Pretty good showcase for Xbox jrpg fans. Metaphor looks great and Vision of Mana is coming to Xbox as well. Btw Windows store is also listed. 
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Btw P3P aged so poorly. Game is probably leaving GP in a month and I would recommend to wait for Reload.
Now that Xbox is getting in on the Mana love, which games are must plays from the series and what would be the best way to go about playing them today? I have a PS3, Vita, Switch and ROG Ally as my other platforms. Technically PS2, DS and 3DS as well, but Iâm guessing anything for those can be played just as well elsewhere.
A Switch can get you pretty much everything. Collection of Mana is exclusive to it and is the Game Boy game (Final Fantasy Adventure, actually the first Mana game), Secret of Mana SNES, and Trials of Mana SNES (first time that version is in English)
Secret of Mana remake is supposedly crap but itâs on Vita and PC out of those
Trials of Mana Remake is on Switch and PC out of those, probably best on the ROG Ally.
Legend of Mana is Switch/PC, probably doesnât matter which, itâs a PS1 game port.
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Here is my take on the newest Mana game being on Xbox.
I think we are going to get many games from the Mana franchise arriving to Xbox. Why to i think this would be relevant is because compared to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the Mana franchise is not as famous so if i was Square Enix under new leadership i would try and expand the franchise by expanding their reach into different consoles, which they have already done so. So yeah, i think its imperative of Square Enix to try and release the Mana games to other consoles, in order to expand and develop more appeal towards an international audience.
Now outside of Mana series, i personally would bet on Live a Life and Triangle Strategy also making debuts on Xbox after Octopath Traveller 2 debuts on the console. Afterwards i would then think it would be smart to unleash as many Star Ocean titles, even though we had a few its still not much compared to the rest of the consoles, to garner more audience members.
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I finished Star Ocean 2 R!
Took around 45 hours and that was with doing all the side content available throughout the story and the post-game content (check out the EXP gains I was getting there)
So overall I would say I enjoyed this game a bit more than SO Divine Force. Story was still eh but at least I did feel Rena was a good character (my chosen protagonist) and there was an interesting backstory hidden away for you to discover on your own in the endgame section. On SO6 I was struggling fierce to pay attention on cutscenes. One problem is that none of the party characters besides Rena and Claude are interesting, and thatâs probably to blame on every character but them 2 being optional.
I already posted before about how nice this game looks but Iâll just repeat it again that I really enjoyed the visuals. Never played the original but yeah Gemdrops did very well glowing this game up.
For the character-building RPG stuff, I liked it a lot more than SO6. Felt more streamlined and easier to understand here. I still didnât really bother with the crafting and all that till the post-game, but Iâll tell you now that it absolutely breaks the game in half. So I just had fun playing through the game like normal and then beating the shit out of it for the post-game.
So yeah, great 8.5/10 game, hope itâs on the shortlist of Square games to come to Xbox so more people can play it.
BTW as you can tell from my screenshots I played through it in JP because why not. Surprisingly easy, picked up maybe like 30 new words total from it lol. I talked to every NPC too. I was able to understand all those hidden logs and stuff at the end of the game no problem as well. Really happy with my progress on this throughout this year, callback to this post where it took me 5 hours to get to Heliodor on DQXI (which I dropped out of boredom not long after this post, already 100%ed on Switch before it was on Xbox, may go back at some point on Xbox for the achievements now that the game is 100% baby-tier for me) and now Iâm playing through JRPGs practically at the same pace as I do with English text
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Jrpgs on xbox in 2023 = lol.
Jrpgs on xbox in 2024âŚ
Persona 3 reload Like a dragon infinite wealth Suikoden remaster Octopath traveler 2 Metaphor Refantazio Visions of Mana FF14 mmo Eiyuden Chronicles HH
Im missing some probably but wow. My series s and x are going to grt some work in
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(Platforms unannounced, which is unusual for Falcom, they always have that info stated immediately. Maybe theyâre hiding Switch 2. But they did say in the shareholder meeting that âtheyâre targeting at least 3 platforms going forwardâ. This could mean PS4 will be dropped to add Switch 2 and have PS5/Switch/Switch 2⌠Or maybe theyâre trying to get it out on PC day one for PS5/Switch 2/PC (I would be impressed if they did that). Would be nice if Mena Sato is getting busy here but Iâm putting that under a single digit percent chance lol)
Now, with that fluff out of the wayâŚ
INSTANTLY MY MOST HYPED GAME OF 2024!!! 
