Since I’m taking a break from Ask Junko! (for my own good, it’s not permanently going away, but this plot arc is making me depressed) I decided to share with you my thoughts on five must-play DS J-RPGs you might enjoy. Keep in mind these are only ones I have personally played, so I guess you’ll be a little confused if some of them seem older than you might expect. Keep in mind in Australia games come out less often and are more expensive.
5: Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
This game is an awesome reconstruction of the Harvest Moon series, in that it adds gameplay elements from J-RPGs and levelling up experience rather than just straight out farming. It’s a lot better than the first DS outing of Harvest Moon, titled Harvest Moon DS, which was basically a rehash of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for Game Boy Advance. You feel like you’re contributing a lot more than just produce to your little town, and there’s actually something different you can do to farming, you can go into caves and hunt monsters, or even capture them and make them work on your farm. It’s Fantasy Farming, but instead of the “Fantasy Football” approach there’s a lot more fantasy and a lot less football. I don’t know if that analogy works though.
People who aren’t already Harvest Moon fans might overlook this title, but it really is worth a try. If you didn’t like Harvest Moon DS but want a new kind of Harvest Moon, buy this game, you won’t regret it. As for Harvest Moon newcomers… ehhhh… who knows, Harvest Moon doesn’t appeal to everybody.
4: Final Fantasy IV
This is one of the first Final Fantasy games I ever played. Final Fantasy III, a much more punishing Final Fantasy title, is not that accessible to newcomers and the story is kind of weak. Final Fantasy IV was one of the first Final Fantasy games to have a truly developed story, and it’s kind of outdated graphically now, but in terms of gameplay and story, Final Fantasy IV is one of the better ones, especially in Final Fantasy DS remake terms.
Haven’t played this one in a while, but I can tell you, back in the day Squaresoft certainly knew how to shock you with its plot twists.
3: Advance Wars: Dual Strike
While more of a Turn-Based Strategy game than a J-RPG, technically Rune Factory isn’t a J-RPG for DS either. But Advance Wars: Dual Strike certainly delivers a strong turn based strategy game with a strong storyline about the coming invasion of an old enemy into allied territory in a parallel world where the Allied Nations battle against agressors.
You have a very customisable multiplayer mode that can be played on a single DS handheld, so if your friend doesn’t have a DS, they can play it by passing around the DS and taking turns. This has always been a strong element of Advance Wars games, you were able to play multiplayer without the other person needing a Game Boy Advance to battle you, and now, the same feature has been brought to the DS version of the game. The campaign mode is tricky and challenging, and once you’ve finished the Campaign you can get lots of value out of the multiplayer modes.
2: Etrian Odyssey
You get what you pay for with this J-RPG from Atlus, a punishing traditional RPG game which makes no apologies from being brutal. Seriously, the premise of this game could easily have been a Scandinavian Death Metal concept album, you dive to the depths of the Labyrinth in the forest in order to defeat the Overlord of the Labyrinth, yet nobody has survived the climb down…
I haven’t gotten past the first level of this game it’s so hard, but I had so much fun with the gameplay it deserves its #2 position. But the #1 position goes to…
1: The World Ends With You
If there’s one thing Square-Enix does better than otaku pandering, it’s making its products fashionable. That’s probably why The World Ends With You revolves around fashion so much, it’s a new style of J-RPG from what you’re used to, gone are the usual high fantasy settings and you have a straight-urban-fantasy setting on the real life streets of Shibuya, Japan’s fashion district. You have seven days to complete The Reaper’s Challenge, and while it sounds like a bad Blue Oyster Cult rip off, there are times in the game where it’s wise to follow BOC’s advice: Don’t Fear The Reaper.
Out of all the Square-Enix games I have played I like this one the best. I haven’t played Chrono Trigger yet so that didn’t get on my list, but maybe one day it will. I hope you enjoyed this list, and I sure liked making it.
Loading ...
figma Nakano Azusa / 2,266 yen / Max Factory
Misaka Mikoto / 4,695 yen / Good Smile Company
Vivio / 6,630 yen / Alter
Awww, I should play TWEwY again, dunno where I stopped. But, yeah, it’s very nice and somewhat unique.
Final Fantasy IV is great too. Finished it a few weeks ago, but FF III is the better DS title in my opinion. The last fight in IV was too easy, a little bit disappointing. But every FF game on the DS, except for FFF: Chocobo’s Dungeon, is worth playing. Oh, how I enjoyed Tactics A2 and Revenant Wings…
I tried Etrian Odyssey a while ago, but I can’t get into this kind of game. Same with Harvest Moon, but maybe I’ll try Rune Factory.
Do you know Magical Starsign? It’s another great game, that is worth a look. Crazy characters and a colorful freaking world. Lunar Knights is not bad either, but I only bought it, because it’s from Hideo Kojima ^^;
And surprisingly: Dragon Ball: Origins is a very good Action RPG.
I’ve played TWEWY, Etrian Odyssey and Rune Factory, and I confirm that these games are very fun to play. I like TWEWY the most: it has a superb story, original gameplay and great soundtrack. (Got bored collecting/leveling pins tho, mingling with aliens is… duh.) Rune Factory ranks close behind, and only because I got that Melody bug… go figure. -_-; Once I get around to beat the last boss, I might try Rune Factory 2.
And Etrian Odyssey, I didn’t find it all that hard – now mind you, I’m not saying I never had a Game Over, but I didn’t die off that easily most of the time because I’m one of those people who waste their time grinding experience to be better prepared for their next battles. (However I’m a little stuck with the extry bosses, they’re a little… overwhelming.)
I’d really have played EO2, however the one EO I played was the European version. Using the password from that game into the US version of EO2... doesn’t work. And I really don’t want to play it without seeing what the password does. So, yeah, I’m patiently waiting for the European version… whenever it may (not) come.
Besides, you guys forgot Disgaea DS. And FFTA2, although… no, that one’s got a shitty story. Rhapsody – A Musical Adventure is nice but a little too simple, story- and gameplay-wise.
Anyway, stick to Square Enix or Atlus if you want to play great DS RPGs that are worth your while (most of the time).
The World Ends With You was super stylish and fun to play.
Thank you, all of you for commenting, it means so much to me.
Everybody has their own favorite J-RPGs and I haven’t played too many of them, so my experience in them is only recent. This list only contains games I have played, so Disgaea DS was left out as I have not played it.
All credibility is lost when you include Final Fantasy.
FFIV was one of my favorite games as a kid. Haven’t picked it up for the DS yet though. Never played any of these games yet, but I might just have to pick one or two of them up someday now ^^
Final Fantasy IV is great. I absolutely love the voice segments. Completely prefer over my FFC version… (quicker loading times and saving times) And for the walkthrough, I sometimes use gamefaqs or I grab my beat-up FFC walkthrough.
Yes, TWEWY is epic. I just recently played through and beat it.
DQ IV is pretty good too. (Must play V and VI… played them a long time ago
on the snes and they were friggin’ epic, about as epic as Bahamut Lagoon)
hi well not to be rude or anything but i was hoping for some J-rpgs not ported ones when they are ported they kinda lose the j part in them. but anyway yeah thats a good list