As a huge Persona fan I definitely recommend the series! My personal advice is started with Persona 4 Golden. It's classic yet still feels modern and really gives you a good idea of what Persona gameplay and systems are like. Also the cast of characters are so charming in 4. It's not as long as P5R and P3R so it's also more approachable that way. If you enjoy 4 then definitely block off a month of 2 and play 5 Royal! Also congrats on 10k!!
This was the advice I followed as somebody who hasn’t played many JRPGs outside of Final Fantasy and I gotta say, P4G takes foreverrrrrr to get going. I’ve never really played a life sim prior and the first 5-10hrs are kinda brutal.
My list would be almost identical to this except for Nier. I'm sorry, but you HAVE to play the Nier games. They're not just great RPGs, and they're probably MORE suited for you as you age. Forget the multiple endings, you can always watch them on UA-cam. Nier genuinely makes you think like a robot over time using the multiple perspectives, reaction time puzzles, and the geometry of how things attack you. When an enemy fires like 9000 projectiles at you, and you initially go "wtf how am I dodging this?", and then your brain kicks in and you seamlessly float through them bc you subconsciously computed what's going to happen in advance, it's about as close as you'll ever get to reading Philip Dick with a controller. Yoko Taro is a legitimate genius, and in my view every bit as gifted as Ueda and Kojima.
@@ErekLadd Takahashi, Taro, Ueda, and Kojima are my Mt. Rushmore. They are all musts and are a massive basis for how storytelling in AAA titles is made today.
EREK FLIPPIN LADD IF YOU CAN PLAY EVERY SINGLE YAKUZA GAME IN LIKE 5 MINUTES YOU CAN PLAY PERSONA. For real, broski, P4G and P5R are must plays. Congrats on 10k. I still love you despite this confession. 😉
I swear this video topic is perfect for me, I can hear Chicken Fillets shouting from afar to tell me to play Final Fantasy 🤣 The Trails series is so overwhelming though, and it's insane just how many people within the JRPG community are so passionate about that specific franchise of all things as well 😅 Fantastic video, Erek!
I just recently found your channel because I just recently found out that I enjoy jrpgs as I've gotten older. I love your channel man. I'm 40 hours into persona 5 royal and I can say it's worth the trip and I'm not even halfway through.
For Trails: They are all one big narrative, so if you want the full picture, you should play them all in order, BUT you can really start with any sub-series if you really want to. It's just that events in past games will be mentioned here and there, and you won't know who some returning characters are beforehand. There's also one MASSIVE tear-jerker plot that gets started in Sky, and wrapped up in Zero, which won't have much meaning if you skip Sky. As for the slow-burn, it spends a lot of time introducing you to the world and characters, so that when the crap finally hits the fan, it means MUCH more to you. I usually describe it as (this isn't something that actually happens) you spend some down time tutoring a kid in the town you spend most of the game in, then later in the game the town gets invaded and set on fire, and you think about that kid you tutored, wondering if he's okay. It's that sort of stuff. The stakes do increase, but it takes a while. You can speed things up by not talking to every NPC, but you're also skipping the "getting to know them" part, if you do that. For the battles, I like how much status effects come into play, as the goal is to stop the enemies from getting turns by using delay/freeze/petrify/confuse/etc to your advantage.
I just picked up a physical of Lost Odyssey at a convention earlier this year, but I still need to crack it open and play it. I played Trails' Cold Steel 1 & 2 last year, but I'm making a VERY concerted effort currently to play the games in the series right now. I've just finished the Trails in the Sky trilogy, Trails from Zero, and am ~10 hours into Trails to Azure. These games are so under the radar, but man they're SO good. Like shockingly good!
I'd definitely recommend Persona. I started with P5R when it came out on the Switch, then proceeded to play P3R and currently near the end of P4G currently. The time sink for Persona 5 is real, but you come out the other end loving the game and reminiscing about the characters in the game. I'd say start with P3R or P4G though, P5R can be a little overwhelming with all of the mechanics it does introduce at first. P3 is somewhat simple compared to the other two.
