And yet somehow Ichiban succeded Kiryu greatly. Not to mention his japanese dub (seiyuu) are also Nishiki's really feels like he's also Nishiki's successor a lot
I really have to agree with you about all the points about Ichiban being a great protagonist in a JRPG or in a video game. It's just so refreshing to feel represented to those who grew up in the golden age of the genre depicted in a modern day setting. He's just so relatable and his struggles, celebrations and development is truly a sight to be seen.
Couldn’t agree more. He made me realize how much I want more older protagonists in modern settings, it’s such a breath of fresh air and immensely more relatable as I get older
Damn, surprised that Luke from Tales of the Abyss isn't on here. He easily had one of the greatest transformations as a person that I've seen in a JRPG.
@@fatcat1250 I agree. Luke does have one trick to his development and that's that the writers made him an unbearable piece of shit at the beginning and by the end of the game he was a decent guy. Xenogears has so much depth to it's narrative and character development that few games compare in that regard. Problem with Xenogears though is that it was released in an unfinished state. The second disc was mostly text dumps where you should have been playing the story described in that text. The project just ran out of money and time, so their solution was to patch everything together as cheaply as they could and call it a game. If there is one JRPG that most deserves a remake I think it is Xenogears for that reason.
My favorite is Alicia from Valkyrie Profile 2. I love the journey that she experiences that transforms her from a pampered princess who always relies on Silmeria when the going gets tough into a fearless leader who will go to the ends of the world and beyond to achieve her goals.
If you like Vyse's design, you might want to check out Captain Harlock, who Vyse shares a great deal in common with. In fact, Space Battleship Yamato, an older anime by the same creator as Harlock, gets referenced in that Skies of Arcadia, as well. Heck, Harlock's spaceship is called the Arcadia!
I’ve heard of Captain Harlock before but have never actually seen it, I’ll have to check it out sometime. Didn’t know that about Space Battleship Yamato though as well as Harlock’s ship being called the Arcadia, that’s really cool!
It really is a game I wish more people would have played. So damn good. Would be amazing if it could get a Switch port or something someday, the Ogre Battle series in general doesn’t deserve to be forgotten
I absolutely love and have played so many JRPGs and their protagonists for a long time! That being said I am 44 years old and you including Ichiban, a more mature character around my age was fantastic. And the list was great as well :)
Great list of some amazing characters! My favorite protagonist in a JRPG is probably Haku from the Utawarerumono series (I know it's more of a visual novel, but it has strategy rpg gameplay segments). Another favorite is Lloyd Bannings from Legend of Heroes: Trails. Thanks again guys for the great video!
Can't have a Gaming Broductions video without a praise for Xenogears, i'm definietly not complaining tho, i would love to see a dedicated Xenogears video from you
Alex is another great one. His journey and transformation to becoming a dragon master is awesome to follow along. I did think about including him as an honorable mention
You haven't played Radiant Historia!? Ohh man, you have an absolute banger left on your plate in that game. I think you'll love it and I can't wait to see the video you make on it.
I keep hearing this, I’m really looking forward to getting around to it eventually as it seems almost a certainty that I’m gonna love it. With all the great things I’ve heard though I just gotta try to keep my expectations in place lol
@@GamingBroductions Yah for sure, the only issue is that people (like me) build it up to an unachievable place. Best to remember it's just a DS game, not a lot of money behind it. But a lot of love and talent went into making it, and I enjoyed it very much.
I nominate God from the Shin Megami Tensei series as the single most evil villain in JRPGs. That guy sure loves genocide and authoritarianism. Not to mention his obsession with the purity of creation (which can often translate to genetic purity and the desire to purge the "unclean" from the world), his regular use of system oppression and the institution of a hard class system among both human and non-human entities, and his obsessive desire to destroy anything that tries to exist outside of his full control. SMT's God is what Hitler wishes he could have been. Even with as evil as a JRPG villain like Kefka could be, he became that way through a tragic accident from an experiment gone wrong, SMT's God seems to have always been this evil. Kefka destroyed much of a world and turned it into the World of Ruin, but SMT's God has fully destroyed and recreated thousands of worlds to prevent life on them from growing beyond his control and life remains trapped in this oppressed existence in the SMT universe because it is God's will.
Thank you, really appreciate that. I know JRPGs can be a daunting genre to get into with how long a lot of them are but there are some shorter ones out there that are a lot more accessible
@@GamingBroductions so mostly I've played early Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, currently playing through Chrono Trigger, any other suggestions or a link to a video of good games to restart with?
There were a lot of great picks on here but the number 1 pick got me so hyped because I was looking for them the whole list and they made it to the number 1 slot. Thank you for such a fun heartwarming video woot
great list. couple from me: Maxim from Lufia II - he's fun, relatively realistic, has a realistic love story, good friendships, and ultimately makes an immense sacrifice for love and the future. Yuri from Infinite Space - You start as an ignorant kid taking his first steps into space and end up years later as a grown, mature anti-hero, former pirate captain leading an entire fleet of advanced ships and creating alliances across conflicting nations to fight a universal evil. Yuri grows, sacrifices, loses people, makes hard choices, etc. The game play isn't for everyone, but the story is incredible. You mentioned Cecil and Ramza from FF, I'd add Locke as well. Characters which grow and are motivated by their past mistakes and wrongdoings to try and do good resonate with me, and they all fit that mold.
