MS Saga: A New Dawn is a rather obscure Gundam JRPG back on the PS2 days. It was a great turn based JRPG that told an original story that brought in characters from all over the Gundam universe. Of all my friends that love gaming and Gundam, I'm the only one who has ever played it.
@@HallowedBeThyGame it was great. You had a team of 3 or 4 pilots, and they were the original characters for the game, and as the pilots leveled up their stats increased and unlocked abilities. Plus as you went through the game you found new Gundams and weapons and such all completely customizable. The Gundams had this inventory grid that was reminiscent of old Resident Evil games and you had to Tetris the weapons and mods into the inventory for the Gundams. And of course different suits have different combat preferences, like the Burning Gundam had a HUGE inventory for melee weapons but almost no inventory for ranged, but another suit might have a massive ranged inventory. I can't talk enough about how much I loved this game.
Have you heard of a game called avalon code? It's a bit of an odd one. And as it happens, for nintendo ds. The whole premise is to smack things in game wihe the book, the avalon code, to record things for the world's rebirth. It gets interesting when you can the look in the book and change attributes of things. For example, the first enemy you fight is a stone goblin. You smack it, go into the book, it has 200 health. 100 is base, but the stone code on its page gives it the extra 100. Take off the stone code and put a sickness code on there, and now it has 50 health. There are some problems with the game bur it was fun I thought.
I never played Magna Carta at the time but I drew a lot, and remember being obsessed over the artwork. It’s really unique and heavily detailed and intricate.
Ahh yes, Kim Hyung Tae. He certainly draws some nice waifus. He did the artwork for Blade & Soul which is one of the big reasons I was interested in that MMO. Too bad it turned out to be more pay-to-win crap. He founded his own game company which released Nikke recently and is also planning to release Stellar Blade, an action game I'm definitely interested in.
@@Sitri444 his company also did Destiny Child, and he did the art for it and I think one or more of the Magna characters are in it as obtainable characters too
Ar Nosurge. What a gem. What an experience. This game highly follows the same formula as another gem of a series "Ar Tonelico" (at least the 1st and 2nd game) . -the music -the battle system -the graphic novel-like mind-diving into the heroine's unconscious to unlock more powerful nuke spells -nuking everything with your glass cannon in the same fight -preventing enemies to 1-hit kill your glass cannon while she's charging her magic to disgaea-levels of absurd damage. -the crafting/cooking system (minus the random awkward dance) -the sometimes fun sometimes awkward fanservice/innuendos comes from there. . Even Shurelia comes from the first game. . It's from the PS2 era but the story, if you can avoid spoilers is **chef kiss**
Ar NoSurge betrayed everything that was good in ArTonelico games and I loathed it. I know it's the internet so I have to say I don't resent you for loving it, no scratch of my nose, but even considering being different from ArTonelico is not necessarily a bad thing, the game had nothing to offer. Gameplay wise I truly loathed it. I think Iv'e parted with it years ago. But maybe I still have it. I don't remember. Ar Tonelico 3 was already very different from the other two, but I didn't hated it. But Ar NoSurge felt like a deep betrayal. Tho I don't really remember why. Been a while.
@@Haeresiarchonte Haven't played ArTonelico (yet), but I loved Ar NoSurge. It was something quite unique, and art is good, music is amazing and the story is pretty good with some nice character developments. I don't think anything coming from the other games in the franchise could make me hate it or something like that. Then again, I guess I'll find out after playing them. BTW, the game is also on PS3, and (in Japanese) on PC
I actually played Ar Nosurge, during my ps3 gaming days, heck I platinumed it. That was mostly due to the fact I played every jRPG I could during those days. Man, what a weird title that was. I spent half the time creating items and watching conversations with characters. Unfortunately, story is rather ridiculous, and the fact that this is actually a sequel to Ciel Nosurge, which never came out in english, I was stuck with these characters I know nothing about. Story has some absurdly weird moments, like Delta and Cass spendintg like 2 years hung upside down in the water, but then they come back and I had to check if I didn't miss anything, because of how ridiculous that was. Nothing changed, like their friends didnt know what happened to them for 2 years, then they return and nobody bats an eye? I still have no idea what happens at the very end. Gameplay was fun, but ultimately very shallow. Still, I wish I could afford physical edition instead of digital, since it would enrich my collection. Very weird, I don't feel like ever returning to the series, but it was a good experience.
Weird and obscure JRPGs are one of my greatest obsessions - even if I won't play every single one, I just love hearing about them. It's hard to say which games even count as weird and obscure in a community that focuses on niche games, but Live a Live, Avalon Code and The World Ends With You are other ones I enjoyed and they're rarely talked about.
This is prime content in my opinion. I love hearing about games that aren't the standard 10 or so series. I don't know about weird, but quite possibly the most obscure RPG I own is The Dark Spire on the DS. It is a very traditional dungeon crawler in the vein of Wizardry, complete with an option to play in an old-school mode where both the graphics and music are changed to an 8-bit style. The soundtrack for this game still gets me going, it almost has Bloodborne levels of mood and intensity sometimes. Knights in the Nighmare...freaking beautiful game, but I sold it a long time ago. The concept was cool, but not what I really wanted. I still have the soundtrack though, great stuff. My favorite thing about the DS era was that a lot of smaller RPGs came out. They had original ideas, or obvious influences from 16-bit games, and generally high production values. The bad thing was, they were a bit ahead of their time in some ways, and a lot of those smaller IPs or even companies did not survive. The late 00's were a bit rough on the turn-based RPGs, as the mainstream games media was kind of drinking that Phil Fish kool-aid. RIP Nostalgia, Black Sigil, and the Golden Sun series, among many others.
Ar nosurge was also on PS3-I have the disc. I got it when it came out because of its relation to the Ar Tonelico series (the first two of which I absolutely loved). I really enjoyed the premise of being able to wipe out every random encounter in an area and being free to explore it at your own pace afterwards-I wish more games would do something like this.
Okay I HAVE to talk about Shadow Hearts here!! Those games are basically horror-themed turn-based JRPGs that have a unique twist to the combat in the form of the Judgement Ring which basically determines if you hit or miss on an attack AND it can also lead to more damage if you time it correctly. I cannot recommend those games enough, they're PHENOMENAL!!! Also Koudelka, which is the game that Shadow Hearts is a spin off of, is another phenomenal horror-based JRPG that was on the PS1
Nice list (take my like) ... with one exception, "Magna Carta" is not obscure, it is not a title like Final Fantasy, but certainly at its launch (2004 in Korea, 2005 in Japan, 2006 in USA). Maybe for those born after 2008 it's obscure, but then almost any game released before 2006 could be called "obscure" :P
I’m going to mention one i rarely EVER hear about, the sequel to Legend of Legaia, Legaia 2: Duel Saga. It was so obscure and wasn’t even sure if it was going to come to the west but it did and I have some fond memories of it. The whole Legaia series itself is underrated as hell really.
This might have been mentioned already, but there is a Magna Carta 2 on the xbox 360. It is definitely a different battle system than tears of blood, but the characters are great and one of my favorite games from the era.
Weirdest and most obscure game in my collection that consists mainly of weird and obscure JRPGs would probably be Guardian's Crusade. A late PS1 Activision published kids JRPG made by the company that went on to make Senran Kagura where you gain abilities through unique items called "Living Toys" and have a virtual pet helping you in battle. Really neat, no one ever talks about it, great soundtrack, really worth checking out.