I haven’t played the original Nier, but you can definitely play Automata as standalone. I did. There are a few references to the past story as far as I can tell, but not many, and the only 1-2 that probably matters are explained well enough if you do the side quests. Despite some repetition to it in order to reach the multiple endings (endings A and B are about 2/3 of the same story but from a different perspective), it didn’t feel that much like it for me because your completed side quest progress and items are retained when you go from run to run, so the later runs can be very quick, and the mechanics and unique story perspectives and reveals continue to flesh out the plot as you go on, so you’re always progressing things even when you see some of the same events. In other words, it doesn’t feel as bad as you’d think it would, and by the time you get to C/D/E (which are all intertwined at the story’s end with almost no repetition), everything in A and B will make more sense, and it’s totally worth it. I’ll still cry whenever I hear the last song, but again… totally worth it. :-)
Man such a great list! I've only ever played the vanilla Persona 5 but it was enough of a ride that it's one of my top jrpgs. I have a hard time getting into dragon quest as well. I'm going to try XI S eventually. Nier replicant fixes a lot of issues with Nier, but it is annoying to have to replay. Thankfully, it starts you from half way each time you have to replay, and it recoveries recontextualizes everything the more you play it. Lost odyssey is amazing. One day I'm going to actually beat it. I just started the Trails series. It's pretty good so far. It's a slow burn, but I see it's potential. It's all connected, so I'm told Trails in the Sky is the best place to start.
Knowing nothing about the trails series is a great starting point. They all are in one huge world that is ever growing. Even the npc’s have their own little stories if you go out of your way to speak with them each day. Trails in the sky is a slow burn, but a great starting point as it’s the first in the series. If you want a more modern polished game then start with trails of cold steel. That is where I first picked up the series and I love it. Great list! Hope you will get a chance to play all of these at some point.
Hey Erek! I'm about your age and a "lifetime die-hard Final Fantasy fan". You have to play Persona, especially Persona 5 Royal. You're going to reach the end after 100+ hours and wish there was more. If you like classic JRPG turn based combat, Persona is the evolution of that combat system. Persona 5 Royal is a near perfect video game.
I hope with all my heart that Lost Odyssey gets a PC port for more people to experience. Any JRPG fan does themselves a disservice by not playing the masterpiece, but I still wouldn't advocate shelling out money for an Xbox for that title alone. Absolutely fantastic game, along with Mistwalker's Blue Dragon too. Your point on finding time hits so close to home. Having a wife and child really does make gaming harder (not impossible), though, I still wouldn't trade it for the world.
As a major Dragon Quest fan, I recommend that series the most but if you aren't jiving with it, then that's okay! Persona 5 Royal would be the best version to play - I mean, if you're gonna spend 100 hours, it might as well be the best version, right? Great video!
"I need some advice from seasoned JRPG veterans" HULLO Persona 4 or 5 would be a good start. I started with 4 and I consider it the best. I think you'll like 5 first. Nier Automata - PLAY IT. No questions. Just play it
Man you seriously gotta try the YS series theyre so good!!! Also id say its worth picking up a 360 to play Lost Odyssey. Youd probably be able to grab one cheap right now
@@ErekLadd there's also another game you should probably play called blue dragon. I've not checked it out however Hironobu Sakaguchi had involvement with it and the OST was done by our boyo Nobuo Uematsu aswell. So it ticks all the right box's
I know what you mean with the Persona series I got into it with 5 and then went back and played 3FES and 4G and absolutely loved the series, but with my limited time I don't think I would've finished Royal if it wasn't for the time it came out(I would say if you pick one I'd go with 4G). I also have similar thoughts about DQ and FF XIV.
Seems like 5 might be the best way to start. I don't mind the 100+ hours but it just seems a bit daunting knowing how big of a climb it is to get to the credits. But as they say - it's about the journey and not the destination!
Persona 5 Royal is one of my favorite games ever. It’s fantastic! Definitely play it. Also, trails is fantastic! I started with the Cold Steel games and absolutely loved them.
I'm in the same boat as you; I also haven't played any of these games. However, I do have NieR: Automata in my backlog and I'm really looking forward to playing it.
Legend of Legaia would be a cool underrated gem. Super dark atmosphere, one of the best combat systems in the game, and a well paced story. A must play in my opinion
@@RPGStory thanks! 😂 oddly it was the game that got me seriously into the genre. I played super Mario RPG and Earthbound but I think I might have been too young to appreciate it ( too much reading probably lol )
I started my Persona journey with P5, please try it. Don't let the length turn you off. Even if you don't finish it, it's one of the rest RPG's ever made. You owe it to yourself to experience a game that special
if you play or would play a monster catching game, play the yokai watch series for 3DS (and switch but not in the west sadly). theyre peak, in my opinion better than pokemon. they have a unique battle system, tons and tons of side content, fun stories with some very interesting lore and of course very well designed creatures for you to collect-and a whole ton of them at that. I cannot recommend this series enough and it is so underrated in the west.
