Hey everyone, now that Square Enix has re-released some of the older Final Fantasy games yet again, it seemed like a good time for a giveaway! To enter this one, all you need to do is post some of your favorite JRPGs NOT in the Final Fantasy franchise. Feel free to expand upon your choice(s) with why you like them so much since others (myself included) may be looking for recommendations

Once the giveaway ends, I'll randomly select a winner from those that post here in this thread. You will then have your choice of one Steam key for any of the three pixel remaster games that have been released so far. You have until 11:59 PM EST on 8/7/21 to enter!

Ooh very nice, I was just thinking about what my favourite JRPGs would be. I'll go with 3 recommendations from my favourite JRPG series.

Persona 5 Royal

There is just so much style jam packed into this one, they even made transition/loading screens look interesting which is quite a feat. The music is great, only overshadowed by one other game I can think of! The turn-based combat is the best in any JRPG I've played. It's probably a popular choice, but for good reason.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country

The DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is almost perfect. The combat is much more interesting, allowing you to switch between characters to boost stats. The music is as gorgeous as always, visuals as good as the original, and what made it better than the base game for me was that it is a very focussed experience: there was nothing that felt like it was "bloating" the playtime.

Atelier Totori DX: The Adventurer of Arland

I like this game because I like cute things. If you like cute things, you might like this? It's basically a Slice-of-Life JRPG. It's got a really relaxed vibe to the whole game, despite being the most difficult in the series (I think). Totori is such a dork it's hard not to love her.

My top 3 definitely have to be Chrono Trigger, Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Trigger. If you need explanation why then... well, I don't know what to tell you except go play it.

Some honorable mentions however:
- Xenogears: Big mechs, combo attack sequences, a phenomenal soundtrack, and just yeah, it's neck and neck with Chrono Trigger for me, but the former just ekes out the top spot. (Mostly because of Chu-Chu, ugh)
- Earthbound: A style all of it's own, funky soundtrack/enemy design, abysmal advertising campaign, and a whole lot of fun. SMAAAASH!!
- Fester's Quest: This game transcends your genre restriction.

So for non-FF JRPG's I can list a few of my favorites.

Golden Sun - A JRPG in the style of Final Fantasy with a deep customization system in the form of Djinni. This can be ignored if you choose, even without that the overall execution of the story, puzzles and combat is very solid.

Xenosaga - A, interesting mech JRPG with an interesting story and themes. Tends to get overlooked for xenogears or xenoblade.

Cthulu Saves the World - while not Japanese, it takes many of the tropes of Japanese role playing games and rips on them. A fun JRPG parody.

I have to put in a plug for Super Mario RPG on the SNES. The Mario universe characters mesh together great along with a memorable soundtrack and colorful graphics. I really liked how you could see enemies on the field and choose to engage them rather than battles being random, similar to how Chrono Trigger and Earthbound handled things. Another great aspect was how they integrated Mario's jumping and Mario environment features like blocks, pipes, etc to create unique puzzles and pseudo-platforming that were overall pretty fun supplements to the core RPG elements.

Speaking of Earthbound, I also second dhobo's Earthbound recommendation. My greatest memory of that game was actually the stellar, massive, strategy guide that actually came with the game when bought retail. The game box was huge and certainly stood out on the shelf versus the competition.

Ahh, non FF JRPGs. It doesn't seem like it would be hard list to make, but it often is!

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition.
-> Such a fun title with great characters, amazing locations, and a snappy combat system. Some flaws here and there, but the good shines through. For me, it's the best in the series. Shulk is one of those classic characters that you never get sick of seeing.

Chrono Trigger
-> A timeless classic that honestly everyone should play once, regardless of whether you like JRPGs or not. Chrono Trigger is a timeless gem and really still resonates with me.

Dark Souls
-> Not sure if everyone considers these games JRPGs, or prefer to think of them as only souls games, but to me they fit the JRPG genre quite well. Challenging but rewarding, some of my favorite gameplay victories have come from DS1 and the series as a whole. Once you understand how the game operates and how everything it throws at you can be planned for, it becomes quite a bit easier. The challenge is still there, but it's possible to overcome.

Bumping this up since there's about one day left, if anyone else wants to enter!

I've rolled the mighty D20 and @Avium is the winner! Lots of great games mentioned here too

Let me know which one you want and I'll send it over to ya. (I sent you a friend request on Steam too so I can send it to you that way.)

Congrats to you, Avium!

Yay :D Glad to see the Xeno series get so much love too

I might go for 3 please :)

Congrats for the win! Enjoy 3!