My Top 5 Most Meaningful JRPGs
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- Опубліковано 26 чер 2024
- There are a lot of reasons to like a game. Maybe it's a lot of fun, or tells an interesting story, or has beautiful graphics. But there are other, sometimes deeper reasons to like games, and that's what I want to talk about today. These are five games that have deeper meaning for me, either because of what they represent, or the time in my life when I played them. This doesn't necessarily mean they're my FAVORITE -- just that they hold special meaning for me personally. Thought I'd take some time and get a little chatty about these games. If you have any games that hold special meaning for you, I'd love to hear about them - drop them in the comments!
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00:00 Intro
00:58 Final Fantasy II
06:16 Shining Force
10:15 Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals
16:44 Final Fantasy VII
23:11 Xenogears
29:19 Outro - Ігри
I only first played Xenogears a few years ago and am still shocked by how impactful it is. As an adult, I didn't even know I could still be affected by games like that. Crazy
It's amazing. Heavy themes and excellent characters and a scope that just feels even bigger than the game is able to present it.
I'm religious, and I'm really fortunate that my parents encouraged me to ask questions and grow better understanding. I'm glad you were able to start figuring that out at a young age.
It's so healthy to be able to ask questions. It should always be a part of any belief system.
@@JustTheGems couldn't agree more. I learn more by asking questions. I'd wouldn't know half of the things in my day to day life at work or otherwise if I didn't ask questions.
As a deeply religious person myself I agree, questions and being able to ask questions without being criticized is very important.
For me, Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 2, Persona 2 Innocent Sin (ps1), Lunar 1 and probably Parasite Eve.
PS4 showed me serious tones, death, grief and processing that and characters decided what’s a bigger priority. SF2 was my first SRPG which I loved finding the hidden characters and promotions and everything. Very feel good but not hard.
Persona and Parasite Eve were exposures to modern day settings that had were amazing to see.
Lunar 1 (ps1) was just a fun feel good RPG that had some amazing collector items to them. It made it easy to learn Luna’s boat song rather just using the same save file. :)
Nice choices! And I remember being so blown away by all the stuff that came with Lunar 1. The amount of care they put into that package is just incredible.
I played a lot of the old PS1 JRPGs later in life for the first time and those all meant a lot to me. A lot of them were when I was unemployed or going through some bad times. FF8-10, FF Tactics, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Wild Arms, Suikoden 2. Great memories playing those all day long.
That's good that you were able to find some good times in those games even if everything else wasn't perfect. That's one of the things that makes this medium so great
This video was very sweet. I we definitely need another 5!
Thank you! I almost definitely will have to make another one.
I saw Fei and Elly and immediately clicked! I cant wait to experience everything Xenogears has to offer soon this year 😄 All the Xenoblade games have a special place in my heart for different reasons. Fire Emblem Awakening also basically changed my life by introducing me to the genre. The one video game that made me who I am though is Ocarina of Time ❤
Ocarina of Time was transformative. Such an astonishing achievement in game design. Miyamoto did not miss.
Wow, you're good at playing piano 😮 Anyway, since my first console was PS2, so FFX is my most meaningful JRPG, it's the first game that moved me into tears (that ending 🥲). #2 probably Shadow Hearts, usually I don't play horror-themed game (until now), so I push my limit and feel really satisfied when I finished the game..😁 #3. Lost Odyssey. I played this game back in 2018/19. I thought I was done playing game, but this gem made me realize that I really like game with good story 🤩
Thank you for sharing your experience, Branden 🙂
Thank you! Yeah, I'm in the Cried at the End of FFX Club as well. 😭
I don’t know if many folks have told you, but you are able to describe how JRPGs can hit you deep in your heart in a way I’ve never heard before. This was an excellent video. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for saying that, it means a lot to hear
Grandpa here. FF6 is the best to me. Two of my most important games is Shining in the Darkness (my first rpg). So I definitely need to get around to playing Shining Force. My other would be Street Fighter 2 which was the game that got my son into gaming and now it’s something we enjoy together.
That's awesome! I spent so much time with Street Fighter 2 as a kid. I don't think I was ever very good at it, but I had a blast. I'm kind of the opposite, I missed Shining in the Darkness as a kid and only had Shining Force. (Though I think I must have rented Darkness one time, because it wasn't completely foreign to me when I picked it up as an adult.)
I’m glad I stumbled across your channel, great video and your fit ❤
Thank you so much!!
Thanks for this video. This is the kind of content that gets me really pumped to go out and play an old game that I never heard about or actually played at a friend's house once as a kid and havent thought about it since. The feeling of getting back to that time and just experiencing these games for the first time is such a strong one
Nostalgia powers a lot of this, and I think it's great to just lean into that. Life is hard, and having these things that are fun and make you feel good and warm and whatnot is just a great release for dealing with all that hard stuff.