Thanks for the list, there are some nice choices and I enjoyed hearing your reasons for each inclusion. It's also nice to see Alis Landale from Phantasy Star get an honorable mention, she's long been one of my favorite JRPG protagonists.
This is a great video. I figured it would be just the normal, same heroes getting the top 3. You told us why and it made sense when you described it. I would have added some of my own favorites, but your list is great.
Didn't expect Ashley and Virginia from Wild Arms, some of my personal favorite characters. Also thanks for making me realize I need to beat Xenogears hahaha
I do still like Squall too, he is pretty relatable for a certain phase of life. He would have been the next FF protagonist I would have mentioned after the others I did talk about
I agree. I actually love Squall significantly more than any of the other FF protagonists (with the exception of Zidane). I think people forget how much he grows as a character from disk one to disk four. He has more character growth than the typical Cloud name drop (who, to me, was super convoluted and one dimensional). Sure, he starts off as a typical teenager, but also because he is literally only 17 and then grows into a real leader. Meanwhile, Cloud acts more emo than Squall does (“none of your business, I’m just doing my job”) and is a 21 year old man. I think more people need to revisit FFVIII because it was severely undervalued.
They really were. From the Alexandria ‘kidnapping’ to the evil forest to the ice cavern to Dali, it’s probably my favorite opening hours of any JRPG ever
I enjoy your laid back presentation style and you really sell each of the games included in this ranking. It'd be cool to see you rank each JRPG based on the areas where they excel for the best all-rounder.
Love the vid as usual! Im sure my fav protag is obvious but mine is Squall Leonhart as well as being my favorite video game character in general. Ff8 is my favorite game ever despite its honestly really glaring flaws it just means a lot to me. I first played that game on the switch 3 years ago when i was 17(same age as squall) and going through a lot of tough shit causing me to adopt a really bad self-defeating personality. Playing that game and watching squall's growth over its events genuinely made me a better person and helped me see the harm i was causing myself. I also personally feel like hes a lot more complex than people give him credit for. Other favs are Ryudo, Tidus, Serge, and Stocke to name a few. I like my standoffish protags idk
Ogre battle 64 was one of my fav N64 games, extremely underrated and a true masterpiece showing what kind of possible rpgs the N64 was actually capable of. I appreciate that you chose to put Magnus Gallant somehwere on this list.
Absolutely underrated for sure, mainly because no one was playing the 64 for RPGs and just got their fix through PlayStation. It’s great to see the game still getting some appreciation online these days
@@GamingBroductions i agree, its finally getting the recognition it deserves. I believe it was pretty limited in production too so it was harder to find. Any chance i got i rented it from my local video store, it was always there. But i was already familiar with ogre battle from the snes so i knew what it was. Nice too see other people appreciate it as much as i do! Cheers to that!
I loved Vyse as a Protagonist character in Skies of Arcadia, would have loved to know the Japanese version of him because of how the Western version was heavily censored. I am sure that Vyse while being brave and heroic, also had a perverted side to him in a more playful way especially with Aika his childhood friend.
Great video! And that Legend of Legaia OST...wow...it just pulls my heartstring I can't even describe! Everytime I hear this song the urge to replay it gets unbearable!
My top picks would be . Squall I love how he was emotionaly damaged and closed off, and throughout the game he started opening up to his crew and the people around him.
Very nice and diverse list. My favorites without any particular order: - Shulk (Xenoblade) - Zidane (FFIX) - father / brother Nier (Nier Gestalt / Replicant) - 2B (Nier Automata) - Ryu (Breath of Fire 3) - Alundra (Alundra) - Joker (Persona 5) - Shion (Xenosaga) - Ashley Lionet(Vagrant Story) - Aya Brea (Parasite Eve)
Huge thumbs up for having Fei, Ryudo, and Yuri on this list. And please play Radiant Historia, it's one of the best written JRPGs I've ever played, and actually does time manipulation right.
Most satisfying thing of today is obviously the Ryudo appreciation in this vid :D (Grandia II is underrated - it was popular for a while during its Dreamcast release then totally fell off the radar). Vyse and Yuri and Zidane were also great choices 👍
Well the FF protagonists are really good so no surprise on them. I really liked seeing some love for Stocke and Ryuudo, those names don't come up very often. One Name from a huge overlooked series I want to throw in there is Maxim from Lufia 2. The guy is the legendary Hero from Lufia 1's old tales, you even get to play him and his party for a bit and in Lufia 2 you get to see how he became said hero. Normally media is really bad at portraying legendary hero type characters. Either you only get to see them at their peak, they have some serious flaws (mostly played for laughs) that of course legends don't talk about. Sometimes he is a flawless blank slate and other times the transition to the Legend is not believable. Not this time. Maxim might already start out as a righteous person, but he's not flawless. He struggles along the way, has his fair share of losses too, but always keeps a certain optimism. He falls in love, marries and has a child during the events of the game (not in the end when the credits roll). During the story he and his party believably grow stronger and he finally acquires a magical weapon to become the legend that has been shown in the first game. Also the game breaks away from the traditional anime tropes (with one exception) in both design and peersonality and especially in the art of the SNES game, but also in the SNES sprites, he looks heavily influenced by european fantasy settings. I also like it when protagonists are already somewhat capable at the start of the game and Maxim has already been a monster hunter for several years. Sadly the remake for DS did the original game really dirty.
