. Now, granted, I will occasionally fire up Ys3 for the SNES just for nostalgic reasons, but Oath is a far better way to experience the story.
@@Dhalin To be honest I planned to do Wanderer but I'm kinda scared because the game is very hard depending of the version
such a shame most jrpgs didnt arrive to occident on the past.
most historical game of the 80s was released in the 90s
Fire Emblem of first?
I love Fire Emblem, but I always imagined Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star more important.
From what I can see here, it's just going chronologically, not a usual list of 'First is best' fashion.
Good research. So this is why many of the rpgs and other games I imagine in Nintendo's early library, sucked. A lot of ports from the early/mid 80's.
I'm playing my first Fire Emblem game (almost finished), 'Shadows of Valencia'. It's ok, and that's only because of the story and character interaction. The two protagonist are really well made characters. But, compared to other tactical rpgs, like Shining Force, it's no where near as good. All attacks in the Fire Emblem game have only one-on-one battles. Magic only effects one character at a time, unlike in Shining Force where a single magic attack or technique can hit multiple enemies. The battles aren't as interesting in Fire Emblem.
Thank you.
Great video. It’s interesting to know about the other JRPGs that got overshadowed and helped influence later ones like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.
I finished Dragon Quest 1 on the SNES.
Ys and Phantasy Star are my favourite JRPGs
As 90s kid, I can't wait for the next part of this video.
Love the shit out of Phantasy Star.
3:10 Falcom's first JRPG knew that they could not make much with limited technology, thus is the reason why a sexy bikini girl in a fantasy setting having a sword in her hands and monsters lurking around her in a threatening setting really does sell copies.
Even if the game itself was not always successful.
They are doing the same thing as 1950s American Comics did with Jungle Girl comics.
Japan often learns things from America and makes it their own.
They still do, haha.
Awesome video. I didn’t even know Megami Tensei went back that far
The very first Digital Devil Story/Saga game weren't made by Atlus
Who even likes Hydlide? 🤢
I love these history lessons. I just wish I didn't feel so old afterwards.
Hahahahahaha
love your videos !! lille france !!! bravo !!
Final Fantasy was my 2nd RPG on NES :D those did impact me greatly
I had Ys and Phantasy Star on the Master System. Both brilliant games.
Yes indeed.
Ys SMS was the second best 8-bits port of the game (with Ys PCE CD being first and Ys NES last)
No idea on the hot chick with a sword? Really, no idea, really?
Marketing purposes, I believe. But I can't say much since I've never played the game (it's never been translated)
Dragon Slayer is the great grand daddy of JRPG spin off series. Xanadu, The Legend of Heroes, and many more series spun off of that original series.
Happy to see phantasy star so high on this list.
Huh, well, list was made in chronological order.
Congratulations, fantastic, brilliant. Just a minor thing, you should have cut the last minute, in my opinion.
No, because I'm a FE fanboy.
@@ErickLandonRPG I know and it reflects on your videos about that subject.
That's right. :)
This video is gold.
Thank you!
Final Fantasy for the NES, was were it all started for me...
Es una maravilla ver los orígenes de los RPG. Quizás no sería mala idea que Square mirarán al pasados y recuperar el rumbo por qué están muy perdidos.
Dragon warrior is so good! playing it on ios right now such a classic
Do a Valkyria Chronicles video!
hey Erick! did you know that Valkyrie Anatomia game is going to be released a global version on spring this year?
why don't you make a video about?
Sorry, but I couldn't care less about mobile phone games =/
I don't care about Anatomia, I want a proper console sequel for the series, not some fan service, lame ass phone spin-off =(
Great video, man. I really learned a lot.
Please do: 90's, 2000's, 2010's
Chesco he says in the video he will make part 2 man. Pay attention.
The 2010's aren't finished yet
Thanks for the video. RPG history is always an interesting topic. :)
No problem, Rem, thanks for watching! :)
Did you struggle deciding between the order you put them and the reverse order?
Forgot to say I was going to put them in chronological order.
How lucky kids these days
Another great video! Can't wait for your picks for the 90's there's a ton!
Thanks!
Great video man.
Really good researched content!
i like this topic too
FALCOM!
I tried shadow dragon remake, and fates... i didnt like either. Cant get into fire emblem =(
You've tried the worst in the series (not bad games at all, but nowhere near as good as some others). Try the GBA ones or at least, if you can, the GC and Wii ones. If you don't like those, then there's nothing else to do =/
Fire Emblem Seisen no keifu is a God tier rpg imo.
great video
Nice topic