The musical interlude was spot on, nailed it 👌👍
Haha thank you! That song has basically been in my head for like 30 years... 😅
Awesome list Branden,
5 JRPGs that mean the most to me
- Final Fantasy X (The first JRPG i ever played, Sonic 2 was the first game I ever played, Tekken 3 was the first game I owned, But Final Fantasy X was the first time a game made me realize video games can be works of art, I felt the emotions and themes in the story & characters for what Final Fantasy X offered. So Final Fantasy X made me a gamer for life and fall in love with JRPGs… I didn’t think any game could change my life as much as FF X until…⬇️)
- Kingdom Hearts Xehanort Saga (With Final Fantasy X in PAL territories for the PS2 where I grew up it came with a disc called ‘Beyond Final Fantasy’ and on that disc was trailers for other SquareSoft projects and Kingdom Hearts 1 trailer at TGS 2001 being one of them, I go to a random game shop in the town over, I see it the holigraphic PS2 cover on the shelf and remember the cashier telling me “You are going to love this game.” I was more intrigued to see if the idea of Disney X Square could be pulled off in a JRPG setting because I had A LOT of questions about that peanut butter jelly concept 😂 but Kingdom Hearts become my favourite series of all time and apart of who I am as a person today, my number 1 favourite gaming anything, many tears shed, I was the same age as Sora when the game came out, I grew up practically near a seaside town in the UK, my everything)
- Persona 3 FES (Persona 3 FES literally saved my life, was not in a good place mentally and didn’t really value life, the only thing that kept me going was Persona 3 FES and somehow healed my pain, while not my favourite game of all time, probably the most important as in saving myself from self destruction)
- Tales of the Abyss (I played Tales of the Abyss on the PS2 for the first time in 2014, at the time Myself and my wife (GF at the time) were in different countries and did the long distance thing, so this game was my sanctuary for holding on to hope during that tough period and gave me the single tear at the end of the game, what I adore about Tales of the Abyss is that many games like KH or Trails, or Xenosaga, .Hack etc. rely on multiple entries while TOTA manages the stuff so much lore and narrative wealth in one entry which is incredibly impressive and it felt really cool playing a US region PS2 game in the UK because it never got a PAL release)
- Xenogears (My top 100 video games of all time are all 10/10s in my book for one different reason or another and you have covered Xenogears really well and its importance which I concur with, I would add to that in regards to Xenogears, Xenogears along with Breath of the Wild was my covid game, My covid JRPG, got the copy on eBay from Hawaii arrived to me in NY and once again, providing a lot of post apocalyptic drama while giving me hope for the real world during the credits)
Beautiful list man - it's so cool to get to hear about this stuff. I feel like it can start to give you a picture into someone's life. And that's pretty awesome.
Still down to collab someday, just let me know if you're feeling it😎
@@JustTheGems Absolutely Branden mate 🍻🍻 I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN MATE! 😂😂 I’m finishing up the script for the Crystar review, hopefully get to recording and shooting soon then definitely down to collab Branden mate 🍻🩵
Final Fantasy 7 was the very first RPG that captivated me. I had never been great at video games a child - I was terrible at shooters, sports games, fighting games - I just wasnt very competitive or I had terrible reflexes and I would always play at my friends and so I never had a console at home. I remember clear as day first playing the game at Kmart (I was 12) when they had PSone consoles and the store attendant let me play....from the bombing mission I was transfixed. I couldnt buy the game at the time because I didnt have a PSone and my parents were pretty poor...so I used to play it at Kmart from the beginning over and over. It eventually motivated me to get a job and save all my money to finally buy the game. My parents then surprised me with a PSone - something that was so much money for them. From there everything began.
That’s awesome
That's a beautiful story. I think about how hard it must have been for my mom, too, and how she would always buy me games whenever she could, despite being a single mom and having to deal with so much. She knew how much I enjoyed them.
Xenogears is always gonna be "that game" for me, and to a bit of a lesser extent Xenosaga for many of the same reasons. I played it when it first came out and I was 16 I think? Even with its vaguely janky translation and rushed second disc I was absolutely blown away by the story. Heck, here we are 25ish years later and I'm still obsessed. I could even point to Xenogears as a small part of getting my psych degree.
As a fellow old, I gotta go with 7 over 6, even though I don't consider 7 my fave FF. It was just so *big*.
Yeah, Xenogears just tickles something in my brain JUST RIGHT that makes me want even more. I was SO unbelievable l unbelievably excited for Xenosaga for that reason.
Awesome journey! That’s great you have so many personal stories with these games.
Games have been such a big part of my life from almost the very, very beginning.
Awesome video man, love your Number 1 choice. Also appreciate your thoughts and stories associated with the game, very interesting stuff.
Thanks so much dude!
Your story about playing FFVII on PC was almost *to the letter* what my experience was back then as well. Even down to buying that exact same voodoo2 graphics card for our family PC! So cool to hear you talk about that. Another bonus of going through all the trouble was that the game ended up looking so much better than it did on my friend's PS1 (who had convinced me to buy the game in the first place ^^;)
Totally! It was smoother and ran so much faster too! Years later playing it on PS1 I was like, yeah, I got the better end of the deal.
For me it's Final Fantasy III (OG USA version) and Chrono Trigger. My little brother picked up a copy of FF III when I was in college and I'd hang out in his room watching him play when I was home for break. I quickly fell in love with the story and really enjoyed playing it when he'd let me take a crack at it. Some time later he asked me to give him a ride to Funcoland to get a copy of Chrono Trigger. I had not heard of it just yet. But he said it was awesome, so I was like cool. Big sis will give you a ride and we can hang out a bit. And just like with FF III I hung out with him as he played. And over summer break I finally got my crack at it too. Needless to say I can honestly say that I am the gamer that I am today thanks to my little brother introducing me to some of the greatest JRPG's of all time. I even have the ringtone for my little brother set to an OC Remix version of Terra's Theme (Terra in Black - go look it up as it's great). These games give me happy vibes of back before we launched into our own lives. My little brother and I are still close and will occasionally share a good game between us. But I'm glad it was these two that started it.