Cool selection. Ryudo from Grandia 2 is one of my all-time favourites as well. Also, I love Meis from Thousand Arms. His design is cool and I love the world and the characters in it. But you're right, he would be cancelled as hell today hahaha
I think in Star Ocean 2, Claude is meant to be your first play through, more of an outside view of the events of the entire game, while Rena is a bit more of the inside story at times. With her already having knowledge about the first planet you're on, and with her being centrally impacted by many of the plot twists. I think it's more impactful to play Claude first when, not only are you the player new to the story, but you also have to view everything happen from Claude's perspective on top of seeing it the first time, where Rena feels more like that second play through where you get to see more scenes. I might be oversimplifying it, but I mostly recall Claude's scenes being "teenage boy being a teenage boy," while Rena's were much more emotionally devastating, and not just because she's the girl.
Yuri from Shadow hearts and Ryudo from Grandia 2, 2 of my most favorite heroes ever. Good old days of the ps2 ! They were my top 2, but now there is Rean Schwarzer from legend of heroes trails of cold steel 1 to 4. My top 3 now but I cannot tell who should be 1st 😅
You touched on a few of my faves here like Yuri Lowell, Rena Cloud and Ramza, but I do want to throw in my love for Marche (Tactics Advance) who resonated with my young self, Dean from Wild ARMs 5 and Rex from Xenoblade 2. I guess I like my good-natured protagonists quite a bit xD Estelle Bright and Toma (Shining Force EXA) are potentially on my list as well, though I need to play farther in the games
Not only do I miss the character battles from game FAQs, I was a huge recurring member on the message board board eight where there is a surprisingly thriving community there Sadly, the last contest they had was a second game of the decade contest for any game released from 2010 to 2019 and the vote totals were pitiful
My personal favorite is Ni No Kuni’s Oliver. His story and journey is emotional. Not only that he stands out in terms the role he plays in battles. He’s not a swordsman, heck he isn’t even a martial fighter. He’s a WIZARD. A mage! A role mostly seen from the side characters, usually the female love interest or little girl. It’s such a breath of fresh air to see a magic-user of all people to be a JRPG protagonist.
Yo, nice that you included Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza Like a Dragon on this list, he's definitely by far my fave JRPG protag, maybe cuz I'm older and I can easily relate to him more, also, the fact that he's also a HUGE nerd of Dragon Quest games, makes him such a dork and likeable. Jrpg genre needs more adult protagonists.
I loved xenogears so much I wrote it on top of my playstation in permanent marker. Then my brother pointed out it wasn't spelled with a 'z' so I have zenogears etched into my PS1 forever. Wish it would get more love from SE.
Gotta put in a good word for Velvet from Tales of Berseria, and Yuri from Tales of Vesperia. Critically underrated, especially outside the Tales of Community. 2B and 9S are OK from Automata, but not nearly as good as the characters from Replicant Then, I know this doesn't include silent protags, but "Nier" from Replicant/Gestalt is pinnacle protag. Glad you put Estelle in the list. As much as I have trouble getting through some of the encounter design in the Sky games, she is the... "Bright" part of Sky.
Would like to see a video on who you think are the best companions in terms of their designs and character arcs. One of my favorites in Imca from Valkyria Chronicles 3. Too often we get the 'driven by revenge for a past tragedy' arc but it's not often we get it with a character where it ultimately ends in failure and them learning how to live on despite of that failure and the fact they will never get the revenge they seek. She also has a cool design with a even cooler weapon in a multi purpose buster sword/artillery cannon.
I renamed Ashley Winchester in Wild Arms 2 as Dean Winchester and I renamed Gallows Carradine in Wild Arms 3 as Robert Carradine. I also knew someone named Brad Evans just like the character in Wild Arms 2.
I honestly thought I would hate Ichiban but hot damn is that dude seriously my favorite now. For many of the same reason as well. I guess as a kid I loved the angsty teen protagonists but by the time I turned 18 and had responsibilities I began to shift towards well thought out mature characters. These are fewer and farther between but are often immeasurably better than the alternatives. Thumbs up for Ichiban!
I completely agree with Ichiban. We need more older protagonist. Ichiban really played his role really well, and there was a lot tied into that main story that really hit the heart hard.
I agree with what you said about Zidane and the double bladed .. thing lol but he looks really cool when wielding the dual daggers. I agree with EVERYTHING you said about Zidane even his not cool looking design. Also you’re lucky. I was born in 1984 so I had to wait for FF8 and FF9 to come out lol. When I got into RPG’s FF7 had just come out. Love your channel, brother. You and your brother make good content
I feel like it’s a fairly popular opinion to like Zidane’s character but not be crazy about his design lol. I remember Super Mario RPG was my first RPG but I didn’t really even know what they were at the time and just thought that was a unique game, it wasn’t until I played Legend of Legaia a few years later that I got absolutely hooked and realized there was a whole genre of games out there like it for me to dive into. One of the best revelations of my life haha. And thanks man, appreciate that!
My dude, you gotta ply Radiant Historia. It got me back in the genre after a long many year burnout and I've been mote in love with JRPG'S than ever before.