THAT TITLE IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL 
AHHH THEREâS SO MUCH TO TAKE IN FROM THOSE SCREENSHOTS! IâM ABOUT TO START VOMITING SPOILERS BUT ALL I CAN SAY IS THEREâS A LOT TO TAKE IN!
As mentioned in Kuro 2âs DLC ending, WEâRE GOING TO OUTER SPACE! Someone who is obviously Rufus is shown and is talking about how he is âoff the gridâ and basically âdoesnât existâ. The ruins of Creil Village from Kuro 1 is shown with someone who MIGHT BE KEVIN standing in the distance
I NEED IT NOW 
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This originally wasnât in my cards but I started P3 Portable. Reason being, I got a physical copy of P5R for Xbox because it was half off, and I was really looking forward to having it as the next game I play in JP. I felt ready for it after Star Ocean being too easy⌠Figured it was time to mix things up with a game set in modern Japan instead of a fantasy game. Then I find out that the copy doesnât support JP text, and even if you download the JP version from the Xbox store via the Xbox app, the disc still doesnât give you the license for that version. So now I would have to wait for it to go on sale (annoyingly, itâs not right now, but P3P and P4G are), or wait for it to go back into GP if I want to play it how I wanted to.
So with P3P still being in GP, I went with the âpovertyâ version of what I wanted to do lol. So far I am just through April. It definitely feels like itâs âabridgedâ or something, didnât play P3 in any way before though. I may move my playthrough of P3 Remake down to Summer 2024 or so.
Now, for another topic. I remembered this poll with games to look forward to in 2023. Which games from this list did you end up buying? Were there any that originally werenât on your radar but did get? Unfortunately the top 2 winners of this poll (Eiyuden Chronicle and Suikoden Remasters) were delayed into 2024! 
For me in that list I played: Octopath Traveler II, P4G, Atelier Ryza 3, Fire Emblem Engage, The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails (but it was the 2022 JP release) and am playing P3P right now. The other Trails games there I played before 2023 (the fan TLs).
I purchased Labyrinth of Galleria but didnât play it⌠Well, thatâs a pretty good turnout for the olâ âbuy and not playâ habit at least, just one game.
Loop8 actually came OFF my list because of horrible reviews. I also spy Granblue Fantasy Relink, another delay 
I put Neptunia Sisters vs Sisters on that poll as a joke (and I wanted to round the choices out to 20 lol) but now it is coming to Xbox⌠Iâll make a 2024 poll soon, not sure if Iâll include late Xbox ports, but if I do letâs see if its 0 vote score changes. 
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Time to get another poll going.
What JRPGs are you most looking forward to in 2024? Like last year you can choose up to 5.
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
- Suikoden I and II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars
- Granblue Fantasy Relink (For certain this time�)
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Persona 3 Reload
- Metaphor Refantazio
- Visions of Mana
- Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island
- Unicorn Overlord
- SaGa Emerald Beyond
- DecaPolice
- Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake
- The Legend of Legacy HD Remaster
- Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World
- Octopath Traveler II (Xbox)
- Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters (Xbox)
- Dragon Quest III HD (maybe)
0
voters
For the sake of hitting 20 again, I threw in Octopath and Neptunia ports after all. I also tossed in DQIII-HD, -juuust- in case it actually does hit next year.
In comparison to last yearâs poll, thereâs less ports/remasters and more higher profile releases. I also think this is heavily slated towards the first half of the year so there might be even better titles yet to be revealed.
Now, letâs watch Eiyuden Chronicle and Suikoden win again!
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Voted for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Granblue Fantasy Relink and Visions of Mana.
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I chose the maximum of 5, those being:
Metaphor Refantazio: After the recent gameplay being reminiscent of âTrails through Daybreakâ (note: I played this in 2022, Iâm not buying the English release), itâs my most hyped game of 2024 besides Kai no Kiseki (which I did not include in the poll due to no English release)
Granblue Fantasy Relink: I donât think I selected this on last yearâs poll but now that it actually looks like itâs coming out, plus much more gameplay having been shown, this is my âbigâ JRPG of the huge blowout that February 2024 is. Having started P3 Portable Iâm moving P3 Reload to a later time since itâs on GP.