My personal rarest game that I own is Solatorobo. It’s the very definition of hidden DS gem. The combat isn’t really too deep, but the narrative is very enjoyable, with some top tier music and atmosphere. Exploring and learning more about the world is an absolute treat.
magna carta isn't a jrpg, it's a krpg. produced in south korea by softmax. agreed on the art though, the character designer/artist is called kim hyung-tae and he's one of my favourite artists. he's actually the president of the company who made stellar blade (new ps5 rpg), and also did the character designs for that game :)
I'm assuming you finished Ar Nosurge, but one of my absolute favorite elements is how they use meta elements for the story and done it so creatively and differently then other games. Particularly what they did with the main antagonist, so creative and brilliant!
Magna Carta 2 is a fire game with a fire battle system that nobody ever talks about. I guess because 360 isn't the system you buy for JRPGs. There were a handful early before it didn't really sell in Japan and they dried up. First time I played it I had to put it down for a while since I kinda skipped the battle tutorial and got owned. Big mistake. Gave it another whirl later and just fell in love with everything about it. And it was just absolutely gorgeous as well.
When I got my hands on an Xbox one x by pure chance, one of the first things I looked for in the backwards compatibility stuff was Magna Carta 2 but to no avail
@@geoffreychauvin1474 Yeah😒 The handful of games I was talking about included Magna Carta 2, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Star Ocean The Last Hope, Tales of Vesperia, and Resonance of Fate mostly. You can get your hands on pretty much all of these except this and it's sad.
Holy crap. I'm not the only one who knows about Tears of Blood. That game is *weird* man. I enjoyed the combat well enough, but the world travel was absolute pain.
I love Knights in the Nightmare. The story and atmosphere have always stuck with me, and it's heavily informed a good bit of the writing I've done in the intervening years. Can't recommend it enough!
I played Ar no surge after playing the Ar tonelico franchise. It instantly became my absolute favorite game ever. I still replay it regularly on the PS3 and PSVita
The entire Growlanser franchise. What do you get when you put a JRPG with lite RTS mechanics, an early version of Persona relationship mechanics, and an ATB system? One of the most unique JRPGs I've had the pleasure of being introduced to on the PS2. I don't know how accessible they are on PC outside certain "methods," but the remake of the fourth game was released on PSP so it might've gotten a Steam release, and the fourth game is a standalone entry in the franchise. Highly recommended. :) EDIT: We never got the first or sixth entries, but the second through fifth are available somewhere. I know Growlanser V: Heritage of War was released on PS3 under their PS2 selection. Wayfarer of Time is the subtitle of the fourth game I mentioned above.
15:18 knowing that a run only takes 2 hours changes everything. That really takes the pressure off, because you know youre going to play it again and you will do better next time.
Not sure how weird and obscure it is, but Folklore would probably fall under this umbrella. Bought in on a whim shortly after getting my ps3 and it’s an underrated gem.
Probably my most obscure JRPG that I'd love to see get a modern remake is Legend of Legaia. Quite a few people have heard of it, but it definitely got overshadowed by the Legend of Dragoon which came out around the same time. The hybridization of a turn-based JRPG and a 3d fighter is a mix that really has potential even today. I'd love to see a studio like Arc System Works get a crack at it as I'm sure they could do something clever.
Weirdest most obscure game I own is probably Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of the Overlord. Never heard anyone talk about it but it's a super duper solid S-JRPG.
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier is a mouthful to say. Also one of my favorite DS games period. The whole juggling foes without letting them hit the ground combat was stupid fun. As far as obscure games goes, my vote goes to Half Minute Hero for the psp. An evil overlord has cast a spell that will end the world and only you can stop him! You have 30 seconds.
@@HallowedBeThyGame to add to the "psp" and "hero" games, What did i do to deserve this my lord series is awesome. You are villain supreme and must hide from the never ending assault of heroes. So you dig deep and create mazes underground for the heroes to wander and hopefully die to the creatures that spawn in the maze. Created by people who made akibas trip !
Have a couple PS1 games I'd like to mention... Jade Cocoon (odd pokemon-like but you turn the monsters you catch into silk or merge them together) and Thousand Arms (RPG with a dating sim minigame that affects how powerfully you can reforge your weapons).
The DS game Magicians Quest/School of Wizardry was super overlooked - it was like animal crossing meets Harry Potter and the residents are more than just animals, they're the cutest, weirdest things. There are spells, lessons, dating, clothes and furniture...
I still have my copy of Magna Carta, and even for a PS2 game cover, it was a very bold of them to have two different covers you could have, your basic and your lewd version.
Ar nosurge is a spiritual successor to a series call at tonelico I was hoping you put it on the list but the fact that you know any of the Ars game makes you a legend
Great vid and list, once again! Have you ever tried Sigma Star Saga on GBA? Strange hybrid of overworld rpg and sidescrolling almost shoot em up/run n gun action. Weird and cool. Okage for PS2 is pretty odd... Gameplay is pretty standard but the animation and story are just weird. Awesome game. And of course, my favorite games to piss everybody off about because I won't shut up about them on my channel: Shadowrun on Genesis and SNES. Both completely different, but both are oddball, and amazing RPG trips into an dystopian cyberpunk future. Absolutely the best stuff. I actually have a Shadowrun tattoo hahahaha. Shadowrun Returns trilogy is amazing too, but I wouldn't call them weird. Keep up the great work!
Yo dude that's amazing! I legit almost put Sigma Star Saga on here. (Spoilers if everyone seems to receive this video well I'm gonna put it on the next entry haha) But man I gotta checkout Shadowrun! Thanks so much for letting me know about it! I gotta checkout your vids on it!
You know a lot of these obscure games need a voice to get then more attention. Thanks for taking that role, especially Ar Nosurge. That one in particularly is so one of a kind and deserves to be shared.
Great list! Hero must die is such a gem and is worth checking out. Also it's unlikely the Nosurge remasters will be localised for the West given how long ago the remasters released. But here's hoping for fan patches ^^
From The Abyss - NDS I don't know if you'll find it strange, but the first time I played I thought "I don't like it", but a few tries later I really liked this game. Another game, though it's not a JRPG, but it's weird as hell: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective NDS
NDS are indeed has a lot of obscure games, and not limited to JRPG. I still wait for the remake of Ghost Trick (I love Ace Attorney series, so I will love this game as well, since Shu Takumi is the creator). Besides that, NDS had 999 series, Time Hollow, Lux-Pain (I really want this game to be remake, and the translator team must be good... It's really sad that Lux-Pain been translated poorly), and Theresia ~ Dear Emile.
Magnacarta is a game that, when I was little, taught me not to lend your own stuff to people, as I Lended my own unfinished phisical copy to a "friend" and proceeded to never seen both the "friend" and my game ever again. For that reason, I was never able to finish it, that was only the begin of my trust issues.
I'm not sure how obscure it is anymore but Azure dreams will always fit this for me. I picked it up at car boot sale (UK thing) when I was a kid, knew nothing about it, but it turned out to be amazing. Still one of my favs.
Sting has a bunch of other games under a series known as Dpt. Heaven, featuring titles such as Riviera: the Promised Land (DS), Yggdra Union (GBA, PSP) and Gungnir: Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes (PSP). They're all RPG's, of several different genres and all share a universe of sorts, connected through Asgard. Knights in the Nightmare is also part of this Dpt. Heaven Series, being episode IV. There's also a few spin offs but i dont know much about those.