Seeing xenogears get love always makes me happy. One of, if not my favorite game of all time. Fei as a character and the entire story of xenogears is one of the best ever. Great list man
One protagonist I really like is Welkin from Valkyria Chronicles. He is basically a biology nerd which is very rare for a protagonist. Welkin and Shion from Xenosaga are the only scientist protagonists that I know of. What I love about Welkin though is that he’s not special and ends up winning an uphill war purely through strategy and science. My favorite protagonist in any JRPG though has to be Mao from Disgaea 3. I know a lot of people like and prefer Laharl, but I think Mao has more personality, a more fleshed out character arc, and his story is much more relatable. Also his ending is just awesome.
I think he’s got some of the best character development out of any JRPG protagonist, however in order to get there he does spend a lot of the game being annoying which is why I left him off this list. I go into more detail about my thoughts on him in our retrospective over Tales of the Abyss, but i would probably wait to watch that until you’ve played more of the game
Unpopular and contentious opinion: I think Asbel from Tales of Graces is one of my favorite protagonists. I thought he was just a genuine, incredibly sweet guy; and his actions throughout the game mirrored choices I tend to always make in RPG's.
Great List Man , It's kind funny when you your protagonist Yuri he will automatic badass it too bad there is no love my favorite protagonist Haseo from ,Hack gu his character growth was great just like Luke but not annoying and his thrid design was my favorite.
Great list! I was expecting to see Laharl (Disgaea 1), Priere (La Pucelle) or any other NISA protagonist, as they have created some pretty awesome characters
I see Vyse, I click. That's science.
He actually added Yuri Hyuga the absolute madman. Infinite respect.
A list like this wouldn’t be complete without the man Yuri
Yuri is awesome! Even though I haven't touched Shadow Hearts in years, I still say he's one of my favorite game characters of all time.
@@GamingBroductions you forgot princess Mint from Threads of Fate - an absolutely hilarious protagonist!
Came here to complain about yuri not being on. Not bad…
For those who don't know, Ichiban and Kiryu clothing are inverted which basically signals they are the opposite of eachother.
And yet somehow Ichiban succeded Kiryu greatly. Not to mention his japanese dub (seiyuu) are also Nishiki's really feels like he's also Nishiki's successor a lot
I really have to agree with you about all the points about Ichiban being a great protagonist in a JRPG or in a video game. It's just so refreshing to feel represented to those who grew up in the golden age of the genre depicted in a modern day setting. He's just so relatable and his struggles, celebrations and development is truly a sight to be seen.
Couldn’t agree more. He made me realize how much I want more older protagonists in modern settings, it’s such a breath of fresh air and immensely more relatable as I get older
Ichiban thinks he is a fucking video game character and I love him for that, now that's a TRUE HERO!
Damn, surprised that Luke from Tales of the Abyss isn't on here. He easily had one of the greatest transformations as a person that I've seen in a JRPG.
Probably because his golden standard of character transformations is xenogears. Luke comes off as a one trick pony compared to it.
@@fatcat1250 I agree. Luke does have one trick to his development and that's that the writers made him an unbearable piece of shit at the beginning and by the end of the game he was a decent guy. Xenogears has so much depth to it's narrative and character development that few games compare in that regard. Problem with Xenogears though is that it was released in an unfinished state. The second disc was mostly text dumps where you should have been playing the story described in that text. The project just ran out of money and time, so their solution was to patch everything together as cheaply as they could and call it a game. If there is one JRPG that most deserves a remake I think it is Xenogears for that reason.
Great list as always, my favorite is still Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia.
Hard to beat Yuri. He was a huge breath of fresh air in the genre, especially for the Tales series
Awesome #1 pick. I would like to add that Xenogears has an amazing and memorable soundtrack as well!
Might be the most impressive soundtrack for a jrpg of the time, which is saying something
My favorite is Alicia from Valkyrie Profile 2. I love the journey that she experiences that transforms her from a pampered princess who always relies on Silmeria when the going gets tough into a fearless leader who will go to the ends of the world and beyond to achieve her goals.
If you like Vyse's design, you might want to check out Captain Harlock, who Vyse shares a great deal in common with. In fact, Space Battleship Yamato, an older anime by the same creator as Harlock, gets referenced in that Skies of Arcadia, as well. Heck, Harlock's spaceship is called the Arcadia!
That’s really cool. I’m a big Skies fan.
I’ve heard of Captain Harlock before but have never actually seen it, I’ll have to check it out sometime. Didn’t know that about Space Battleship Yamato though as well as Harlock’s ship being called the Arcadia, that’s really cool!
@@GamingBroductions My suggestion is to check out a movie called "Galaxy Express 999." Not the show, but the movie. There's a decent dub.
I'M not crying! You are!
@@LeijiverseI have Galaxy Express 999. I watched it many times as a kid in Hawaii back in 1980.
Magnus Gallant being included at all, let alone in the top 10, makes me so happy. I hope more people go back and play that game
It really is a game I wish more people would have played. So damn good. Would be amazing if it could get a Switch port or something someday, the Ogre Battle series in general doesn’t deserve to be forgotten
I absolutely love and have played so many JRPGs and their protagonists for a long time! That being said I am 44 years old and you including Ichiban, a more mature
character around my age was fantastic. And the list was great as well :)
Great list of some amazing characters! My favorite protagonist in a JRPG is probably Haku from the Utawarerumono series (I know it's more of a visual novel, but it has strategy rpg gameplay segments). Another favorite is Lloyd Bannings from Legend of Heroes: Trails. Thanks again guys for the great video!
