Yeah, I got it on sale on eShop though so it was quite a bit cheaper. I do go for physical more but if digital’s discount is deep enough I go for that instead.
Also, I updated the OP with another JRPG that is coming to Xbox. LOOP8 from Marvelous, it probably escaped my mind because it currently isn’t announced for the West (which makes it feel crazy it’s coming to Xbox but that’s definitely something I love to see)
Nice thread OP! JRPGs are a major part to getting more people into the Xbox platform. Companies can’t complain they don’t sell on Xbox if they don’t make an effort to build an audience there.
I’m a huge fan of japanese games in general and would love to see some of the more niche games appear. Hopefully japanese devs start using Game Pass to help bring their games to a wider audience.
Playing through Tales of Arise atm and have Soul Hackers 2 pre-ordered. So jazzed about the Persona games hitting game pass too.
I should probably get around to finishing Blue Dragon since I’m at the end boss.
Demo for Diofield Chronicle out tomorrow. Seems to already be out on Switch and PS, might be available on Xbox if you change your region to Japan to download it, not sure.
Progress carries over to the full game
JRPG used to be my favorite genre by far. Back in the SNES/PS1/PS2 days. Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Wild Arms, Persona, those were my favorite games/series. Then a couple of things happened:
So JRPG as a genre just doesn’t mean the same thing to me that it did since the end of the PS2 era, when it felt like they were at the forefront of the whole industry. I still love a good one when they come along though.
I agree with this. JRPGs or in general japanese games were in a bad position in gen 7. It feels like they were trying to catch up to the western developers. FF13 got a change to made the combat system more dynamic and faster to attract the western audience. Resident Evil 6 was inspired by Call of Duty. 
I’m a big RPG fan and before this generation (gen 7) BioWare, Bethesda and Piranha Bytes made the best RPGs. KotOR, Jade Empire, Morrowind and the Gothic series are amazing. Such a shame that EA didn’t took care of BioWare and Piranha Bytes refuse to grow.
So, maybe ironically… Final Fantasy XIII is one of my favorite games of all time. 
I adore it. But in retrospect it was like the last hurrah of the JRPG as a mainstream blockbuster release. Since then you can basically count on one hand the JRPG releases that were major events (FF15, FF7R, Persona 5, Dragon Quest XI… Kingdom Hearts III maybe?).
Anyway my intent is not to rain on the JRPG parade here. Just something I think about in my personal journey with the genre. Did the games change and become more niche? Was it just my tastes that changed and I stopped paying attention? Some of both?
I think it’s that gaming got a lot bigger but JRPGs didn’t really get bigger (which could = getting more niche). They sold on average ~1 million back then and they still sell on average ~1 million now, and the budgets didn’t get much higher.
I’m perfectly fine with this as I’m not really a fan of AAA in general, I like Square’s HD2D games more every one of those “major events” you listed (which are… all Square except Persona 5 lol). Square is also basically the only ones who upgraded to AAA JRPGs.
And as @CryOn said there was a dark age in the 7th gen - early 8th gen times. I do feel that ever since 2017 or so the genre has recovered and there are numerous great modern JRPGs to play.
More information about Star Ocean characters. I will probably buy it on sale because the previous Star Ocean had a boring story and was a button smash game.
God damn Kuro no Kiseki 2 is looking great. That’s an absolutely spoilerific trailer though, but it looks like they may be introducing a “timelines” system like Radiant Historia?!
Damn shame this won’t be available in English for at least 2-3 years…
This game is a gem. One of the must haves on the Nintendo DS.
Idea Factory sale on Switch. Really cheap (but usually junk-foody) JRPGs. I do recommend Mary Skelter 2 (which includes the first built in) but it’s definately a hardcore DRPG, so maybe only if you’re familiar with the genre. There’s difficulty options though. Also, I really enjoyed the love story between the two heroines, and it made me teary-eyed, twice. The soundtrack is really great and unique too.
On another note I’ve started Xenoblade 3 and put about 10 hours into it. I’ve seen people complain about long cutscenes, but I like watching ‘em lol, very well animated and the character models are probably at the series’ best by now. I’m a stupid completionist so it’ll be quite a while till I’m through with this game haha.
Is Mary Skelter Finale (also in that sale) the first one included in the sequel?
For $10 I’ll bite! I haven’t played a good dungeon crawler in probaly 15 years! I still like story, background and atmosphere even in dungeon crawlers. Haven’t really been “sold” on those elements from trailers of other DRPGs.
Any rumors of this coming to Xbox (or already there)? This would be a great remote play option, I think!
Mary Skelter Finale is Mary Skelter 3, it has to be bought separate.
The play order is actually 2 > 1 > Finale. The version of MS1 included with MS2 had some “rewrites” to make this play order make sense. You actually can’t even play the included MS1 till you finish MS2.
It took me a combined total of 145 hours to finish both MS2 and 1 (haven’t played Finale yet), but as I said I’m a completionist so I did (most) side quests, all character events (not that important), 100% explored every dungeon, read the novels… A more casual playthrough could probably chop off a good 40-50 hours. I also got it on sale for really cheap one time and it was damn good money spent 
I don’t think it’ll come to Xbox. It’s really niche.
Anyway, I’ll highlight a few pieces from the soundtrack. I think it’s really unique
(I could jam to this one all day 
)
(One of many tracks that nail how oppressive the atmosphere is in this world)
(Normally games don’t scare me… But this freaked me the fuck out. They made a track that’s purposefully anxiety inducing and harsh as fuck on the ears. It plays when Nightmares are chasing you… It works.)
I just peeked at an early gameplay clip. Creepy environment, creepy twist on “happy” cartoon music, and blood splatter to charge a massacre mode! 
I’m convinced. I’ll grab this and finale later today!
Disgaea 7 was announced and it’s looking like a noticeable improvement over the misstep that was D6.
Only announced for Japan for now.
My favorite thing about Xenoblade 3 so far: They finally figured out how to make the game look acceptable in Handheld mode
XC2 was a blurry mess in Handheld and I remember XC DE not being much better.
Now I can relax in bed and do side quests without killing my eyes 
ITs the opposite for me now though. I can only play in Handheld. Game looks awful in Docked on my new 70" 4K. tbh so did Xenoblade 2. I sold my old 1080 monitor which I regret because switch games looked great on it even SMTV.
Bah. Have to change settings around. Really really wish Nintendo had done a Pro model.
Of course its never coming to Xbox lol
I would hope if Xbox is really talking to NISA about bringing some games to Xbox (rumored) then it would mean Disgaea 7 coming to Xbox whenever NISA eventually announces it for the West, but I’m not gonna even remotely bet on that happening.
Nah probably some old Ys games. Ill take Ys IX tbh