I found Knights in the Nightmare unplayable Gameplay and controls were so arcane and bizarre that every time it leaves you feeling like you are doing something wrong
Nostalgia for the Nintendo DS is what i got as the most unique JRPG in my collection. You have 4 characters and it takes place….on Mother Earth no less! At one time, you’ll be exploring the Acropolis in Greece and at the other, you’ll be wandering the streets of St Petersburg in Russia lol it’s also extremely rare to get a physical copy of it now
The DS had some excellent and very weird JRPGs. I really enjoyed the Wizard of Oz. It was great fun to play with a very good battle system and only weird for the trackball. A few other DS JRPGs with unusual/weird features are: Nostalgia, which I loved, It's a steampunk kind of game set in Victorian times where you were in an alternative reality real earth and explore the whole world in an airship. My World My Way is a comical game where you play a princess who becomes an adventurer to lure a man she fancies. She pouts to alter things she doesn't like - make enemies weaker or stronger for example. Master of the Monster Lair is by the same developers and is also quite comical but in this game you use a talking shovel to dig dungeons and set rooms inside which will host various monsters. Rhapsody is another comical game based on the PS1 game, of the same name but with a different battle system. Music themed with a female cast. and puppets to collect. (All these have guides - found on GameFAQs if you want more info. - I know cos I wrote them!) AND, if you can cope with Japanese there are the Metal Max games on the DS (MM2 and MM3) featuring tanks and turn-based combat in a post apocalyptic world. Fantastic games that sadly never made it to the west. However there is Metal Saga on the PS2 if you want an English MM game and the more recent Metal Max Xeno on the PS4 though I wouldn't recommend this unless you really really love turn-based tank combat and don't mind a negligible story.
Unfortunately Hallowed Be Thy Game there isn't any weird rpgs I have in my collection however there is a weird game I have on the DS and it's Lunar Knights! It's also a vampire game(little bit vampire) and I believe from the Boktai series I had a lot of fun with. If you like a game with some alternting gameplay mechanics you could give it a whirl.
Knight in the nightmare was an absolute gem. It had such a unique story and unusual game mechanics that probably set a lot of folks off. But it's still a gem for me.
Loved your list, played some of em and yes it was memorable for me too. I remember 2 games i played in childhood that i failed to lure friends to play too, so i kinda consider this obscure. Radiata Stories from Tri-Ace/Enix & Grim Grimoire from Vanillaware. Man, i love vanillaware artstyle.
I've had the PS3 version of Ar NoSurge for a long time in my backlog. The time I bought it, the woman that had to look for the disc had a "wtf is this" expression on her face, lol, called it Ar Nosomething.
I used to love playing weird JRPGs when I was younger. I collected quite a few over the years but the two oddest I owned are RHAPSODY: A Musical Adventure and Guardians Crusade. Both are very unique as far as I remember. It's been a while since I played them.
Okay, Hero Must Die. Again keeps coming up in advertisements for me, and I thought the cover design looked cool, but I never dug any deeper. This might have convinced me to check it out. Great list, man!
Radiata Stories on PS2 is definitely the obscure RPG that I still go back and revisit every year or so. The main gimmick for the game is that practically every character you meet can be recruited into your party. It still holds up well graphically, and it does a lot of things really well that weren't standard on PS2 at the time: Visible armor and weapons, "live action / arena" enemy encounters, multiple weapons for the protagonist with different playstyles, combo creation, no random encounters, etc. Some things we take for granted now, but at the time it was pretty forward thinking.
Love to see Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier!! Been a favorite of mine since I found out about it through CGR a year or two after it came out. No idea how this is still stuck in the DS, easily one of the best DS games and JRPGs. Wish I had more than a cart-only copy but still treasure that cartridge
A DS JRPG that I never hear talked about is Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. I loved playing through the branching story path that develops based on how many times you use the titular Plume.
interesting video idea, not sure what my most obscure would be, may time and eternity. would probably say jade cocoon if I still owned it. would love to see magna carta compilation pack also only got to play the first one myself
The most obscure RPG I have is one of a kind; a RPGMAKER drunken coding evening spent with my oldest friend wherein him and me go find the Holy Grail just to drink beer out of it. No other copies exist and he's totally forgotten about it but it's still there on my Windows 7 laptop 15 years later 😅
So good to leave work and I get to listen and periodically glance at my phone to watch/listen to my brother Ren’s video. Great way to finish the work day and drive home. Thanks for the good video as always, brother.
Haha Super Robot is one I actually snatched up a while back! No idea even where I found it, but it has some of the best sprite work I have ever seen anywhere! Glad it's getting some much deserved love!
Lost Magic on the DS was a really cool obscure RPG that I enjoyed growing up. And this one is a bit more popular because it's a Microsoft game, but Lost Odyssey definitely did not get the praise it deserved. Fantasy Life also has a really cool cult following, and it honestly one of the best RPGs ever made
I was hyped for the Wizard of Oz one, as it was developed my one of my all time fav. companies: Media Vision, the creators of Wild Arms. Fully recommended game, as it was a nice take on the classical tale.
I really enjoyed Magna Carta, so much so that I picked up the sequel as soon as I got my 360. The odd thing is I never actually got around to playing the sequel. I always put it off as I was afraid I'd go into it with super high expectations and be disappointed, which could ruin the series as a whole for me.
Strange if i don´t remember tears of blood having much fanservice? I guess the story is kind of forgettable though, since i don´t remember much of it until a character´s sister died close to the end there(died because of some political intrigue, i guess?)
you have my eternal respect for reccomending AR nosurge and OG saga endless frontier. AR nosurge, though i haven't finished it, is by far one of my favorite games of all time and i feel wierdly emotional about it.
Here's a little treat for the retro bros out there: Jyutei Senki for the Super Famicom. If you're a fan of classic 80s-90s mecha anime like me, you'd recognize names like Dunbine, Galient, Escaflowne and Rayearth. These are all stories set in fantasy kingdoms that add giant fighting robots to their sword and sorcery. Jyutei Senki is just like that. This is a good example of the SRPG trends at the time, but its presentation is just amazing with enormous sprites for each unit during the combat animations. Is it as in depth as Front Mission? No. But this one has magical robots. It's JP only, but it recently got a fan translation so you should check it out if you're into mecha and fantasy. Physical copies go for cheap if you want one for your collection and know where to get your imports.
Dunno if they are weird/obscure. But games I like while I never hear people talking about them: > Resonance of Fate - Square enix weird steampunky postapocalyptic JRPG with guns. Very unique battle system. > Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - Dunno why, I used to be hooked on this demo when I got my PS2 and when I got my PS5 I finally bought it. > Dark Cloud - Again, came with the PS2 demo disc and played it to death, got it with my PS4 and I absolutely love the village building aspect. > The Last Remnant - Is the game good, not really. Do you have a weird attraction to it. Yups.
@@HallowedBeThyGame yeah, neither did I at first. I only found out because I was wondering what other games the Magna Carta devs were working on and searched them up.
I think the weirdest and most obscure JRPGs I own are all on 3DS. 7th Dragon III: Code VFD, Stella Glow, Ever Oasis, and Project X Zone 2. I also have Hero Must Die Again, but I didn't really count it since you can buy digital copies on both PS4 and Switch. Edit: You know, somehow I recognize some of the character designs from Magna Carta Tears of Blood that I saw here, even though I know with absolute certainty that I've never played the game. Like, I must have seen an ad for it in a magazine or something years ago, and the design stood out so much that my brain still has the recognition of it over a decade later. That's wild.