Oh, for the love of god, play the Persona games, and you can start anywhere. I've played Revelations, P3P, P3R, P4, P4G, P5 and P5R. My dude, they are fantastic. Seriously! Abd I had never played a single Persona game until P5 in 2021. Annnd, I play 4 and 5 every year. I cannot encourage you enough to get on this train 🤘 The others on your list are all on my backlog, probably because of my Persona addiction 😂 If something isn't catching your interest in the first 10 hours, you are without a doubt a card carying RPG guy, because as we know, non RPG guys don't even play anything that looks to be over 8hrs 😂
Hahaha so true!!! I can't imagine playing a game in less than ten hours. Honestly it's like a one or two sitting kinda game. I haven't played one of those in ages!!! But yeah, definitely need to jump on the Persona train!
I'd say you definitely gotta play Persona 5 Royal. It instantly became my favorite JRPG of all time. Definitely play it on Steam Deck or Switch for the portability option. And speaking of Steam Deck, there's a Persona franchise sale going on on Steam at the time of writing this. Persona 3 Reload and Persona 4 Golden are fantastic games as well. Eventually, I'll play P3P to play as the female MC.
I just played persona 5 this year. Pretty solid but very long. Since then I've played persona 5 tactical and strikers. All three games are great but you need to play Persona 5 Royal first for sure. I did spend 120 hours with a day by day guide. Edit: I'm starting with Trails Through Daybreak and it's so much fun and I'm less than 10 hours in. It's great.
I'm a PlayStation guy & for me, it's the Trails series & the reason is because Falcom thinks all Asians speak Chinese / Japanese. I live in Indonesia & there's no legal way to play the Trails series in PlayStation except to play the Chinese / Japanese versions. I really hope they release the English version of the Trails series for REG3, one day, cause I really want to dive into this series
I'm a bit late on this video but I played the original Nier on xbox360 just once and love it. I don't think you NEED to play it multiple times. It could be better if you do, but why not just playing it once and looking for the other endings later?
Nier imo is made to be enjoyable as a standalone. Also has an ost superior to any ff game, I don't say that lightly. They literally created a fake language for the lyrics to go with the theme of the game. Great storyline and of the list you provided def at the top recommendation. Only criticism is I found the gameplay to be a tad boring with the hack and slash format
I appreciate what you said about not having time to find out if a game is worth it or not. I agree 10 hours in should be plenty of time to have a full concept on how the battle system is going to scale what kind of mechanics the game includes how the story goes besides any major plot twists or character developments.... But 10 hours is plenty. If the game is not good within 10 hours why? Why continue playing why wait for it to get good when it had all of this time to capture me. I think about games like Tales of Vesperia where I gave the game 25 to 30 hours for it to do something and combat has not evolved in a way that is satisfying the story is not progressed in a way that dissatisfying and eventually I had to say regardless of what people say how good the game is It's not good for me so I'm putting it down and I'm done with it. Then there are games that truly you have to break it in and as content opens up it just gets better and better and better. But if you don't have enough of a concept about how the game is going to go 10 hours in you're just wasting your time
Often times if the combat is good enough or the music is enjoyable enough I can get by, but if I don't get stuck in the story within those first ten hours I simply cannot continue!
Persona 4 and 5 are good ones to start with, though 5 might be a bit overwhelming at first. Persona 3 Reload is a pretty bad remake of Persona 3 so I wouldn't recommend that. It's a good series. Shin Megami Tensei is another franchise from the same developer, which is kind of like Persona but more difficult.
For Nier i would say play Nier Replicant first then Automata. That the order of the story voth great game most people seem to prefer Automata but i liked Replicant more it has always stuck with me the story and characters are really good. DQ8 play it if you can dind the time it is my personal favourite DQ game but that might be because it was my first. Lost oddessy is great definitely playbif you can if you get a 360 for it try Blue Dragon as well its form same developer i think? and was also a fun turn based RPG.
Yeah I'd be happy to play the Nier games in order for bigger impact. I will get to DQ8 as well. I think I will play the PS2 version with a texture pack or something, I'm sure that exists! And I will definitely play Lost Odyssey! Hoping to do that very soon!