Can't have a Gaming Broductions video without a praise for Xenogears, i'm definietly not complaining tho, i would love to see a dedicated Xenogears video from you
Sad Justin from Grandia inte here, think his character developement is really great, all character he meta helps him form to the hero in the end
Damn, your music selection in this vid was incredible! Great list too
(Lmao at how she decided to clean your hair as you were editing)
Dude, you got all of the best underrated rpgs on here! Thank you for making this! It totally brought me back to my childhood.
No problem at all dude! Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip down memory lane
I really like tidus. I love the narration he gives.
His narration is somewhat relatable and funny tbh. Especially when he speaks about Seymour 😂
My fav protag is Alex from Lunar. Could be nostalgia but i just like the story and following his adventure was fun.
Alex is another great one. His journey and transformation to becoming a dragon master is awesome to follow along. I did think about including him as an honorable mention
You haven't played Radiant Historia!?
Ohh man, you have an absolute banger left on your plate in that game.
I think you'll love it and I can't wait to see the video you make on it.
I keep hearing this, I’m really looking forward to getting around to it eventually as it seems almost a certainty that I’m gonna love it. With all the great things I’ve heard though I just gotta try to keep my expectations in place lol
@@GamingBroductions Yah for sure, the only issue is that people (like me) build it up to an unachievable place.
Best to remember it's just a DS game, not a lot of money behind it.
But a lot of love and talent went into making it, and I enjoyed it very much.
Top 10 villain in JRPGs. in the next.
I nominate God from the Shin Megami Tensei series as the single most evil villain in JRPGs. That guy sure loves genocide and authoritarianism. Not to mention his obsession with the purity of creation (which can often translate to genetic purity and the desire to purge the "unclean" from the world), his regular use of system oppression and the institution of a hard class system among both human and non-human entities, and his obsessive desire to destroy anything that tries to exist outside of his full control. SMT's God is what Hitler wishes he could have been.
Even with as evil as a JRPG villain like Kefka could be, he became that way through a tragic accident from an experiment gone wrong, SMT's God seems to have always been this evil. Kefka destroyed much of a world and turned it into the World of Ruin, but SMT's God has fully destroyed and recreated thousands of worlds to prevent life on them from growing beyond his control and life remains trapped in this oppressed existence in the SMT universe because it is God's will.
I would say Luca Bligh from Suikoden 2 would be in.
I like Justin from the original Grandia. He's very adventurous.
You really make me wish I played a lot more JRPGs, love this channels aesthetic and your narration is top notch
Thank you, really appreciate that. I know JRPGs can be a daunting genre to get into with how long a lot of them are but there are some shorter ones out there that are a lot more accessible
@@GamingBroductions so mostly I've played early Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, currently playing through Chrono Trigger, any other suggestions or a link to a video of good games to restart with?
The ending of Yakuza Like a Dragon was incredibly well done and emotional and I agree that the vocal performance for Iciban was next level stuff.
Got Yakuza 7 for $30 7 months ago and I am having a blast with it! I don't wanna it to end but it's so good!
There were a lot of great picks on here but the number 1 pick got me so hyped because I was looking for them the whole list and they made it to the number 1 slot. Thank you for such a fun heartwarming video woot
great list.
couple from me:
Maxim from Lufia II - he's fun, relatively realistic, has a realistic love story, good friendships, and ultimately makes an immense sacrifice for love and the future.
Yuri from Infinite Space - You start as an ignorant kid taking his first steps into space and end up years later as a grown, mature anti-hero, former pirate captain leading an entire fleet of advanced ships and creating alliances across conflicting nations to fight a universal evil. Yuri grows, sacrifices, loses people, makes hard choices, etc. The game play isn't for everyone, but the story is incredible.
You mentioned Cecil and Ramza from FF, I'd add Locke as well. Characters which grow and are motivated by their past mistakes and wrongdoings to try and do good resonate with me, and they all fit that mold.
Love that Meis from Thousand Arms made the honorable mentions
Had to show some love to my boy Meis
Thanks for the list, there are some nice choices and I enjoyed hearing your reasons for each inclusion. It's also nice to see Alis Landale from Phantasy Star get an honorable mention, she's long been one of my favorite JRPG protagonists.
No problem, thanks for watching. Alis is great, it was a nice change of pace from FF/DQ to give us a female lead back then
So happy to see Meis and Thousand Arms get a mention!
This is a great video. I figured it would be just the normal, same heroes getting the top 3. You told us why and it made sense when you described it. I would have added some of my own favorites, but your list is great.
Thank you, I appreciate that. Just out of curiosity, who are some of your favorites that weren’t mentioned here?
Didn't expect Ashley and Virginia from Wild Arms, some of my personal favorite characters. Also thanks for making me realize I need to beat Xenogears hahaha
I renamed Ashey in Wild Arms 2 Dean that way he would be Dean Winchester like in Supernatural.
Glad my boys Yuri (my absolute and most favorite fictional character ever) and Fei (the best character arc in fiction) made the cut.
Wouldn’t be a complete list without those dudes
I actually love squall from ff8. I remember feeling the way he felt when I was his age
To be fair to Squall if you had to hang out with those idiots you would be a miserable guy too
Yeah, something about it all felt strangely familiar.