Found you while scrolling through UA-cam and decided to check you out. Definitely going to binge your content. Keep up the hard work logging in those gaming hours. Also subscribed now
Have you played The Lost Chid from NIS/A? It was originally on Vita, now on Switch. For starters, it's an SMT-alike, which is a rare thing. And its a semi-sequel to the also very weird El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron on PS3. Plus it has a batshit crazy plot about a war between YHVH, Ra, and Cthulhu. In terms of gameplay, it's fine. Not as good as an Atlus DRPG, but diverting enough for 30-40 hours.
Highwind village music from Magna Carta 2 is still one of my favorite song ever. It's so calm, nostalgic and peaceful. It remind me a lot of my highschool summer.
I don’t know if this counts but here. “Custom Robo Arena” “Golden Sun Dark Dawn” “Infinite Undiscovery” “Eternal Sonata” “The Last Story” “Akiba’s Beat” “Mind 0” “Ray Gigant” “Odin Sphere: Leifthraiser” “Muramasa: Rebirth” “Adventures of Mana remake”
I play Endless Frontier on my Wii U! Since I lost both my DS and 3DS to a psycho ex, I had to start over. I really need to get back into it and finally beat it after all these years. Great video! I subscribed.
Loved this video! 7th Dragon III Code: VFD was weird, and shocker was for the 3DS! Another weird one was, Blue Reflection Second Light! Fun games, but a bit odd! XD
Oddly surprised Rondo of Swords didn't make this list. It's a DS game where the main gimmick is that it's an SRPG, but instead of choosing your attacks from a menu, you attack by choosing your movement path and going through enemies. It makes the tank archetype more valuable as they stop people from moving through them, and they play with mages and archers as folks who do attack traditionally with mages being powerful, but unable to act after they move, whereas archers are less powerful, but can act after movement. It has a lot of polish and balance issues though, along with some really weird mechanics for between battles, including needing to send units off for a map on sidequests in order to do things like shopping, hunting for promotion items, and getting promoted.
the Ar Tonelico games and their successors are so weird and so good, I really hope they see western ports someday! They tend to get a bad rep because of their more risque moments (which, admittedly some of them are pretty naughty haha) but the lore and the music of that world are so amazing. The first two games would be perfect fits for the Switch, I think!
The Vita is a regular buffet for bizarre JRPGs. One that I have always loved conceptually is "Trillion: God of Destruction". You play as the King of Hell who is served by a cadre of beautiful, demonic lady-generals, and one day an end-boss-strength monster named Trillion invades your kingdom and starts marching down the circles of Hell toward the bottom. He's got as many hit points as his name, and it's basically a game of attrition where you have to fight (and often sacrifice) your generals to wear down and finally stop the game's only important enemy. The creativity of the concept is through the roof, and I love the great anime flavor and tropes. Great one to check out, and I think it might be on PS4 also.
now you may have not done any research on sting, but i did ...though it was surface level, and all i specifically found was that knights in the nightmare was made by production team a, a team with the purpose of making increasingly original games in a series called "dept. heaven" which ran for five games (but the third got canned) and some of them had some spin-offs and remakes. kitn is the 4th game, but like most jrpgs, the games aren't direct sequels, and the fact they're so unconnected may be why they're all pretty obscure, i've heard a mention of the second game, yggdra union, and now the 4th game, knights in the nightmare, but the 1st and 5th, or any of the series spinoffs i only just found out about, and one of those spin-offs i couldn't find on a rom site. this whole series seems to be full of obscure but very good jrpgs, at least i think, i've technically never heard a bad thing about these games, or a thing that wasn't outstanding praise, but i've also only heard two things on any of these games ever, so maybe i'm speaking too soon, but in my defence when i finally found stings somewhat incomplete wikipedia page, they seem to have a good track record, so i feel safe recommending the dept series to anyone reading this. to actually be more help than saying they exist and expecting you to check rom sites, yggdra union has a more accessible steam port with a bunch of qol additions. (it does say it's in early access, but that's just so they can fix bugs and maybe add some extra features)
"I'm always discovering a game I've never heard of before". I feel you man. I recently found a bunch of obscure RPGs on DS despite having spent tons of hours looking at RPGs on the DS and all the gameplay videos were uploaded in the last 2 years. I honestly feel like the Universe generates new content sometimes lol because there is no freakin way I missed some of these games in my many hours starring at game lists. Monster Racers did not exist till recently.
The sequel for Super Robot Taisen OG saga never officially came to the west, but there is a complete fan translation in english patch! It's a great game!!
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MS Saga: A New Dawn is a rather obscure Gundam JRPG back on the PS2 days. It was a great turn based JRPG that told an original story that brought in characters from all over the Gundam universe. Of all my friends that love gaming and Gundam, I'm the only one who has ever played it.
@@NightFire2100 I have got to play this!
@@HallowedBeThyGame it was great. You had a team of 3 or 4 pilots, and they were the original characters for the game, and as the pilots leveled up their stats increased and unlocked abilities. Plus as you went through the game you found new Gundams and weapons and such all completely customizable. The Gundams had this inventory grid that was reminiscent of old Resident Evil games and you had to Tetris the weapons and mods into the inventory for the Gundams. And of course different suits have different combat preferences, like the Burning Gundam had a HUGE inventory for melee weapons but almost no inventory for ranged, but another suit might have a massive ranged inventory. I can't talk enough about how much I loved this game.
There are only nine titles in your timecode list in the description. Where is the tenth one?
Have you heard of a game called avalon code? It's a bit of an odd one. And as it happens, for nintendo ds. The whole premise is to smack things in game wihe the book, the avalon code, to record things for the world's rebirth. It gets interesting when you can the look in the book and change attributes of things. For example, the first enemy you fight is a stone goblin. You smack it, go into the book, it has 200 health. 100 is base, but the stone code on its page gives it the extra 100. Take off the stone code and put a sickness code on there, and now it has 50 health. There are some problems with the game bur it was fun I thought.
I never played Magna Carta at the time but I drew a lot, and remember being obsessed over the artwork. It’s really unique and heavily detailed and intricate.
Ahh yes, Kim Hyung Tae. He certainly draws some nice waifus. He did the artwork for Blade & Soul which is one of the big reasons I was interested in that MMO. Too bad it turned out to be more pay-to-win crap. He founded his own game company which released Nikke recently and is also planning to release Stellar Blade, an action game I'm definitely interested in.
@@Sitri444 Huh, glad to see he's still doing stuff. I didn't really care for Blade & Soul or Nikke though.
@@xdevantx5870 I tried playing Blade & Soul and it had amazing art, great combat system, awful P2W practices.
I think theres a gacha he did art for called Destiny Child.
@@Sitri444 his company also did Destiny Child, and he did the art for it and I think one or more of the Magna characters are in it as obtainable characters too
Ar Nosurge.
What a gem.
What an experience.
This game highly follows the same formula as another gem of a series "Ar Tonelico" (at least the 1st and 2nd game)
.
-the music
-the battle system
-the graphic novel-like mind-diving into the heroine's unconscious to unlock more powerful nuke spells
-nuking everything with your glass cannon in the same fight
-preventing enemies to 1-hit kill your glass cannon while she's charging her magic to disgaea-levels of absurd damage.
-the crafting/cooking system (minus the random awkward dance)
-the sometimes fun sometimes awkward fanservice/innuendos comes from there.
.
Even Shurelia comes from the first game.
.