Persona: I replayed P5R, even with a guide its 100+ hours long legit. The game is extremely well written, but it takes a lot of time to do the social sim stuff, which benefits your combat stats. Like, I would compare it to FF7 Rebirth in a sense. Rebirth is long, but its so packed full of things to do that it never really feels long. Just about everyone would agree its worth it. Dragon Quest: Personal opinion, 7 and 8 on release I couldn't complete. They were super long, grindy, and not engaging enough. Same with 9. I've played the re-releases of 7 and 8 and beat them, 7 is still way too long, 8 has honestly the best characters in the series, better than 11s. The older games are fun though for an old-school experience. FF14: It is a lifestyle game. I generally set aside like an hour or so every day, maybe more when patches/expansions come out, to slowly chip away at all the things there are to do in the game. Definitely worth it to me because I love having a checklist of things to take care of and the game scratches that itch while never being boring because I can always swap my goals. Nier: I never got into it cause I didn't like the combat, but with the multiple endings, most of them are going to be joke endings where you die in dumb ways or make bad decisions. The replaying of the game isn't that big a deal because the games are generally only 10-20 hours long to get to the first ending, then you can replay and change things to get to other endings. Unlike say Persona or FF14, it really adds up to be a standard JRPG length. Trails: All the games are connected, but generally they have like 4 game arc which you could just jump in at any time. You'd miss references to previous games, but if you start at an arc point, you can understand what's going in with your current characters and don't need to play the entire series.
I’m pretty much in the same situation, except for FFXIV. 😂 What a coincidence. 🤣 I love recommending FFXIV but I quite understand how time consuming an online game is. I’ve been playing it for over 10000 hours over 10+ years. 😅 Basically I play single player games and whenever I have time, I’ll play the online game as well. Maybe one day you’ll try it and if the story hooks you, it will be worth the ‘investment’ but if not hey, plenty of other games to enjoy. 😁
Near is awesomne. DOn't buy pos3 version, but the PS5 remake version called Nier replicant. BUt, u don't need to pkay first nier to do automata. Automata is also much more advanced and less janky, with wayu less fetch quests. Last I checked PS5 automata was beter than PC version, if u have a PS5 that is. Trulky amazing game. I did the whole thing fully beating it 3 timesbut don't fear, eadh time is kinda quick, kinda short for an RPG, and each of 3 times is quite different too. 15 to 20 hours per lpplaythrough 1 and 2 then playthrough # 3 maybe 10 hours. I recommend Automata first, and if u beat it all 3 times and love it, then check out Nier Replicant, remake of part 1. Automata, made by PLatinum games, plays SO SMOOTH and very much like Bayonetta combat flow and feel.
So the trails games are conected by lore and events that Tool place in the older games. So if you pick the cold steel Part you should start with Part one of cold steel. But dont do that. I would recomend daybreak since if you have to learn the Code mechanics if the gsme start with the best tuned one. The battle System is the best of the series for multiple reasons. And since you know nothing it is also the best because it might name drop some Prior events and Charakters but Overall keept the story to the events in the actual game . So daybreak it is.
Stop everything you’re doing & play Persona 5 Royal now! It is a top 5 game of all time for me, even above many of my beloved Final Fantasy favorites which I didn’t think was possible
Persona is overrated IMO. The music is the best part. The turn based combar is good if you disable the auto turn stuff. Some of the characters are interesting, some are cringe and straight up obnoxious. The dungeons are straight up poorly designed. It's randomized rogue-like floors that are all otherwise identical where the only interesting part is the art style, which you get all of on the 1st floor. I went in expecting to dislike the social sim stuff and love the rest of the game, and came out nearly the opposite. I don't hate the series, but what I have played I don't think it measures up to the hype.
As a huge Persona fan I definitely recommend the series! My personal advice is started with Persona 4 Golden. It's classic yet still feels modern and really gives you a good idea of what Persona gameplay and systems are like. Also the cast of characters are so charming in 4. It's not as long as P5R and P3R so it's also more approachable that way. If you enjoy 4 then definitely block off a month of 2 and play 5 Royal! Also congrats on 10k!!
This was the advice I followed as somebody who hasn’t played many JRPGs outside of Final Fantasy and I gotta say, P4G takes foreverrrrrr to get going. I’ve never really played a life sim prior and the first 5-10hrs are kinda brutal.
My list would be almost identical to this except for Nier. I'm sorry, but you HAVE to play the Nier games. They're not just great RPGs, and they're probably MORE suited for you as you age. Forget the multiple endings, you can always watch them on UA-cam. Nier genuinely makes you think like a robot over time using the multiple perspectives, reaction time puzzles, and the geometry of how things attack you. When an enemy fires like 9000 projectiles at you, and you initially go "wtf how am I dodging this?", and then your brain kicks in and you seamlessly float through them bc you subconsciously computed what's going to happen in advance, it's about as close as you'll ever get to reading Philip Dick with a controller. Yoko Taro is a legitimate genius, and in my view every bit as gifted as Ueda and Kojima.