.....whatever.
(Same btw ;) )
I do still like Squall too, he is pretty relatable for a certain phase of life. He would have been the next FF protagonist I would have mentioned after the others I did talk about
I agree. I actually love Squall significantly more than any of the other FF protagonists (with the exception of Zidane). I think people forget how much he grows as a character from disk one to disk four. He has more character growth than the typical Cloud name drop (who,
to me, was super convoluted and one dimensional). Sure, he starts off as a typical teenager, but also because he is literally only 17 and then grows into a real leader. Meanwhile, Cloud acts more emo than Squall does (“none of your business, I’m just doing my job”) and is a 21 year old man. I think more people need to revisit FFVIII because it was severely undervalued.
Those beginning 5-7 hours of final fantasy 9 were so awesome.
They really were. From the Alexandria ‘kidnapping’ to the evil forest to the ice cavern to Dali, it’s probably my favorite opening hours of any JRPG ever
My top 10:
1. Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts)
2. Edge (Panzer Dragoon Saga)
3. Julian (Shining Force III)
4. Kevin (Trails in the Sky 3rd)
5. Estelle (Trails in the Sky FC & SC)
6. Medion (Shining Force III)
7. Vyse (Skies of Arcadia)
8. Ichiro Ogami (Sakura Wars 1 - 4)
9. Lloyd ( Trails Crossbell Duology)
10. Justin (Grandia)
I enjoy your laid back presentation style and you really sell each of the games included in this ranking. It'd be cool to see you rank each JRPG based on the areas where they excel for the best all-rounder.
seeing meis triumph on the list even though he is an honorable mention is still great.
Gotta show some love to my boy Meis whenever I get the chance
Love the vid as usual! Im sure my fav protag is obvious but mine is Squall Leonhart as well as being my favorite video game character in general. Ff8 is my favorite game ever despite its honestly really glaring flaws it just means a lot to me. I first played that game on the switch 3 years ago when i was 17(same age as squall) and going through a lot of tough shit causing me to adopt a really bad self-defeating personality. Playing that game and watching squall's growth over its events genuinely made me a better person and helped me see the harm i was causing myself. I also personally feel like hes a lot more complex than people give him credit for. Other favs are Ryudo, Tidus, Serge, and Stocke to name a few. I like my standoffish protags idk
Fei of course, he himself is his entire family
My guy's like 4 different characters in one 🤣
I need to play Xenogears and Grandia 1 and 2. I would love to see a video of this, but for Silent protagonists next 😆
Omg how I envy you.To play Xenogears for the first time..(and Grandia too!)
I LOVED seeing the shoutout for Ashley from Wild Arms 2! He’s been a favorite character of mine for years!
Hell yeah! Ya love to see more appreciation for my dude Ashley
Great stuff, you should do a top character casts and villains in JRPGs! That would be so cool.
GB: I like that he (Fei) fights with his fists.
*Clip shows Fei going DBZ on an enemy with energy blasts*
Fancy fists there. : P
😂
Ogre battle 64 was one of my fav N64 games, extremely underrated and a true masterpiece showing what kind of possible rpgs the N64 was actually capable of. I appreciate that you chose to put Magnus Gallant somehwere on this list.
Absolutely underrated for sure, mainly because no one was playing the 64 for RPGs and just got their fix through PlayStation. It’s great to see the game still getting some appreciation online these days
@@GamingBroductions i agree, its finally getting the recognition it deserves. I believe it was pretty limited in production too so it was harder to find. Any chance i got i rented it from my local video store, it was always there. But i was already familiar with ogre battle from the snes so i knew what it was. Nice too see other people appreciate it as much as i do! Cheers to that!
I loved Vyse as a Protagonist character in Skies of Arcadia, would have loved to know the Japanese version of him because of how the Western version was heavily censored.
I am sure that Vyse while being brave and heroic, also had a perverted side to him in a more playful way especially with Aika his childhood friend.
The Western version wasn't just censored, the entire script was ad-libbed by the translators "felt" would be said for each scene.
In case anyone is wondering, the background music at the start is from Legend of Legaia
Awe yea another Broduction production!!!! Keep up the awesome work gents!
Thanks dude! Will do 👌
Great video! And that Legend of Legaia OST...wow...it just pulls my heartstring I can't even describe! Everytime I hear this song the urge to replay it gets unbearable!
My top picks would be . Squall
I love how he was emotionaly damaged and closed off, and throughout the game he started opening up to his crew and the people around him.
Thank you for mentioning Rudy from Wild Arms! He has a great character arc.
Great video as always dudes! Hope theres a top 10 villains version of this video at some point too
Thanks man! Would love to cover that topic at some point. The best villains are even more memorable than the best protagonists overall I would say
bro, best possible conclusion. damn my man, perfect.
Very nice and diverse list. My favorites without any particular order:
- Shulk (Xenoblade)
- Zidane (FFIX)
- father / brother Nier (Nier Gestalt / Replicant)
- 2B (Nier Automata)
- Ryu (Breath of Fire 3)
- Alundra (Alundra)
- Joker (Persona 5)
- Shion (Xenosaga)
- Ashley Lionet(Vagrant Story)
- Aya Brea (Parasite Eve)
Huge thumbs up for having Fei, Ryudo, and Yuri on this list. And please play Radiant Historia, it's one of the best written JRPGs I've ever played, and actually does time manipulation right.