It's from the PS2 era but the story, if you can avoid spoilers is **chef kiss**
bcs it's a prequel
Ar NoSurge betrayed everything that was good in ArTonelico games and I loathed it. I know it's the internet so I have to say I don't resent you for loving it, no scratch of my nose, but even considering being different from ArTonelico is not necessarily a bad thing, the game had nothing to offer. Gameplay wise I truly loathed it. I think Iv'e parted with it years ago. But maybe I still have it. I don't remember. Ar Tonelico 3 was already very different from the other two, but I didn't hated it. But Ar NoSurge felt like a deep betrayal. Tho I don't really remember why. Been a while.
@@Haeresiarchonte Haven't played ArTonelico (yet), but I loved Ar NoSurge. It was something quite unique, and art is good, music is amazing and the story is pretty good with some nice character developments. I don't think anything coming from the other games in the franchise could make me hate it or something like that. Then again, I guess I'll find out after playing them.
BTW, the game is also on PS3, and (in Japanese) on PC
I actually played Ar Nosurge, during my ps3 gaming days, heck I platinumed it. That was mostly due to the fact I played every jRPG I could during those days.
Man, what a weird title that was. I spent half the time creating items and watching conversations with characters. Unfortunately, story is rather ridiculous, and the fact that this is actually a sequel to Ciel Nosurge, which never came out in english, I was stuck with these characters I know nothing about.
Story has some absurdly weird moments, like Delta and Cass spendintg like 2 years hung upside down in the water, but then they come back and I had to check if I didn't miss anything, because of how ridiculous that was. Nothing changed, like their friends didnt know what happened to them for 2 years, then they return and nobody bats an eye?
I still have no idea what happens at the very end. Gameplay was fun, but ultimately very shallow.
Still, I wish I could afford physical edition instead of digital, since it would enrich my collection. Very weird, I don't feel like ever returning to the series, but it was a good experience.
Weird and obscure JRPGs are one of my greatest obsessions - even if I won't play every single one, I just love hearing about them. It's hard to say which games even count as weird and obscure in a community that focuses on niche games, but Live a Live, Avalon Code and The World Ends With You are other ones I enjoyed and they're rarely talked about.
Avalon Code was pretty good! Shame I didn't get to finish it, but check out Radiant Historia too!
Lmfao TWEWY is not obscure
This is prime content in my opinion. I love hearing about games that aren't the standard 10 or so series.
I don't know about weird, but quite possibly the most obscure RPG I own is The Dark Spire on the DS. It is a very traditional dungeon crawler in the vein of Wizardry, complete with an option to play in an old-school mode where both the graphics and music are changed to an 8-bit style. The soundtrack for this game still gets me going, it almost has Bloodborne levels of mood and intensity sometimes.
Knights in the Nighmare...freaking beautiful game, but I sold it a long time ago. The concept was cool, but not what I really wanted. I still have the soundtrack though, great stuff.
My favorite thing about the DS era was that a lot of smaller RPGs came out. They had original ideas, or obvious influences from 16-bit games, and generally high production values.
The bad thing was, they were a bit ahead of their time in some ways, and a lot of those smaller IPs or even companies did not survive. The late 00's were a bit rough on the turn-based RPGs, as the mainstream games media was kind of drinking that Phil Fish kool-aid. RIP Nostalgia, Black Sigil, and the Golden Sun series, among many others.
I'm so glad you enjoy this type of video! You have a whole slew of games I have GOT TO checkout. Thanks a million for recommending them!
Ar nosurge was also on PS3-I have the disc.
I got it when it came out because of its relation to the Ar Tonelico series (the first two of which I absolutely loved). I really enjoyed the premise of being able to wipe out every random encounter in an area and being free to explore it at your own pace afterwards-I wish more games would do something like this.
Okay I HAVE to talk about Shadow Hearts here!! Those games are basically horror-themed turn-based JRPGs that have a unique twist to the combat in the form of the Judgement Ring which basically determines if you hit or miss on an attack AND it can also lead to more damage if you time it correctly.
I cannot recommend those games enough, they're PHENOMENAL!!! Also Koudelka, which is the game that Shadow Hearts is a spin off of, is another phenomenal horror-based JRPG that was on the PS1
That would have been my pick as well. Probably my favorite lesser known JRPG.
@@tzyoggah2898 Mine too, it's a shame that people don't talk about it more.
A while back there was talks of a spiritual successor, but that project may have been canceled
Nice list (take my like) ... with one exception, "Magna Carta" is not obscure, it is not a title like Final Fantasy, but certainly at its launch (2004 in Korea, 2005 in Japan, 2006 in USA). Maybe for those born after 2008 it's obscure, but then almost any game released before 2006 could be called "obscure" :P
I’m going to mention one i rarely EVER hear about, the sequel to Legend of Legaia, Legaia 2: Duel Saga. It was so obscure and wasn’t even sure if it was going to come to the west but it did and I have some fond memories of it. The whole Legaia series itself is underrated as hell really.
This might have been mentioned already, but there is a Magna Carta 2 on the xbox 360. It is definitely a different battle system than tears of blood, but the characters are great and one of my favorite games from the era.
I own magna Carta 2. And I love it. Voice acting is great and some of the back and forth gets me rolling in laughter.
I enjoyed it quite a bit
Weirdest and most obscure game in my collection that consists mainly of weird and obscure JRPGs would probably be Guardian's Crusade. A late PS1 Activision published kids JRPG made by the company that went on to make Senran Kagura where you gain abilities through unique items called "Living Toys" and have a virtual pet helping you in battle. Really neat, no one ever talks about it, great soundtrack, really worth checking out.
My personal rarest game that I own is Solatorobo. It’s the very definition of hidden DS gem. The combat isn’t really too deep, but the narrative is very enjoyable, with some top tier music and atmosphere. Exploring and learning more about the world is an absolute treat.
I remember playing this game. Thumbs up
Would love that game it’s expensive but would love it
magna carta isn't a jrpg, it's a krpg. produced in south korea by softmax. agreed on the art though, the character designer/artist is called kim hyung-tae and he's one of my favourite artists. he's actually the president of the company who made stellar blade (new ps5 rpg), and also did the character designs for that game :)
I'm assuming you finished Ar Nosurge, but one of my absolute favorite elements is how they use meta elements for the story and done it so creatively and differently then other games. Particularly what they did with the main antagonist, so creative and brilliant!
Magna Carta 2 is a fire game with a fire battle system that nobody ever talks about. I guess because 360 isn't the system you buy for JRPGs. There were a handful early before it didn't really sell in Japan and they dried up. First time I played it I had to put it down for a while since I kinda skipped the battle tutorial and got owned. Big mistake. Gave it another whirl later and just fell in love with everything about it. And it was just absolutely gorgeous as well.
When I got my hands on an Xbox one x by pure chance, one of the first things I looked for in the backwards compatibility stuff was Magna Carta 2 but to no avail
@@geoffreychauvin1474 Yeah😒 The handful of games I was talking about included Magna Carta 2, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Star Ocean The Last Hope, Tales of Vesperia, and Resonance of Fate mostly. You can get your hands on pretty much all of these except this and it's sad.
I wouldn't say the game and battle system were hot, but they were definitely awesome.
Holy crap. I'm not the only one who knows about Tears of Blood. That game is *weird* man. I enjoyed the combat well enough, but the world travel was absolute pain.
I love Knights in the Nightmare. The story and atmosphere have always stuck with me, and it's heavily informed a good bit of the writing I've done in the intervening years. Can't recommend it enough!
He's done it again.