Amazing insight! And great comparison! I'm so down for that!!
I've been waiting for another steam sale. I really want to play Automata
@@ErekLadd Takahashi, Taro, Ueda, and Kojima are my Mt. Rushmore. They are all musts and are a massive basis for how storytelling in AAA titles is made today.
EREK FLIPPIN LADD IF YOU CAN PLAY EVERY SINGLE YAKUZA GAME IN LIKE 5 MINUTES YOU CAN PLAY PERSONA.
For real, broski, P4G and P5R are must plays. Congrats on 10k. I still love you despite this confession. 😉
Highly Recommend Persona and it’s my 2nd Favorite JRPG Series of All Time
Congrats on hitting 10K
But yeah, you gotta fix that by playing any of these soon. Especially Persona
Thank you! And yeah, looking at picking up P5 Royal on steam this week as it’s on sale!
I swear this video topic is perfect for me, I can hear Chicken Fillets shouting from afar to tell me to play Final Fantasy 🤣 The Trails series is so overwhelming though, and it's insane just how many people within the JRPG community are so passionate about that specific franchise of all things as well 😅 Fantastic video, Erek!
Me too! Play Final Fantasy, Nimbus!!
@@nishquikpops Soon 😉
I just recently found your channel because I just recently found out that I enjoy jrpgs as I've gotten older. I love your channel man. I'm 40 hours into persona 5 royal and I can say it's worth the trip and I'm not even halfway through.
Hey thanks for tuning in! That's great to hear. Persona 5 Royal is on sale this week so I think I will finally just grab it!
Lost Odyssey an Underrated Gem 💎 on the Xbox 360
For Trails: They are all one big narrative, so if you want the full picture, you should play them all in order, BUT you can really start with any sub-series if you really want to. It's just that events in past games will be mentioned here and there, and you won't know who some returning characters are beforehand. There's also one MASSIVE tear-jerker plot that gets started in Sky, and wrapped up in Zero, which won't have much meaning if you skip Sky.
As for the slow-burn, it spends a lot of time introducing you to the world and characters, so that when the crap finally hits the fan, it means MUCH more to you. I usually describe it as (this isn't something that actually happens) you spend some down time tutoring a kid in the town you spend most of the game in, then later in the game the town gets invaded and set on fire, and you think about that kid you tutored, wondering if he's okay. It's that sort of stuff. The stakes do increase, but it takes a while. You can speed things up by not talking to every NPC, but you're also skipping the "getting to know them" part, if you do that.
For the battles, I like how much status effects come into play, as the goal is to stop the enemies from getting turns by using delay/freeze/petrify/confuse/etc to your advantage.
Sounds interesting!!!I don't mind starting at the very start at all. If the game is good then I. ammore than happy to invest the time in the series!
I just picked up a physical of Lost Odyssey at a convention earlier this year, but I still need to crack it open and play it. I played Trails' Cold Steel 1 & 2 last year, but I'm making a VERY concerted effort currently to play the games in the series right now. I've just finished the Trails in the Sky trilogy, Trails from Zero, and am ~10 hours into Trails to Azure. These games are so under the radar, but man they're SO good. Like shockingly good!
I first played Trails of Cold Steel 1 and then went started playing them from the beginning with the Sky trilogy.
I'd definitely recommend Persona. I started with P5R when it came out on the Switch, then proceeded to play P3R and currently near the end of P4G currently. The time sink for Persona 5 is real, but you come out the other end loving the game and reminiscing about the characters in the game.
I'd say start with P3R or P4G though, P5R can be a little overwhelming with all of the mechanics it does introduce at first. P3 is somewhat simple compared to the other two.
Yeah cool! I will definitely pick all of them up soon since there's a steam sale on right now for Persona games!
I haven’t played the original Nier, but you can definitely play Automata as standalone. I did. There are a few references to the past story as far as I can tell, but not many, and the only 1-2 that probably matters are explained well enough if you do the side quests.
Despite some repetition to it in order to reach the multiple endings (endings A and B are about 2/3 of the same story but from a different perspective), it didn’t feel that much like it for me because your completed side quest progress and items are retained when you go from run to run, so the later runs can be very quick, and the mechanics and unique story perspectives and reveals continue to flesh out the plot as you go on, so you’re always progressing things even when you see some of the same events.