Most satisfying thing of today is obviously the Ryudo appreciation in this vid :D (Grandia II is underrated - it was popular for a while during its Dreamcast release then totally fell off the radar).
Vyse and Yuri and Zidane were also great choices 👍
nice video yes for #1 :3
happy to see Stock and Ramza mentioned here really awesome characters
Well the FF protagonists are really good so no surprise on them.
I really liked seeing some love for Stocke and Ryuudo, those names don't come up very often.
One Name from a huge overlooked series I want to throw in there is Maxim from Lufia 2.
The guy is the legendary Hero from Lufia 1's old tales, you even get to play him and his party for a bit and in Lufia 2 you get to see how he became said hero.
Normally media is really bad at portraying legendary hero type characters. Either you only get to see them at their peak, they have some serious flaws (mostly played for laughs) that of course legends don't talk about. Sometimes he is a flawless blank slate and other times the transition to the Legend is not believable.
Not this time. Maxim might already start out as a righteous person, but he's not flawless. He struggles along the way, has his fair share of losses too, but always keeps a certain optimism. He falls in love, marries and has a child during the events of the game (not in the end when the credits roll). During the story he and his party believably grow stronger and he finally acquires a magical weapon to become the legend that has been shown in the first game.
Also the game breaks away from the traditional anime tropes (with one exception) in both design and peersonality and especially in the art of the SNES game, but also in the SNES sprites, he looks heavily influenced by european fantasy settings. I also like it when protagonists are already somewhat capable at the start of the game and Maxim has already been a monster hunter for several years.
Sadly the remake for DS did the original game really dirty.
Not surprised to see Ashley from Wild Arms on the list.
Great video guys
Not surprised to see you not surprised haha. Thanks as always man!
Cool selection. Ryudo from Grandia 2 is one of my all-time favourites as well. Also, I love Meis from Thousand Arms. His design is cool and I love the world and the characters in it. But you're right, he would be cancelled as hell today hahaha
I think in Star Ocean 2, Claude is meant to be your first play through, more of an outside view of the events of the entire game, while Rena is a bit more of the inside story at times. With her already having knowledge about the first planet you're on, and with her being centrally impacted by many of the plot twists. I think it's more impactful to play Claude first when, not only are you the player new to the story, but you also have to view everything happen from Claude's perspective on top of seeing it the first time, where Rena feels more like that second play through where you get to see more scenes. I might be oversimplifying it, but I mostly recall Claude's scenes being "teenage boy being a teenage boy," while Rena's were much more emotionally devastating, and not just because she's the girl.
Yuri from Shadow hearts and Ryudo from Grandia 2, 2 of my most favorite heroes ever. Good old days of the ps2 !
They were my top 2, but now there is Rean Schwarzer from legend of heroes trails of cold steel 1 to 4.
My top 3 now but I cannot tell who should be 1st 😅
You touched on a few of my faves here like Yuri Lowell, Rena Cloud and Ramza, but I do want to throw in my love for Marche (Tactics Advance) who resonated with my young self, Dean from Wild ARMs 5 and Rex from Xenoblade 2. I guess I like my good-natured protagonists quite a bit xD
Estelle Bright and Toma (Shining Force EXA) are potentially on my list as well, though I need to play farther in the games
legend of legaia background music, nostalgia trip right there, i hope cort grows up a good person
This continues to be the best channel on UA-cam
You are too kind. Thank you!
Not only do I miss the character battles from game FAQs, I was a huge recurring member on the message board board eight where there is a surprisingly thriving community there
Sadly, the last contest they had was a second game of the decade contest for any game released from 2010 to 2019 and the vote totals were pitiful
My personal favorite is Ni No Kuni’s Oliver. His story and journey is emotional. Not only that he stands out in terms the role he plays in battles. He’s not a swordsman, heck he isn’t even a martial fighter. He’s a WIZARD. A mage! A role mostly seen from the side characters, usually the female love interest or little girl. It’s such a breath of fresh air to see a magic-user of all people to be a JRPG protagonist.
Fei on top, this is the best top ten ever
Might be presumptuous of me, but it looks like you've put more editing in this video than usual. That's pretty cool man.
Evan did go a little harder with the editing in this one with more sound effects and transitions and whatnot. Thanks for noticing man
I would add Prier from La Pucelle Tactics to this list.
Be sure to get the remaster if you haven’t played La Pucelle before.
Not sure if I missed the video, but where’s the top 10 JRPGs for PC list? 👀
I'm glad you included Zidane here as your Final Fantasy representative. Great character.
Yo, nice that you included Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza Like a Dragon on this list, he's definitely by far my fave JRPG protag, maybe cuz I'm older and I can easily relate to him more, also, the fact that he's also a HUGE nerd of Dragon Quest games, makes him such a dork and likeable.
Jrpg genre needs more adult protagonists.
You totally nailed it with Fei!
God the JAM from Legend of Legia at the start... ONE OF MY ALL TIMES... underrated classic
There's a soccer player whose last name Zidane. He was the one who head butted an opponent in the 2006 World Cup.
Zidane is my absolute favorite ❤️. Also appreciate the mix of guy and girl protagonist s on this list!