Done what
Done what
Die again
I played Ar no surge after playing the Ar tonelico franchise. It instantly became my absolute favorite game ever. I still replay it regularly on the PS3 and PSVita
The entire Growlanser franchise. What do you get when you put a JRPG with lite RTS mechanics, an early version of Persona relationship mechanics, and an ATB system? One of the most unique JRPGs I've had the pleasure of being introduced to on the PS2. I don't know how accessible they are on PC outside certain "methods," but the remake of the fourth game was released on PSP so it might've gotten a Steam release, and the fourth game is a standalone entry in the franchise. Highly recommended. :)
EDIT: We never got the first or sixth entries, but the second through fifth are available somewhere. I know Growlanser V: Heritage of War was released on PS3 under their PS2 selection. Wayfarer of Time is the subtitle of the fourth game I mentioned above.
15:18 knowing that a run only takes 2 hours changes everything. That really takes the pressure off, because you know youre going to play it again and you will do better next time.
Ar nosurge and Ar tonelico were released on PS3 in North America as well, just FYI.
Not sure how weird and obscure it is, but Folklore would probably fall under this umbrella. Bought in on a whim shortly after getting my ps3 and it’s an underrated gem.
Thanks so much for reminding me about that one! I gotta pick it up
Probably my most obscure JRPG that I'd love to see get a modern remake is Legend of Legaia. Quite a few people have heard of it, but it definitely got overshadowed by the Legend of Dragoon which came out around the same time. The hybridization of a turn-based JRPG and a 3d fighter is a mix that really has potential even today. I'd love to see a studio like Arc System Works get a crack at it as I'm sure they could do something clever.
I played it back in the day, still have my copy. Also I have Legaia 2 in the PS2 but never beat it
Weirdest most obscure game I own is probably Tears to Tiara 2: Heir of the Overlord. Never heard anyone talk about it but it's a super duper solid S-JRPG.
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier is a mouthful to say. Also one of my favorite DS games period. The whole juggling foes without letting them hit the ground combat was stupid fun. As far as obscure games goes, my vote goes to Half Minute Hero for the psp. An evil overlord has cast a spell that will end the world and only you can stop him! You have 30 seconds.
Oh snap I gotta checkout Half Minute Hero, my bud Danik mentioned that one too me years ago and I forgot to play it.
@@HallowedBeThyGame to add to the "psp" and "hero" games, What did i do to deserve this my lord series is awesome. You are villain supreme and must hide from the never ending assault of heroes. So you dig deep and create mazes underground for the heroes to wander and hopefully die to the creatures that spawn in the maze. Created by people who made akibas trip !
You'd love the Project X Zones then
It's a real shame that Endless Frontier's sequel - Endless Frontier Exceed" did not release in the West, it was a great upgrade.
Dungeon Travelers 2 for the Vita is a fun dungeon crawler filled with fan service. I'm sure other people have played it, but I don't know any of them.
I have to pick this up.
Excellent game!
I have a physical copy, it's an excellent dungeon crawler.
Have a couple PS1 games I'd like to mention... Jade Cocoon (odd pokemon-like but you turn the monsters you catch into silk or merge them together) and Thousand Arms (RPG with a dating sim minigame that affects how powerfully you can reforge your weapons).
The DS game Magicians Quest/School of Wizardry was super overlooked - it was like animal crossing meets Harry Potter and the residents are more than just animals, they're the cutest, weirdest things. There are spells, lessons, dating, clothes and furniture...
Gat dang that sounds really cool! Gonna check it out, thanks for the recommendation!
I still have my copy of Magna Carta, and even for a PS2 game cover, it was a very bold of them to have two different covers you could have, your basic and your lewd version.
Ar nosurge is a spiritual successor to a series call at tonelico I was hoping you put it on the list but the fact that you know any of the Ars game makes you a legend
Great vid and list, once again! Have you ever tried Sigma Star Saga on GBA? Strange hybrid of overworld rpg and sidescrolling almost shoot em up/run n gun action. Weird and cool. Okage for PS2 is pretty odd... Gameplay is pretty standard but the animation and story are just weird. Awesome game. And of course, my favorite games to piss everybody off about because I won't shut up about them on my channel: Shadowrun on Genesis and SNES. Both completely different, but both are oddball, and amazing RPG trips into an dystopian cyberpunk future. Absolutely the best stuff. I actually have a Shadowrun tattoo hahahaha. Shadowrun Returns trilogy is amazing too, but I wouldn't call them weird. Keep up the great work!
Yo dude that's amazing! I legit almost put Sigma Star Saga on here. (Spoilers if everyone seems to receive this video well I'm gonna put it on the next entry haha) But man I gotta checkout Shadowrun! Thanks so much for letting me know about it! I gotta checkout your vids on it!
You know a lot of these obscure games need a voice to get then more attention. Thanks for taking that role, especially Ar Nosurge. That one in particularly is so one of a kind and deserves to be shared.
Thanks so much!
Great list! Hero must die is such a gem and is worth checking out.
Also it's unlikely the Nosurge remasters will be localised for the West given how long ago the remasters released. But here's hoping for fan patches ^^
I'm so happy another Hero must die fan is watching!
I really enjoy these types of videos since I find out about so many RPGS I missed.
I'm so glad to hear! More to come!
While Alice tackles more mature themes, Oz is a wide world with 7 novels.
From The Abyss - NDS
I don't know if you'll find it strange, but the first time I played I thought "I don't like it", but a few tries later I really liked this game.
Another game, though it's not a JRPG, but it's weird as hell: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective NDS
NDS are indeed has a lot of obscure games, and not limited to JRPG. I still wait for the remake of Ghost Trick (I love Ace Attorney series, so I will love this game as well, since Shu Takumi is the creator). Besides that, NDS had 999 series, Time Hollow, Lux-Pain (I really want this game to be remake, and the translator team must be good... It's really sad that Lux-Pain been translated poorly), and Theresia ~ Dear Emile.
The intro gets me pumped every time.
Haha rock on!
Dummm du du dummm du du dummm
Fantastic video! Knights in the Nightmare is a legit game and Magna Carta was a good one too. Loved the unique combat in both of those games.
Couldn't agree more, those games rock! And thanks so much for watching!
Magnacarta is a game that, when I was little, taught me not to lend your own stuff to people, as I Lended my own unfinished phisical copy to a "friend" and proceeded to never seen both the "friend" and my game ever again.
For that reason, I was never able to finish it, that was only the begin of my trust issues.
I'm not sure how obscure it is anymore but Azure dreams will always fit this for me. I picked it up at car boot sale (UK thing) when I was a kid, knew nothing about it, but it turned out to be amazing. Still one of my favs.
Sting has a bunch of other games under a series known as Dpt. Heaven, featuring titles such as Riviera: the Promised Land (DS), Yggdra Union (GBA, PSP) and Gungnir: Inferno of the Demon Lance and the War of Heroes (PSP). They're all RPG's, of several different genres and all share a universe of sorts, connected through Asgard. Knights in the Nightmare is also part of this Dpt. Heaven Series, being episode IV. There's also a few spin offs but i dont know much about those.
"Here must die again."
I've contemplated games where you level *down* and concluded that players would hate it.
I found Knights in the Nightmare unplayable
Gameplay and controls were so arcane and bizarre that every time it leaves you feeling like you are doing something wrong
Nostalgia for the Nintendo DS is what i got as the most unique JRPG in my collection. You have 4 characters and it takes place….on Mother Earth no less! At one time, you’ll be exploring the Acropolis in Greece and at the other, you’ll be wandering the streets of St Petersburg in Russia lol it’s also extremely rare to get a physical copy of it now
Dang never heard of this one, thanks!