Beautiful. I love this. I had a ton of wonderful gaming experiences with my younger brother too, and that just adds so many more layers of meaning to it all.
Probably dating my age here, but Kingdom Hearts hit me so hard emotionally as a preteen that I can still quote some of the most memorable lines. The parts where Sora sacrificed himself to bring Kairi back, and the “I’m always with you too, I’ll come back for you, I promise!” left me in shambles. Sora’s unwavering dedication to his friends has shaped me in more ways than I can express.
I'm sure there's plenty of millennials here. This dude's like 40. Kingdom Hearts was a great game.
Spot on. I was huge into Kingdom Hearts as a teen.
Yeah, the fact that Kingdom Hearts as a series can have such amazing dramatic highs is really incredible.
I love learning what games impacted you. I have only played Final Fantasy VII on your list. Your wife's gift was amazing. Very thoughtful.
Yeah, she really shocks me sometimes with the thoughtful stuff she pulls off without me knowing
I remember getting Dragon Warrior after subscribing to Nintendo Power when I was a kid. I loved the game, didn't get too far because I was completely lost, but still loved it. I loved FF2 (FF4), but fell in absolute love with JRPG's after FF3 (FF6). FF6 is my all time most meaningful JRPG to me due to it's story and how it conveyed love, loyalty, loss and redemption. It was phenomenal in my little kid eyes.
Yeah for me Dragon Warrior was, like, eye-opening. I didn't know games could BE like that. And even though I also never got anymore, it really activated my imagination.
Final Fantasy IV! So many awesome memories. Never owned it until I was adult but had multiple trips to rent it thanks to my family. Very memorable push trips to a local video store to pick it up.
I have so many JRPG memories like that... Since I had to save up my allowance to rent something, I really felt like I EARNED each one.
Loved the video. Like all your videos.
My first JRPG was FF1 but I played a little Dragon Warrior at a friend's house. Kind of the opposite of you.
Final fantasy 2 was definitely my first real story driven JRPG and yeah I love that game so much. I cried when Palom and Porom sacrificed themselves. And when Cid and Yang did too. All the twists and turns... Amazon.
I've always loved strategy RPGs, my first being vandal hearts on the psx I believe. Still one of me favorite strategy games of all time.
I played Lufia 1 when it came out on the SNES but I didn't play Lufia 2 until college in the early 00s when I got my first emulator.
For me personally I like Final fantasy 9 and 6 tied for the best with 10 as third best. I'm the same age as you I think so we're both olds.
My older brother had heard of the PlayStation so we bought it opening day for $350 with only one controller and it came with battle arena Toshinden. He made me buy a second controller... The N64 didn't have FF7 but it did have Ogre Battle 64 which is one of the best strategy games of all time. So consolation prize.
Xenogears is a fantastic game. I loved it so much...I really wish we could get an HD remaster of it with the second disc complete. It did the same for me as it did for you. I was raised in a Catholic home, so not as bad as yours, but still it also taught me to question which my mother was not a big fan of.
Awesome list of games! It's interesting, I only played Vandal Hearts for the first time within like the last year, and I was surprised by how good it is. And I completely missed Ogre Battle 64, I regret that now for sure...
Loves the video and your list!
Earthbound on the SNES really taught me to try see the magic in the everyday. I loved how that game had so much bizarre things happen in such an otherwise normal world.
And I know they're not JRPGs, but Shadow of the Colossus really gave me some feelings, man.
Oh man... Shadow of the Colossus was another life-changing one for me. Just SO beautiful. And like, poetic.
This is an excellent video, one of the things I enjoy the most that I hear from fellow gamers are the games that stood out and had a personal impact in some way. Whether it changed the way you thought about games or expanded your ideas of what is possible in life, experiencing great games can assist you on a path of personal growth toward maturation and individuation. I really enjoyed hearing about how you related to these games when you experienced them. Some of your choices had a big impact on me as well.
Shining Force and Final Fantasy II/IV had a big impact on the way I viewed what games were capable of. My love of RPGs had started in the 8-bit era when I discovered Phantasy Star on the Master System, and I wanted to find every game I could that had similar gameplay elements. With its emphasis on exploration, challenging dungeons, secrets to discover, and amazing presentation, experiencing Phantasy Star for the first time blew my mind. Phantasy Star II also had a huge impact on me, I didn't know that such a tragic story was something that would be in a video game. While it surprised me, I was also deeply moved by it and it made me appreciate games where I had an investment in the well-being of the characters even more. Phantasy Star III introduced me to the concept of a story that unfolds through multiple generations, I hadn't even thought of that before at the young age I had experienced the game. Then Phantasy Star IV took everything I loved about the previous Phantasy Star games, combined them together, and made them even better while also adding some new elements like setting macros to handle certain battles and the use of combination abilities.