I loved xenogears so much I wrote it on top of my playstation in permanent marker. Then my brother pointed out it wasn't spelled with a 'z' so I have zenogears etched into my PS1 forever. Wish it would get more love from SE.
You and me both.
Gotta put in a good word for Velvet from Tales of Berseria, and Yuri from Tales of Vesperia. Critically underrated, especially outside the Tales of Community. 2B and 9S are OK from Automata, but not nearly as good as the characters from Replicant
Then, I know this doesn't include silent protags, but "Nier" from Replicant/Gestalt is pinnacle protag.
Glad you put Estelle in the list. As much as I have trouble getting through some of the encounter design in the Sky games, she is the... "Bright" part of Sky.
Interesting choice for #1. He was in my Top 10 too, as well as Estelle.
Damn nice list. Fie for the win !!
Skies of Arcadia is my favorite video game of all time. So you just earned a like and subscribe for giving Vyse some love on this list.
Would like to see a video on who you think are the best companions in terms of their designs and character arcs. One of my favorites in Imca from Valkyria Chronicles 3. Too often we get the 'driven by revenge for a past tragedy' arc but it's not often we get it with a character where it ultimately ends in failure and them learning how to live on despite of that failure and the fact they will never get the revenge they seek. She also has a cool design with a even cooler weapon in a multi purpose buster sword/artillery cannon.
absolutely just dropped a like cause you included a megaman x command mission clip....but yeah video was so good!
Hell yeah, huge Mega Man X fan here. And thank you!
I renamed Ashley Winchester in Wild Arms 2 as Dean Winchester and I renamed Gallows Carradine in Wild Arms 3 as Robert Carradine. I also knew someone named Brad Evans just like the character in Wild Arms 2.
Rebecca and Fei are amazing main characters. Thanks to bring on me those reminders dude.
I honestly thought I would hate Ichiban but hot damn is that dude seriously my favorite now. For many of the same reason as well. I guess as a kid I loved the angsty teen protagonists but by the time I turned 18 and had responsibilities I began to shift towards well thought out mature characters. These are fewer and farther between but are often immeasurably better than the alternatives. Thumbs up for Ichiban!
I completely agree with Ichiban. We need more older protagonist. Ichiban really played his role really well, and there was a lot tied into that main story that really hit the heart hard.
I agree with what you said about Zidane and the double bladed .. thing lol but he looks really cool when wielding the dual daggers. I agree with EVERYTHING you said about Zidane even his not cool looking design. Also you’re lucky. I was born in 1984 so I had to wait for FF8 and FF9 to come out lol. When I got into RPG’s FF7 had just come out. Love your channel, brother. You and your brother make good content
I feel like it’s a fairly popular opinion to like Zidane’s character but not be crazy about his design lol. I remember Super Mario RPG was my first RPG but I didn’t really even know what they were at the time and just thought that was a unique game, it wasn’t until I played Legend of Legaia a few years later that I got absolutely hooked and realized there was a whole genre of games out there like it for me to dive into. One of the best revelations of my life haha. And thanks man, appreciate that!
My dude, you gotta ply Radiant Historia. It got me back in the genre after a long many year burnout and I've been mote in love with JRPG'S than ever before.
Seeing xenogears get love always makes me happy. One of, if not my favorite game of all time. Fei as a character and the entire story of xenogears is one of the best ever. Great list man
One protagonist I really like is Welkin from Valkyria Chronicles. He is basically a biology nerd which is very rare for a protagonist. Welkin and Shion from Xenosaga are the only scientist protagonists that I know of. What I love about Welkin though is that he’s not special and ends up winning an uphill war purely through strategy and science.
My favorite protagonist in any JRPG though has to be Mao from Disgaea 3. I know a lot of people like and prefer Laharl, but I think Mao has more personality, a more fleshed out character arc, and his story is much more relatable. Also his ending is just awesome.
Wanted to get your personal opinion of Luke fon Fabre as a JRPG protagonist from Tales of the Abyss. Just ordered a 3DS copy from eBay.
I think he’s got some of the best character development out of any JRPG protagonist, however in order to get there he does spend a lot of the game being annoying which is why I left him off this list. I go into more detail about my thoughts on him in our retrospective over Tales of the Abyss, but i would probably wait to watch that until you’ve played more of the game
In recent years. Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza is really great.
Absolutely. Perfect example of how well an older protagonist can work. The modern setting also helped him feel more relatable
It's unfair that Zack Fair didn't included. I loved the guy since Crisis Core FFVII.
Unpopular and contentious opinion: I think Asbel from Tales of Graces is one of my favorite protagonists. I thought he was just a genuine, incredibly sweet guy; and his actions throughout the game mirrored choices I tend to always make in RPG's.
Good stuff. Keep making videos.
whats the song at 18:40 i know i recognize it but i cant tell were from
Great List Man , It's kind funny when you your protagonist Yuri he will automatic badass it too bad there is no love my favorite protagonist Haseo from ,Hack gu his character growth was great just like Luke but not annoying and his thrid design was my favorite.
Sad to not see Shulk, but Fei as the number one pick 100% makes up for it
Great list! I was expecting to see Laharl (Disgaea 1), Priere (La Pucelle) or any other NISA protagonist, as they have created some pretty awesome characters
A list of favorite party member (non protagonist) would be cool too. But muuuuch harder to choose a favorite one :D