I appreciate you a ton for mentioning Knights in the Nightmare. That game is nutty but I loved it. I'm gonna play it again soon haha
That’s awesome!
The DS had some excellent and very weird JRPGs. I really enjoyed the Wizard of Oz. It was great fun to play with a very good battle system and only weird for the trackball.
A few other DS JRPGs with unusual/weird features are:
Nostalgia, which I loved, It's a steampunk kind of game set in Victorian times where you were in an alternative reality real earth and explore the whole world in an airship.
My World My Way is a comical game where you play a princess who becomes an adventurer to lure a man she fancies. She pouts to alter things she doesn't like - make enemies weaker or stronger for example.
Master of the Monster Lair is by the same developers and is also quite comical but in this game you use a talking shovel to dig dungeons and set rooms inside which will host various monsters.
Rhapsody is another comical game based on the PS1 game, of the same name but with a different battle system. Music themed with a female cast. and puppets to collect.
(All these have guides - found on GameFAQs if you want more info. - I know cos I wrote them!)
AND, if you can cope with Japanese there are the Metal Max games on the DS (MM2 and MM3) featuring tanks and turn-based combat in a post apocalyptic world. Fantastic games that sadly never made it to the west. However there is Metal Saga on the PS2 if you want an English MM game and the more recent Metal Max Xeno on the PS4 though I wouldn't recommend this unless you really really love turn-based tank combat and don't mind a negligible story.
Unfortunately Hallowed Be Thy Game there isn't any weird rpgs I have in my collection however there is a weird game I have on the DS and it's Lunar Knights! It's also a vampire game(little bit vampire) and I believe from the Boktai series I had a lot of fun with. If you like a game with some alternting gameplay mechanics you could give it a whirl.
I have got to check Lunar Knights out! Thanks for the reminder, it looks really doggone fun.
I had no idea Oz had a jrpg?!
Knight in the nightmare was an absolute gem. It had such a unique story and unusual game mechanics that probably set a lot of folks off.
But it's still a gem for me.
So stoked to get further into it!
The mechanics of the game gave me a brain aneurysm and I didn't play passed the first stage.
Yup I've never heard of a single one of these. Well done sir, well done
Happy to show these to ya!
My weirdest game is probably Thousand Arms. Because it's a JRPG with a Dating Sim backed into its progression.
Bro!! I preordered Magna Carta!! Pretty sweet!!!
Loved your list, played some of em and yes it was memorable for me too. I remember 2 games i played in childhood that i failed to lure friends to play too, so i kinda consider this obscure. Radiata Stories from Tri-Ace/Enix & Grim Grimoire from Vanillaware. Man, i love vanillaware artstyle.
Glad you enjoyed! Vanillaware is top shelf!
I've had the PS3 version of Ar NoSurge for a long time in my backlog.
The time I bought it, the woman that had to look for the disc had a "wtf is this" expression on her face, lol, called it Ar Nosomething.
lol her loss, your gain!
I used to love playing weird JRPGs when I was younger. I collected quite a few over the years but the two oddest I owned are RHAPSODY: A Musical Adventure and Guardians Crusade. Both are very unique as far as I remember. It's been a while since I played them.
Knights in the Nightmare and Magna Carta are a couple I cannot wait to get to! Great video
Thanks so much!
Wizard of Oz was a fun part of my childhood since I had to read the original at the same time
That's so cool!
Okay, Hero Must Die. Again keeps coming up in advertisements for me, and I thought the cover design looked cool, but I never dug any deeper. This might have convinced me to check it out. Great list, man!
Haha how wild is that timing?! Glad you enjoyed the list and thanks for watching!
Finally, an RPG video that doesn't hate on Infinite Undiscovery.
Radiata Stories on PS2 is definitely the obscure RPG that I still go back and revisit every year or so. The main gimmick for the game is that practically every character you meet can be recruited into your party. It still holds up well graphically, and it does a lot of things really well that weren't standard on PS2 at the time: Visible armor and weapons, "live action / arena" enemy encounters, multiple weapons for the protagonist with different playstyles, combo creation, no random encounters, etc. Some things we take for granted now, but at the time it was pretty forward thinking.
Ar Nosurge was super unique. The plot had some crazy twists and the item crafting was just hilarious. Dancing to my Sukiyucky craft, lmao!
If you guys liked the Magna Carta character design when you should check out the phone game "Destiny Child" and "Nikke" Same guy
Love to see Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier!! Been a favorite of mine since I found out about it through CGR a year or two after it came out. No idea how this is still stuck in the DS, easily one of the best DS games and JRPGs. Wish I had more than a cart-only copy but still treasure that cartridge
A DS JRPG that I never hear talked about is Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. I loved playing through the branching story path that develops based on how many times you use the titular Plume.
interesting video idea, not sure what my most obscure would be, may time and eternity. would probably say jade cocoon if I still owned it. would love to see magna carta compilation pack also only got to play the first one myself
A compilation release would be excellent 🤘
The Magna Carta screenshot got me!
The most obscure RPG I have is one of a kind; a RPGMAKER drunken coding evening spent with my oldest friend wherein him and me go find the Holy Grail just to drink beer out of it.
No other copies exist and he's totally forgotten about it but it's still there on my Windows 7 laptop 15 years later 😅
Top shelf stuff as always Ren, thank you for your positive attitude and enthusiasm man, I really appreciate it (my wallet often doesn't!)
Much appreciated! So happy you enjoy the videos!
So good to leave work and I get to listen and periodically glance at my phone to watch/listen to my brother Ren’s video. Great way to finish the work day and drive home. Thanks for the good video as always, brother.
I’m so happy to hear! Hope you enjoyed the video and hope your work week goes smoothly! Thanks for listening!
super robon taisen saga frontier games were alot of fun. loved the humor and the banter lol
robot
I need to play the other Super Robot games!
Haha Super Robot is one I actually snatched up a while back! No idea even where I found it, but it has some of the best sprite work I have ever seen anywhere! Glad it's getting some much deserved love!
Heck ya! Stoked another fan of it is watching! It deserves a ton of love and spotlight!
Interesting hidden gems, beautiful waifus... Man, I love this channel
We keep it classy!
Lost Magic on the DS was a really cool obscure RPG that I enjoyed growing up.
And this one is a bit more popular because it's a Microsoft game, but Lost Odyssey definitely did not get the praise it deserved.
Fantasy Life also has a really cool cult following, and it honestly one of the best RPGs ever made
Hyung Tae Kim art style of Magna Carta/Blade and Soul is just pure perfection
I was hyped for the Wizard of Oz one, as it was developed my one of my all time fav. companies: Media Vision, the creators of Wild Arms. Fully recommended game, as it was a nice take on the classical tale.
I really enjoyed Magna Carta, so much so that I picked up the sequel as soon as I got my 360. The odd thing is I never actually got around to playing the sequel. I always put it off as I was afraid I'd go into it with super high expectations and be disappointed, which could ruin the series as a whole for me.
Strange if i don´t remember tears of blood having much fanservice? I guess the story is kind of forgettable though, since i don´t remember much of it until a character´s sister died close to the end there(died because of some political intrigue, i guess?)
you have my eternal respect for reccomending AR nosurge and OG saga endless frontier. AR nosurge, though i haven't finished it, is by far one of my favorite games of all time and i feel wierdly emotional about it.