Final Fantasy III/VI managed to balance adventure and comedy with tragedy and a gloomy world filled with adversity. In a strange way, I think I related to this game having two sides to it because this was around the time that I was diagnosed as having Type 2 Bipolar Disorder. It helped me to realize both my upbeat and gloomy sides of myself were just parts of a greater whole rather than parts of my personality that appeared to be in conflict with each other when viewed at a distance. 😆
Discovering Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was another mind-blowing experience for me. It mixed a dark fantasy story with sci-fi and also incorporated a lot of horror elements, it had a tragic story where characters were put in a position in which difficult choices had to be made, and it provided a great deal of adversity that felt satisfying to overcome. This is very similar to what I felt playing my beloved Phantasy Star games earlier in my life, but in this case, all of those things were turned up to 11! 😆That is why the two games that I felt the most excited and moved by consistently over the years are in a tie for my absolute favorite game of all time, those games being Phantasy Star IV and Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
Dude, thank you so much for sharing this. I'm like you, I think it's awesome to hear the way games impact people. It really gives you a lens into their lives, and that's great to experience. These stories really resonated with me.
Great memories and awesome topic!!! :D. I really need to play Xenogears...
It's great! Just keep in mind the PS1 jank...😅
Man, I can completely understand where you are coming from on on Xenogears and your childhood. I also grew up in a strict (though not extreme) Baptist home and was told not to question anything. Games with great stories oddly gave me the ability to question the beliefs of my family, and I believe helped me realize my passion to study philosophy in school. That being said, I do want to make clear that not all religious people/religions blindly follow their religion without critical thinking. Great videos man!
Very true. I didn't meet any religious folks who were open to questioning things until I was older, since I was so entrenched in that community, but getting to meet people like that was very encouraging
Great Video! Too bad about the audio quality. I had a lot of similar experiences, such as reading the instruction booklettes in the car on the way home, I used to take them to Church with me too the funniest one I think was reading the Diablo1 Manual during Sermon. I also had N64 and had the PC Version of FF7, And FF8 Too. (The one good thing is I learned about "Trainers" because of that)
I found Xenogears because it included a game demo disk with the game Parasite Eve which I had, at first I didn't like it because the graphics were so bad, but I replayed the game demo over and over and couldn't get it out of my head so I ended up finding a copy on Ebay. I was probably 13 at the time and WOW that game plus Evangelion anime really did a number on my teenage mind. Anyway, XG is my favorite JRPG of all time (nowadays discovering Falcom is probably the closest I have come to ever re-discovering Xenogears-level JRPG, if only I had Trails in the Sky at that age!)... I got Xenosaga Pt1 on PS2 so excited for what I expected would be just like playing Xenogears for the first time and I ended up so disappointed (actually PS2 JRPGs in general disappointed me compared to PS1. Losing the world map really bugged me), I have a Switch but I have never played any of the Xenoblade games.
Yeah, the one-two punch of Xenogears and Evangelion also had an ENORMOUS impact on young Branden, for sure!
Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy 10, Grandia 2, Lost Odyssey, and Tales of Berseria.
All incredible (though I still need to play Lost Odyssey, but I own it at least).
I played the original Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy 1 on the NES. I never got to play FF 2 (really Final Fantasy 4) but Final Fantasy 3 (Final Fantasy 6) is my favorite game of all-time. Why did I never play FF 4? I couldn't find a copy of the game to buy. I've lived in California my whole life, and when FF 4 came out, I was so hyped. I searched everywhere, high and low for a copy, I was calling up stored asking if they had the game in stock. No one ever said they did. Finally, 3 months after the game came out, I saw one copy of it, sitting on a store shelf, selling for $75. I was a kid, I couldn't afford $75, but I did get to go into that store, pick up the box and touch it (which I definitely did). I didn't actually play the game until years later when it was re-released, and I never found out what the problem was with FF 2's release that made the game so hard to find in my area.
When Dragon Quest came out, like you said, Nintendo was trying to give the game away. When Final Fantasy 1 came out, it was sitting there on the store shelf at my Toys 'R Us on day 1, same thing with FF 6. FF 2 didn't do that, and I've never found out why.
Funny story: I had the same initial experience with FF 7 as you did: I played it on the PC first before I played it on the Playstation later. The difference between us is that I was in college at the time the PC game came out, and I had a job that I worked during the summers, so I was able to save up my paychecks to get the right stuff on my computer to play the game.
I wonder if they just printed so few copies of FF2 in general, and if they had some "market research" that suggested certain areas were less likely to be into RPGs or something. But shortages of various games did happen back then, and I'm sure RPGs were more expensive to manufacture in general, just being larger chip sizes than most. But all that to say, it definitely sucks you weren't able to find it (at least for a doable price).
43 years old here and, having played FF - those released in the West - in order as they released, I pick FFVII any day over VI. Such a profound milestone and watershed moment for the series and for the JRPG genre as a whole.
It was such a huge deal, and I think we can all be grateful for what it did for the genre over here, even for people that don't think it's the best. (But I'm with you.)
Cool historical stuff. I never played really any of those games though I may try out Xenogears. I started with PC games - text games like Space Quest and Zork (so yeah I'm even older than you...) but didn't get into console style gaming until the original Xbox. I did have a Pong console in the late 70's but that was it til Xbox. My first RPGs were Tales of games on the PS2 and Gamecube and that started my love for JRPGs. I went back and played FF III and FF IV when I got a GBA SP (my first handheld - though I later picked up a GBC due to Pokemon). I would love to hear your thoughts on later RPGs with heavy emotional impact. Games from the Gamecube, PS2 era and later....
Oh man, as a kid I LOVED Space Quest, King's Quest, and any sort of game like that I could get my hands on. (I have particularly fond memories of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.) I have a feeling I'll be doing another meaningful games video at some point here, I've really loved hearing from everyone about the games that meant something to them.