In other words, it doesn’t feel as bad as you’d think it would, and by the time you get to C/D/E (which are all intertwined at the story’s end with almost no repetition), everything in A and B will make more sense, and it’s totally worth it. I’ll still cry whenever I hear the last song, but again… totally worth it. :-)
Man such a great list! I've only ever played the vanilla Persona 5 but it was enough of a ride that it's one of my top jrpgs.
I have a hard time getting into dragon quest as well. I'm going to try XI S eventually.
Nier replicant fixes a lot of issues with Nier, but it is annoying to have to replay. Thankfully, it starts you from half way each time you have to replay, and it recoveries recontextualizes everything the more you play it.
Lost odyssey is amazing. One day I'm going to actually beat it.
I just started the Trails series. It's pretty good so far. It's a slow burn, but I see it's potential. It's all connected, so I'm told Trails in the Sky is the best place to start.
Knowing nothing about the trails series is a great starting point. They all are in one huge world that is ever growing. Even the npc’s have their own little stories if you go out of your way to speak with them each day. Trails in the sky is a slow burn, but a great starting point as it’s the first in the series. If you want a more modern polished game then start with trails of cold steel. That is where I first picked up the series and I love it.
Great list! Hope you will get a chance to play all of these at some point.
Hey Erek! I'm about your age and a "lifetime die-hard Final Fantasy fan". You have to play Persona, especially Persona 5 Royal. You're going to reach the end after 100+ hours and wish there was more. If you like classic JRPG turn based combat, Persona is the evolution of that combat system. Persona 5 Royal is a near perfect video game.
Congrats on 10k subs!
lost odyssey is simply amazing, give yourself the opportunity to try it, you will love it
I can't wait to try it!
I hope with all my heart that Lost Odyssey gets a PC port for more people to experience. Any JRPG fan does themselves a disservice by not playing the masterpiece, but I still wouldn't advocate shelling out money for an Xbox for that title alone. Absolutely fantastic game, along with Mistwalker's Blue Dragon too.
Your point on finding time hits so close to home. Having a wife and child really does make gaming harder (not impossible), though, I still wouldn't trade it for the world.
As a major Dragon Quest fan, I recommend that series the most but if you aren't jiving with it, then that's okay! Persona 5 Royal would be the best version to play - I mean, if you're gonna spend 100 hours, it might as well be the best version, right? Great video!
"I need some advice from seasoned JRPG veterans"
HULLO
Persona 4 or 5 would be a good start. I started with 4 and I consider it the best. I think you'll like 5 first.
Nier Automata - PLAY IT. No questions. Just play it
You got it! I’ll grab royal edition on steam. It’s like 60% off right now so may as well.
Nier was such an underated gem of a game. Also the trick is to beat it once then UA-cam the rest of the endings 😂
So true. I do that with lots of other games. Always go straight to UA-cam to see the alternate endings!
Man you seriously gotta try the YS series theyre so good!!!
Also id say its worth picking up a 360 to play Lost Odyssey. Youd probably be able to grab one cheap right now
Yes that is so true! I need to get into YS. Also the 360s on Facebook marketplace here are pretty cheap so I might jump for that.
@@ErekLadd there's also another game you should probably play called blue dragon. I've not checked it out however Hironobu Sakaguchi had involvement with it and the OST was done by our boyo Nobuo Uematsu aswell. So it ticks all the right box's
I know what you mean with the Persona series I got into it with 5 and then went back and played 3FES and 4G and absolutely loved the series, but with my limited time I don't think I would've finished Royal if it wasn't for the time it came out(I would say if you pick one I'd go with 4G). I also have similar thoughts about DQ and FF XIV.
Seems like 5 might be the best way to start. I don't mind the 100+ hours but it just seems a bit daunting knowing how big of a climb it is to get to the credits. But as they say - it's about the journey and not the destination!
Persona 5 Royal is one of my favorite games ever. It’s fantastic! Definitely play it. Also, trails is fantastic! I started with the Cold Steel games and absolutely loved them.
Will do!!!
I'm in the same boat as you; I also haven't played any of these games. However, I do have NieR: Automata in my backlog and I'm really looking forward to playing it.
Legend of Legaia would be a cool underrated gem. Super dark atmosphere, one of the best combat systems in the game, and a well paced story. A must play in my opinion
You have my utmost respect for being a Legend of Legaia fan
@@RPGStory thanks! 😂 oddly it was the game that got me seriously into the genre. I played super Mario RPG and Earthbound but I think I might have been too young to appreciate it ( too much reading probably lol )
Yeah Legaia and every FF game for me basically. And the reading probably helped me in the long run.
Another one I really want to try! Thanks for the reminder!