So happy fans of both are watching!
Here's a little treat for the retro bros out there: Jyutei Senki for the Super Famicom.
If you're a fan of classic 80s-90s mecha anime like me, you'd recognize names like Dunbine, Galient, Escaflowne and Rayearth. These are all stories set in fantasy kingdoms that add giant fighting robots to their sword and sorcery. Jyutei Senki is just like that. This is a good example of the SRPG trends at the time, but its presentation is just amazing with enormous sprites for each unit during the combat animations. Is it as in depth as Front Mission? No. But this one has magical robots.
It's JP only, but it recently got a fan translation so you should check it out if you're into mecha and fantasy. Physical copies go for cheap if you want one for your collection and know where to get your imports.
Project X Zone brought me down the Super Robo Taisen rabbit hole and I'm a happier person for it.
They are so good!
Dunno if they are weird/obscure. But games I like while I never hear people talking about them:
> Resonance of Fate - Square enix weird steampunky postapocalyptic JRPG with guns. Very unique battle system.
> Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - Dunno why, I used to be hooked on this demo when I got my PS2 and when I got my PS5 I finally bought it.
> Dark Cloud - Again, came with the PS2 demo disc and played it to death, got it with my PS4 and I absolutely love the village building aspect.
> The Last Remnant - Is the game good, not really. Do you have a weird attraction to it. Yups.
I highly recommend Crimson Gem Saga for the PSP. Great video!
I'll check it out!
Fun FAct: the Character Designer for Magna Carta is also working on Stellar Blade(Project Eve) right now.
I had no idea but makes total sense now. Really stoked for it!
@@HallowedBeThyGame yeah, neither did I at first. I only found out because I was wondering what other games the Magna Carta devs were working on and searched them up.
I think the weirdest and most obscure JRPGs I own are all on 3DS. 7th Dragon III: Code VFD, Stella Glow, Ever Oasis, and Project X Zone 2. I also have Hero Must Die Again, but I didn't really count it since you can buy digital copies on both PS4 and Switch.
Edit: You know, somehow I recognize some of the character designs from Magna Carta Tears of Blood that I saw here, even though I know with absolute certainty that I've never played the game. Like, I must have seen an ad for it in a magazine or something years ago, and the design stood out so much that my brain still has the recognition of it over a decade later. That's wild.
Oh man, Lord of Magna and Knights in the Nightmare....good times.
Everything Sting made in that era was amazing for one reason or another. All those games came out on PSP too, and that's where I prefer to play them.
Found you while scrolling through UA-cam and decided to check you out. Definitely going to binge your content. Keep up the hard work logging in those gaming hours. Also subscribed now
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy the rest of the videos!
Have you played The Lost Chid from NIS/A? It was originally on Vita, now on Switch. For starters, it's an SMT-alike, which is a rare thing. And its a semi-sequel to the also very weird El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron on PS3. Plus it has a batshit crazy plot about a war between YHVH, Ra, and Cthulhu.
In terms of gameplay, it's fine. Not as good as an Atlus DRPG, but diverting enough for 30-40 hours.
I’m hoping to check all of revise out, thanks!
Highwind village music from Magna Carta 2 is still one of my favorite song ever. It's so calm, nostalgic and peaceful. It remind me a lot of my highschool summer.
That feeling is heaven.
Oh man this was so full of surprises for a random viewer like me. Consider me part of the crowd from now on lol
Glad you enjoyed!
I don’t know if this counts but here.
“Custom Robo Arena”
“Golden Sun Dark Dawn”
“Infinite Undiscovery”
“Eternal Sonata”
“The Last Story”
“Akiba’s Beat”
“Mind 0”
“Ray Gigant”
“Odin Sphere: Leifthraiser”
“Muramasa: Rebirth”
“Adventures of Mana remake”
Oh some in here I've never heard of, thank you!
I play Endless Frontier on my Wii U! Since I lost both my DS and 3DS to a psycho ex, I had to start over. I really need to get back into it and finally beat it after all these years. Great video! I subscribed.
Loved this video! 7th Dragon III Code: VFD was weird, and shocker was for the 3DS! Another weird one was, Blue Reflection Second Light! Fun games, but a bit odd! XD
Oddly surprised Rondo of Swords didn't make this list. It's a DS game where the main gimmick is that it's an SRPG, but instead of choosing your attacks from a menu, you attack by choosing your movement path and going through enemies. It makes the tank archetype more valuable as they stop people from moving through them, and they play with mages and archers as folks who do attack traditionally with mages being powerful, but unable to act after they move, whereas archers are less powerful, but can act after movement. It has a lot of polish and balance issues though, along with some really weird mechanics for between battles, including needing to send units off for a map on sidequests in order to do things like shopping, hunting for promotion items, and getting promoted.
the Ar Tonelico games and their successors are so weird and so good, I really hope they see western ports someday! They tend to get a bad rep because of their more risque moments (which, admittedly some of them are pretty naughty haha) but the lore and the music of that world are so amazing. The first two games would be perfect fits for the Switch, I think!
The Vita is a regular buffet for bizarre JRPGs. One that I have always loved conceptually is "Trillion: God of Destruction". You play as the King of Hell who is served by a cadre of beautiful, demonic lady-generals, and one day an end-boss-strength monster named Trillion invades your kingdom and starts marching down the circles of Hell toward the bottom. He's got as many hit points as his name, and it's basically a game of attrition where you have to fight (and often sacrifice) your generals to wear down and finally stop the game's only important enemy. The creativity of the concept is through the roof, and I love the great anime flavor and tropes. Great one to check out, and I think it might be on PS4 also.
Sounds awesome, I’ll have to check it out.
now you may have not done any research on sting, but i did ...though it was surface level, and all i specifically found was that knights in the nightmare was made by production team a, a team with the purpose of making increasingly original games in a series called "dept. heaven" which ran for five games (but the third got canned) and some of them had some spin-offs and remakes. kitn is the 4th game, but like most jrpgs, the games aren't direct sequels, and the fact they're so unconnected may be why they're all pretty obscure, i've heard a mention of the second game, yggdra union, and now the 4th game, knights in the nightmare, but the 1st and 5th, or any of the series spinoffs i only just found out about, and one of those spin-offs i couldn't find on a rom site.
this whole series seems to be full of obscure but very good jrpgs, at least i think, i've technically never heard a bad thing about these games, or a thing that wasn't outstanding praise, but i've also only heard two things on any of these games ever, so maybe i'm speaking too soon, but in my defence when i finally found stings somewhat incomplete wikipedia page, they seem to have a good track record, so i feel safe recommending the dept series to anyone reading this. to actually be more help than saying they exist and expecting you to check rom sites, yggdra union has a more accessible steam port with a bunch of qol additions. (it does say it's in early access, but that's just so they can fix bugs and maybe add some extra features)
"I'm always discovering a game I've never heard of before". I feel you man. I recently found a bunch of obscure RPGs on DS despite having spent tons of hours looking at RPGs on the DS and all the gameplay videos were uploaded in the last 2 years. I honestly feel like the Universe generates new content sometimes lol because there is no freakin way I missed some of these games in my many hours starring at game lists. Monster Racers did not exist till recently.
The sequel for Super Robot Taisen OG saga never officially came to the west, but there is a complete fan translation in english patch! It's a great game!!
Holy Moly I gotta check this out!
Awesome video. Guess it’s time to charge up the ole vita and pop in that Ar Nosurge game then lol.
Have fun!