How are you and your wife so talented?! Her with painting and you with music. So good. So I dont have a strictly jrpg list but I do have a list:
1. Legend of Dragoon (I feel like my Dragoon fanboi is showing a bit too much lately). Anyways, this was one of the first in depth 3D games that I had ever played by myself. I had played more surface level games like Spyro and such before but Legend of Dragoon had actual characters, with deception, romance, and an epic storyline where you're fighting for a cause. I realize nowadays that lots of jrpgs actually had this but it holds a special place because it was the first for me.
2. Thief. This game sticks out for me, and I have actually never played it myself, but it's special because I would watch my dad play it as a kid. My twin and I couldn't play it ourselves because it was too scary but we could help our Dad (sometimes) find out where to go for the mission and how to help him not get caught. Always good memories.
3. Everquest. This is the game that my twin and I bonded over. It came out in our teenage years and we would sometimes play it for 10 hours at a time, grouping up or roleplaying. We had our computers right next to each other and while playing we would chat about the most random stuff but it leaves a profound memory.
4. Bloodborne. Not only did this games story surprise me to no end with the theory crafting, but I also got to have my friend see and experience the same thing through his first playthrough and he said it's been one of the most profound games he's played, so it makes me happy that I pretty much forced him to play it lol. He says he can't play any other game anymore other than souls-likes; despite me trying to get him to play jrpgs!
Dang, thanks so much!
Man this is a great list. And to be honest, you're starting to persuade me to finally dive into Legend of Dragoon...
@@JustTheGems All I can say to that is... do it! It should only take about 45 hours for a jrpg veteran like you, I just hope I'm not overhyping it for you, that's the leading cause of disappointment. But if you do decide to play it I hope you would decide to make a retrospective video so I could see what you think!
I usually listen to the audio without watching the actual video... You had me right proper confused about the emotional impact of Final Fantasy II until I saw the cartridge lol.
Haha yeah, it would be nuts if I was importing Famicom carts as a seven-year-old! 😂
I'm not sure what I would put that would be meaningful in the way that you're presenting it here. Dragon Warrior was the first turn based RPG my family owned and I think it really helped me fall in love with the RPG genre. Final Fantasy II/IV and III/VI were both formative during the SNES era. I still remember going to EB games and buying Final Fantasy III/VI used with birthday money. These titles both helped develop my love of RPGs even more with their strong stories and impressive casts of characters.
While not an RPG I did have a computer story similar to your experience with FFVII. I remember really wanting Warcraft II when it came out, and I wound up getting it for my birthday. The problem was our computer at the time didn't have enough memory to play the game. So I had to wait until we were able to get a memory upgrade for the computer in order to play the game. I've never had more anticipation for playing a game than that period of time.
These are great! I think the definition of "meaningful" is expansive enough to fit a huge variety of different stories!
That FF7 story is amazing! Glad it worked out!
Yeah, me too! I don't think my young heart could've taken the disappointment if it didn't
Great list! FFII(IV) was the game that really started my love for RPGs. My entirety and his friends never let me play FFI on the NES so I would just watch. II was the one I played on my own. Still one of my all time favorite games. I didn’t play shining force except when I was at my buddy’s house. He had a sega haha. I found a copy of Lufia II later when I was a senior in high school for $5. I remember playing the first one, but this one was way better! FF7 got me back into RPGs. I didn’t play it until the beginning of 99. I was only playing my N64, but got a ps1. My fiend gave me a copy of FF7 and Xenogears. I was back into the RPGs world. That year I beat both of those plus Star Ocean 2 and FF8. What an amazing year. We’re the same age so it’s refreshing to see someone with similar experiences. Chrono Trigger will forever be my favorite game of all time. SNES era was the best.
Dang, getting to play and beat Xenogears, FF7, Star Ocean 2, and FF8 in one year is EPIC!
Love these stories :) Sitting in the back of the car reading an instruction manual is so nostalgic! My five (mostly JRPGs):
1. Shining Force - my parents got divorced when I was 3 and my earliest memories of my dad are him teaching me how to play Shining Force. After he moved out, I played Shining Force to feel close to him. Majorly important in my life.
2. Beyond the Beyond - When I was a sad nerdy kid my mom made the attempt to play a JRPG with me (she isn’t much of a gamer) and this is the one we picked (for whatever reason XD). We never finished it, but the fact that she made the effort to do something I enjoyed always stuck with me.
3. 999 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - I played this with my younger sister and I’ll never forget the moment we figured out the final puzzle together. It’s also how I met my wife!
4. Danganronpa - I played this with all of my siblings: we all picked characters to voice, read out all the lines together, and had a really fun time. It’s not my normal sort of game, but I’ll always have happy memories of playing it with them.
5. Tales of… - These games were a huge, silly, colorful escape from a sad life for me. The proggy music, the characters, the skits-they were just the perfect games to stoke my enjoyment of life.
Love this, Tony. Yeah, I'd say, as meaningful as 999 is for me and a lot of other people, you probably win the award for most meaningful there!
Definitely know what you mean about being the "biggest fan in IL of Final Fantasy" and being disappointed with SquareSoft moving to Sony than staying on Nintendo. Man, I'd been playing the FF series since the 1st entry came out on the NES back in 1990 with my brothers. When they deferred playing these to "focus on girls", I kept up with the series and played through FF2 & FF3, then FF7 through 9 once I finally got a PS1.