I started my Persona journey with P5, please try it. Don't let the length turn you off. Even if you don't finish it, it's one of the rest RPG's ever made. You owe it to yourself to experience a game that special
if you play or would play a monster catching game, play the yokai watch series for 3DS (and switch but not in the west sadly). theyre peak, in my opinion better than pokemon. they have a unique battle system, tons and tons of side content, fun stories with some very interesting lore and of course very well designed creatures for you to collect-and a whole ton of them at that. I cannot recommend this series enough and it is so underrated in the west.
Oh, for the love of god, play the Persona games, and you can start anywhere. I've played Revelations, P3P, P3R, P4, P4G, P5 and P5R. My dude, they are fantastic. Seriously! Abd I had never played a single Persona game until P5 in 2021. Annnd, I play 4 and 5 every year. I cannot encourage you enough to get on this train 🤘
The others on your list are all on my backlog, probably because of my Persona addiction 😂
If something isn't catching your interest in the first 10 hours, you are without a doubt a card carying RPG guy, because as we know, non RPG guys don't even play anything that looks to be over 8hrs 😂
Hahaha so true!!! I can't imagine playing a game in less than ten hours. Honestly it's like a one or two sitting kinda game. I haven't played one of those in ages!!! But yeah, definitely need to jump on the Persona train!
I'd say you definitely gotta play Persona 5 Royal. It instantly became my favorite JRPG of all time. Definitely play it on Steam Deck or Switch for the portability option. And speaking of Steam Deck, there's a Persona franchise sale going on on Steam at the time of writing this. Persona 3 Reload and Persona 4 Golden are fantastic games as well. Eventually, I'll play P3P to play as the female MC.
I just played persona 5 this year. Pretty solid but very long. Since then I've played persona 5 tactical and strikers. All three games are great but you need to play Persona 5 Royal first for sure. I did spend 120 hours with a day by day guide.
Edit: I'm starting with Trails Through Daybreak and it's so much fun and I'm less than 10 hours in. It's great.
I'm a PlayStation guy & for me, it's the Trails series & the reason is because Falcom thinks all Asians speak Chinese / Japanese. I live in Indonesia & there's no legal way to play the Trails series in PlayStation except to play the Chinese / Japanese versions. I really hope they release the English version of the Trails series for REG3, one day, cause I really want to dive into this series
Always wanted to play Lost Odyssey, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna get an Xbox for it.
I feel you. Looking at maybe getting a series X so I can do remote play with it. But hard to justify for just one or two games.
I'm a bit late on this video but I played the original Nier on xbox360 just once and love it. I don't think you NEED to play it multiple times. It could be better if you do, but why not just playing it once and looking for the other endings later?
Nier imo is made to be enjoyable as a standalone. Also has an ost superior to any ff game, I don't say that lightly. They literally created a fake language for the lyrics to go with the theme of the game. Great storyline and of the list you provided def at the top recommendation. Only criticism is I found the gameplay to be a tad boring with the hack and slash format
Interesting!!! Sounds like a must play then!
I appreciate what you said about not having time to find out if a game is worth it or not. I agree 10 hours in should be plenty of time to have a full concept on how the battle system is going to scale what kind of mechanics the game includes how the story goes besides any major plot twists or character developments.... But 10 hours is plenty. If the game is not good within 10 hours why? Why continue playing why wait for it to get good when it had all of this time to capture me. I think about games like Tales of Vesperia where I gave the game 25 to 30 hours for it to do something and combat has not evolved in a way that is satisfying the story is not progressed in a way that dissatisfying and eventually I had to say regardless of what people say how good the game is It's not good for me so I'm putting it down and I'm done with it. Then there are games that truly you have to break it in and as content opens up it just gets better and better and better. But if you don't have enough of a concept about how the game is going to go 10 hours in you're just wasting your time
Often times if the combat is good enough or the music is enjoyable enough I can get by, but if I don't get stuck in the story within those first ten hours I simply cannot continue!
Persona 4 and 5 are good ones to start with, though 5 might be a bit overwhelming at first. Persona 3 Reload is a pretty bad remake of Persona 3 so I wouldn't recommend that. It's a good series. Shin Megami Tensei is another franchise from the same developer, which is kind of like Persona but more difficult.
Interesting! I tried SMTV but did not like it so I traded it in 🤣 Seems like P5 is the way to go.
For Nier i would say play Nier Replicant first then Automata. That the order of the story voth great game most people seem to prefer Automata but i liked Replicant more it has always stuck with me the story and characters are really good.