Here's another fun video idea, and maybe a collab we could do: "Growing up Final Fantasy" - what it was like playing FF games as a kid and teenager, then reflect on what impact they had on us as adults.
I love that idea!
My gosh, a single spaced essay. I have been doing so many research paper for my bachelors and masters in college sooo long that my brain goes BLASPHEMY, just kidding... kinda. But Xenogears is one of my favorite rpgs ever. Resonate Arc did an absolutely all-encompassing review and analogy of the whole game that made my feelings for the game only grow tenfold.
Oh yeah, I think I've seen Resonant Arc's video on that, and you're totally right
Hey Brandon, yep this old man think that FF6 is the best indeed lol It's one of my most meaningful JRPG, because of the world and the second part that open up and you can do anything in any order, did play that game a couple of time! Been a long while since I play it, I need to do so!
Another one is Phantasy Star, this one confirm my love of RPG and Dungeon Crawler, I lost count on how many time I beat it, just did it again like a month ago!
I must say that Blaster Master, Rygar and the Mega Man games, was the games that make me fall in love with video games music, still listen to them often.
Of course I have many other that was really meaningful to me, like The Legend of Zelda and Shining Force.
I am have ton of fun to relive all of that with my Gaming Memories, can't wait to get to some of them!
Oh yeah, the music in Blaster Master, Rygar, and all the Mega Man games is SO good. It's iconic 8-bit.
That Aerith scene in FF7 rocked me to my core when I was like 10 years old playing it in my bedroom. Not a JRPG but the last of us that opening chapter also was peak gaming to me. I would love a remake of Xenogears because all though I have never played it I have heard people talk about the story so highly. My backlog is so huge idk if I would go back and play it knowing that they mailed it in at the end for financial reasons and old school grinding is difficult to go back to.
Yeah, if you played Xenogears on PC with mods (assuming there are some) that speed up the text/gameplay and reduce grinding, that might be an ideal way to experience it nowadays, assuming we're not going to get a remake anytime soon.
when I was growing up I really just played games like Pokemon and stuff, but I really liked what you had to say about Lufia 2 here. I AM one of those people who thinks games are for fun lol (note that emotionally satisfying is also "fun" so like, I'm fine with sadder stuff obviously) but I think there's something definitely to be said about the ability of fiction to create deep sadness, yanno? like you KNOW it's not real but because of that you know it's very effective if they do manage to foment those emotions
Exactly, good storytelling in fiction (whether a game, a movie, a book, whatever it may be) helps us explore emotions by giving us a space to experience them in a more or less consequence free way. Games are particularly good at it because of how interactive they are.
@@JustTheGems yep. this comment made me think about how one of my favorite books of all time (In the Woods) is purposefully infuriating and lacks any catharsis at all. but it's very effective art.
I can't claim I was moved by any of these games when I was a kid because all I played was Pokemon and Zelda. but I have found myself quite shaken and moved by many games as an adult.
If I had to pick 5 it would be :
FF7 - my first JRPG that Kickstarter my love for the genre
Trails Of Cold Steel - picked it up on a whim as it was one ale and fell in love
Persona 5 - heard a lot of good things about the series, picked royale up again in sale and absolutely loved it. Love the social aspect of it
FF9 - it's just gorgeous, in the cities it's just beautiful hand drawn images that I love. Story is great too. Shame about the trance mechanic lol
Yakuza : Like A Dragon - not my first in the series but heard it was turn based which is my jam and picked it up and love how over the top and fun it is
Great list! The only one I haven't played is Like a Dragon, and I'm going to! I really want to! I just have to find the time! :)
FF6 is by far the best, i don't even know how anyone can compare 6 to 7 IMO, great video man keep up the great work!
Thank you so much! I think there will always be comparisons within the Final Fantasy community (all the games are siblings, after all!). It's fun to hear what other people like and appreciate about them, even the ones I didn't particularly connect with. Though to be honest, I've connected pretty strongly with almost all of them.
Ohh i completely agree, i just always thought 7 was over hyped, it didn't deserve the craze it got, great rpg don't get me wrong , just can't hold a candle to 6 IMO
Personally i felt a deeper connection to Lufia 1 than 2, the plot twist of how and why Lufia leaves your party had me in shock... I was at exactly the right age (12~ish) when i was just figuring out what having a crush and falling in love meant, so it hit me like a truck
I can definitely see that. I wish that I'd gotten to experience it as a kid, but that one darn boss was just too hard! 🫠
Amazing choices. Never had a Sega so did not play Shining Force but def agree with your synopsis of it from what I hear. Goof stuff bro.
Thank you!!
Bro, that FF7 section was murder. You went on and on about your PC, like we get it. Other than that, neat list. Also a huge fan of FF2, I like it more than 6 because of Cecil’s journey and Kain’s story among other things.
Aw, that stings, that was such a significant story for me
@@JustTheGems that’s completely fair and apologies if I came off harsh, but (and I can only speak for myself) as a viewer, the story would be more enjoyable if it was related to the actual game, kind of like you and your bro bonding over Shining Force. My two cents, take it or leave it. But overall, just essentially love what you’re doing and I’ve been subscribed for a bit. Keep doing you and what you do.
Wtf mate. Someone shares a heartfelt story and you say “stop going on and on, we get it”?!? That is not how humans respond to each other. Internet or no. Be kind, even in criticism. Be kind.