DQ8 play it if you can dind the time it is my personal favourite DQ game but that might be because it was my first.
Lost oddessy is great definitely playbif you can if you get a 360 for it try Blue Dragon as well its form same developer i think? and was also a fun turn based RPG.
Yeah I'd be happy to play the Nier games in order for bigger impact.
I will get to DQ8 as well. I think I will play the PS2 version with a texture pack or something, I'm sure that exists!
And I will definitely play Lost Odyssey! Hoping to do that very soon!
@@ErekLadd I played alot of DQ8 on PS2 back in the day. The 3ds version had extra content and playable characters but PS2 version is still great.
Persona: I replayed P5R, even with a guide its 100+ hours long legit. The game is extremely well written, but it takes a lot of time to do the social sim stuff, which benefits your combat stats. Like, I would compare it to FF7 Rebirth in a sense. Rebirth is long, but its so packed full of things to do that it never really feels long. Just about everyone would agree its worth it.
Dragon Quest: Personal opinion, 7 and 8 on release I couldn't complete. They were super long, grindy, and not engaging enough. Same with 9. I've played the re-releases of 7 and 8 and beat them, 7 is still way too long, 8 has honestly the best characters in the series, better than 11s. The older games are fun though for an old-school experience.
FF14: It is a lifestyle game. I generally set aside like an hour or so every day, maybe more when patches/expansions come out, to slowly chip away at all the things there are to do in the game. Definitely worth it to me because I love having a checklist of things to take care of and the game scratches that itch while never being boring because I can always swap my goals.
Nier: I never got into it cause I didn't like the combat, but with the multiple endings, most of them are going to be joke endings where you die in dumb ways or make bad decisions. The replaying of the game isn't that big a deal because the games are generally only 10-20 hours long to get to the first ending, then you can replay and change things to get to other endings. Unlike say Persona or FF14, it really adds up to be a standard JRPG length.
Trails: All the games are connected, but generally they have like 4 game arc which you could just jump in at any time. You'd miss references to previous games, but if you start at an arc point, you can understand what's going in with your current characters and don't need to play the entire series.
I’m pretty much in the same situation, except for FFXIV. 😂 What a coincidence. 🤣 I love recommending FFXIV but I quite understand how time consuming an online game is. I’ve been playing it for over 10000 hours over 10+ years. 😅 Basically I play single player games and whenever I have time, I’ll play the online game as well. Maybe one day you’ll try it and if the story hooks you, it will be worth the ‘investment’ but if not hey, plenty of other games to enjoy. 😁
Near is awesomne. DOn't buy pos3 version, but the PS5 remake version called Nier replicant. BUt, u don't need to pkay first nier to do automata. Automata is also much more advanced and less janky, with wayu less fetch quests. Last I checked PS5 automata was beter than PC version, if u have a PS5 that is. Trulky amazing game. I did the whole thing fully beating it 3 timesbut don't fear, eadh time is kinda quick, kinda short for an RPG, and each of 3 times is quite different too. 15 to 20 hours per lpplaythrough 1 and 2 then playthrough # 3 maybe 10 hours. I recommend Automata first, and if u beat it all 3 times and love it, then check out Nier Replicant, remake of part 1. Automata, made by PLatinum games, plays SO SMOOTH and very much like Bayonetta combat flow and feel.
Trails is 100% worth it, biggest payoff is sky, azure, steel. Easiest new point of entry is daybreak.imo I’d start at sky fc on steam.
So the trails games are conected by lore and events that Tool place in the older games. So if you pick the cold steel Part you should start with Part one of cold steel. But dont do that. I would recomend daybreak since if you have to learn the Code mechanics if the gsme start with the best tuned one. The battle System is the best of the series for multiple reasons. And since you know nothing it is also the best because it might name drop some Prior events and Charakters but Overall keept the story to the events in the actual game . So daybreak it is.
Play persona rn it’s so good
Stop everything you’re doing & play Persona 5 Royal now!
It is a top 5 game of all time for me, even above many of my beloved Final Fantasy favorites which I didn’t think was possible
Have heard so many people say this!!
Persona is overrated IMO. The music is the best part. The turn based combar is good if you disable the auto turn stuff. Some of the characters are interesting, some are cringe and straight up obnoxious. The dungeons are straight up poorly designed. It's randomized rogue-like floors that are all otherwise identical where the only interesting part is the art style, which you get all of on the 1st floor. I went in expecting to dislike the social sim stuff and love the rest of the game, and came out nearly the opposite. I don't hate the series, but what I have played I don't think it measures up to the hype.