@@johnathanrhoades7751 read my response. I didn’t find it heartfelt and in fact I didn’t finish the video because it went on for too long by my estimation. This was my feedback. The world takes all types. Good day.
Dunno if they count, since they're Action RPGs, but the Tales of games have left an impact on me. Strangely enough, the one that left a huge mark on my philosophy on being able to find meaning in suffering is Xillia 2, which is a rather controversial game in the series.
I think they absolutely count. I'm a big fan of the Tales games!
@@JustTheGems Oh, really? Have you tried Destiny DC yet? That one's also been a big influence on me, due to the specific period of time in my life when the English patch came out.
@@Patrick-bn5rp no I haven't, I need to make time for some of the imports
Scrolling through recommended videos and saw this. Thought it was John Krasinski in the thumbnail
Haha that's the first time I've heard that one! I guess he does have a beard nowadays.🧔♂️
The final fantasy that made me a JRPG fan/started my FF love is 7, but my favorite FF game is Tactics, then 9, then 12. And im an oldie like you :D
Nice! I'm hoping for a Tactics remake, I never got to fully experience it as a kid. (I know that if I start playing it now, they're going to announce a remake just to spite me, so I'm holding out...)
@@JustTheGemsI want to replay FF9 but I know that if I start they will release the remake. So I’m waiting like you 😂
Mine are :
FF9
FF8
FF7
Persona 5
& Nier Automata
Awesome list!!
I'd say one game is the first Final Fantasy as it got me into the genre (little did we know that our FF II was really FF IV... at least I didn't. Next up would be Suikoden 2 as that was probably the first one that had an emotional impact. I can't leave out Chrono Cross either (still the best game on the PS1 IMHO). Final Fantasy X in may ways told me "the next generation of JRPGs is here" It saw me through a tough time, and I got a kick out of making Yuna the strongest player (my final boss fight was short). P3 FES is next... again, a genre changer and another difficult time. I hear you on Xenogears though.... was surprised back then it had been let through.
Chrono Cross was so revolutionary. It was kind of an evolutionary dead end in some ways. It introduced so many awesome ideas that were just... never used again. I think it's super underrated, and I say that even knowing it has a decently sizeable and vocal fanbase.
I want a remake of Xenogears just so they can actually finish it, so you dont have that whole visual novel thing at the end and actually play through that part of the story
Same, I'd love to experience that part of the story
In your opinion is better play Lufia 2 before 1 (for someone that never played it)?
Honestly, I think playing 1 first only enhances the emotional impact of what happens in 2. That, plus the evolution of the gameplay will feel more natural if you go in numerical order, so that's my recommendation.
@@JustTheGems súper, in almost all the games I preferred to played by release day and not chronological, helps to live the story as the creators intend to in each game
My biggest impact I would add would be Suikoden 1 and probably Suikoden 2 as well.
I'm going to replay those as soon as the remasters come out
Here are my 5: FF6, FF10, Persona 4, Persona 5, CHRONO TRIGGER. Each of these games stories touch me intimately. Their stories had elements that related in my personal life. Of all of them, Chrono Trigger touched me the most. I am fascinated with time travel and the theoretical ability to make changes in your past. Each time I have a feeling I wish I could go back and make changes, I turn to Chrono and the gang to fulfill my wishes.
Show us on the doll where it touched you
Oh man, the part where you can go back and potentially save Lucca's mom really highlights that so well.
Mybfirstvwas Dragon warrior 3 NES. I remember the instruction manuel was the biggest ivever seen to this day bc the manuel was a full strategy guide. Final fantasy iv was the freshest game I'd ever played till final fantasy vi came out. Final fantasy x was next in line bc I love ff7 but at that time I didn't own a ps1 ao I had to play ffvii on a friend's console and had seen him beat the game while I was on the second disk on my play thru so ffx is special to me bc it was the first next generation final fantasy I git to play start to finish and lastly trails from zero. I just finished it starting my journey thru the trails series and I'm on azure now 10 hours in but zero hands down was one of the most amazing storylines I've ever seen in a video game. 1000 percent hooked now so much so I'm buying the Collector's /limited editions of all of the trails games from zero to the finish. I have limited editions of azure cold steel 1 cold steel 2 and trails of Daybreak on pre order
Yes!! I just finished replaying Azure last week, and it's SO good
I remember paying $75 for ff2 back in 1992, and also my first jrpg😅
Ahhh the memories...😁
One of the games have a lot of meaning to me is Tecmo's secret of the Stars. It is a very bad game but it's full of charm and VERY good music. It's fun to play, for me, despite all it's terrible flaws.
Final Fantasy VI is my favorite game on the Super Nintendo. I slightly prefer it to even Chrono Trigger, which is lauded as the best SNES game by some, of all time.
FFVI's story, music, characters and unique villain (s) made it an absolute masterpiece for me that I've enjoyed for many years. The self unaliving scene, starting near the beginning of the second part of the game is one of the most touching scenes I've ever seen in a video game.
Lufia II was just incredible. It's music is also great, and it sort of had the charm of Secret of the Stars while actually being an incredible game at the same time.
I only ever played Secret of the Stars very, very briefly as a kid, and I wanted to play more -- and now, unfortunately, it's such a pricey and hard-to-come-by game! I'd like to add it to the collection one of these days.
5. Final Fantasy 1 (weird pick I know)
4. Final Fantasy 7
3. Xenogears
2. Wild Arms
1. Suikoden (The entire series but especially 2)
Interesting! Really cool to see Wild Arms on this list, I need to give that series a shot here sometime soon
FF7 OG, FF7 Remake, FF16, FF7 Rebirth, and Xenosaga 3.
Nice! I'm glad to see love for Xenosaga 3!
I'm old like you and I think FF2US is the best.... Loved having characters having set classes instead of 'anyone can do anything'
Yeah, it's interesting how they've gone back and forth with those ideas over the years. Set classes, open classes, and back again. I think Sakaguchi said they did it in part because they just got bored if they did it the same way every time.
I literally let out a Hell Yeah when you started with FF2/4.
Haha, FF2 for life!
I'm old and Chrono Trigger is the best Final Fantasy, followed by Final Fantasy Tactics and then Final Fantasy 6
Chrono Trigger is the best Final Fantasy, fact.
I thought you wanted to become a trails guy, now a list like this and not a single trails game in sight. This is not the way 😉
Haha, that's the problem with starting the series so much later in life, all these meaningful and personality-shaping things have already happened! 😅 But I probably wouldn't be into Trails like I am if all those other things didn't happen, so it all works out in the end.
Mine are 1. Breath of fire 2 2. Earthbound 3. Chrono Trigger 4. Pokemon 5. Breath of fire 1.
I was raised Jehovahs witness and Breath of fire 2 did for me what xenogears did for you.
Wow, that's really cool to hear! I know the BoF2 has some deep and dark religious themes, I'm definitely looking forward to playing through that when I do my Breath of Fire binge soon.
@@JustTheGems Can't wait for that!
Xenogears!!
🔥🔥🔥
Xenogears should be taught in High School.
I learned more about life from Xenogears than I did all of the Shakespeare that they force you to like.
Honestly, I agree. There's a lot to learn from modern classics, and video games HAVE to start being included in the curriculum the same as books and movies.
Xenogears as number one!!!
Heck yes!
FFIII (also known as FFVI) is the best
It was pretty life-changing for me.
Downloaded ff7 and xeno, will try xeno first...
Hope you enjoy it! It's a little old school, but if that doesn't bother you, I think it's fantastic.
@@JustTheGems I'm midway through Lunar Silver Star, I was looking to play Arise first but decided to go on the classic JRPGs after watching your videos.
Though dated gameplay-wise, the classics are actually awesome and surprisingly refreshing but I could not point out why.... Currently line up is Lunar, Xeno, Grandia, Breath of Fire 4 but things may change. I may insert one or two modern game.
Hey, ever thought of making guides or tips to play classic and newish games videos?
@@user-ev3jb2xg5w I've thought about it, but I don't think I'd be very good at making general guides on the how-to's of it all. But there might be some other types of "guides" I could do. I'll have to give it some thought.
I'm an old like you and its 7.(but it is actually9)
It's funny, when 9 first came out, I didn't care for it. But as I've replayed it over the years, it's become one of my all-time favorites.
Try play breath of fire 4
I'm gonna do a whole Breath of Fire series playthrough one of these days
Stop being so good looking
I tried, but my parents were good looking, you can't fight genetics!! 😂 Jkjk
Don't call FF4 Final Fantasy II. Don't call it that.
But you do understand why I did though, right? Because that was what it was called when I was little and when it meant so much to me? You see why I'd make that choice in the video, right?
@@JustTheGems Respectfully, I find that to be highly disrespectful to both FF4 as well as FF2. Continuing to use the incorrect name just because it was your initial experience even though you know better doesn't sit well with me. I know it's wrong. You know it's wrong. We all know it's wrong. Let's kindly move past it and start using the correct name for things. Please and thank you.
@@zankudragon I disagree. I'm sure you know that Square had a say in what the game was named in the US. Right? They made the decision. So if the creators themselves decided, isn't it disrespectful to put intentions on them that they didn't have?
Also, it's really not a big deal either way, just enjoy games and don't be so silly. 😁
I feel like you're faking how old you are.
No I promise, I'm only 40!
These are the best videos. Games have a way of building connections that I don't think non-gamers experience. (And at ~15 minutes, you address this exactly).
FF2 was late '91. I was so excited about it that I borrowed a Strategy Guide from the library and brought it with me on our trip to Disneyland.
Shining Force is one of two games that I begged for as a young teen. Shining in the Darkness was the first RPG I played on Genesis; I was crushed to have gotten the Genesis rather than a SNES (see above), but determined to find something cool to play. I lobbied my grandparents for at least 6 months before the game released, and it became one of my top 5 favorites for many years.
I never played Lufia 2, but I know how deeply it affected a lot of people who played it. Had a friend who raved about for an entire summer.
I lost nearly all of my PS1 games to a theft in 2008, including FF7. I was able to grab a few replacements directly from Square (Xenogears being the notable one), but FF7 wasn't available at the time. Still haven't finished Xenogears though, I was heavy into the PS2 library by that time.
I love FF7, but the ones that kill me to not have are Breath of Fire 3 & 4. BoF3 in particular is one of the greatest games ever in my opinion.
Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for sharing these! I've been fortunate not to have lost a large number of games all at once (except when I foolishly sold my collection to a game store for what basically AMOUNTED to theft back in the late 90s...), but that's such an awful thing to have to experience.