Unicorn Overlord - All Vanillaware title releases are like âeventsâ to me. I consider them as producing some of the most unique games ever. Now theyâre producing an SRPG and itâs Xbox day 1? Yep, Iâm there.
Paper Mario TTYD Remake - Youâll normally not catch me selecting remakes and ports in these kinds of lists but this game is basically my defining childhood game and pretty much what set the foundations of my gaming tastes lol. Been quite some time since I did a playthrough and Iâm excited to give it a go once again.
Dungeon Travelers: To Heart 2 in Another World - So this is a pretty obscure one. Iâm a really big fan of Aquaplusâs other RPG games (they are mostly a VN dev however) and I also love dungeon crawlers. This is an older PSP game getting released in English and PC for the first time. This option would probably be substituted with Kai no Kiseki if I had it as an option.
Notably, all of my chosen titles have either exact release dates or at least release windows (like Metaphor being Fall 2024). I donât get too excited yet for games like Visions of Mana that just plainly state â2024â.
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I am liking that almost every game in the poll has been voted for this time, even an obscure title like Shiren the Wanderer. Looking at last yearâs poll, over half of the list went unselected. Most of which were old game ports, so like I said earlier, 2024 is looking stronger with more new and high profile releases.
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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is my top choice. The first one was one the most refreshing turn-based RPGâs Iâve played for a long time. Only issues I had with it, was not being able to position yourself during combat (thankfully addressed now) and the boring sewer dungeon, which, for a series dripping with creativity, was a big downer.
Persona 3 REloaded, Visions of Mana, Paper Mario, and FF VII: Rebirth were my other choices.
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Iâll be honest I choose the 5 I know Iâm going to be played due to being on Xbox, sorry ff7 rebirth 
Iâm through my last RPG finish of the year, with the honor going to Atelier Sophie 2! About 55 hours played and all optional areas and scenes visited and seen.
Itâs definitely my favorite Atelier game out of all Iâve played so far. The soundtrack has a trove of phenomenal tracks and the gameplay is the best in the series yet. I love the twin attacks and the game being reliant on all 6 party members. In Sophie 1, the majority of my party was benched, donât even think I bothered with Fritz on there even once. Pulling off all kinds of cool moves feels really good, much better than how button mashy Ryza can get (which I also had benched characters in). In this game, itâs purely turn based, while the Ryza series is more like Final Fantasy âATBâ style. Youâre constantly swapping in characters with the twin attacks and defensive moves and it all flows together and just feels so fun to play.
For the alchemy side of things, as usual I found myself getting absorbed into it for hours, the âtetris puzzleâ system and connecting all the light orbs is so addicting and satisfying. As I always say the thing I like most about Atelier games is crafting obscenely powerful gear, which I felt this game allows for without letting you get too out of hand (unless you look up guides I assume lol).
Graphically I thought the game was really good. I mostly played in Handheld, which these screenshots are from. Blown up on a screen here looks a bit warty, but the game looks incredible on the Switch screen. I liked the visuals here more than in Ryza 3, especially the character models which are just gorgeous.
For story, well, itâs Atelier so thereâs usually not much major to comment on. Atelier stories are generally âsmall-time/homelyâ kinds of stories. I always like these games for focusing on a protagonist challenging themselves to honing their profession as itâs quite relatable. Sophie herself, Young Plachta, and Ramizel are prob my favorite 3 from the game. The ending got to me a bit, Sophieâs voice actress did amazingly there.
There are 2 bosses that are reused 3 times each. That slightly bothered me, by round 3 it gets too âfamiliarâ.
Cons: Didnât really like the weather system on the maps that much, just felt like distractions to make getting through them take longer. I also felt some maps were a bit unnecessarily big, and I was wearing the maximum speed up shoes too.
The game crashed on me once early on, thankfully thereâs autosave so I lost like a minute of progress lol. This reminded me that Sophie 1 is actually quite prone to crashing on Switch and does NOT have autosave. God, that was annoying. Thankfully here, it was just a single crash, maybe itâs just my Switchâs old age.
So overall I liked the game more than Ryza 3 which I played earlier this year and already gave an 8/10. As my now favorite Atelier game I think I will bestow it with a 9/10 
I still have Atelier Firis and Lydie&Suelle to get to for the Mysterious series. I played Sophie 1 in 2022 and only played 2 now so⌠Someday, lol.
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Iâm gonna do a âsequelâ to this post soon, where I give my thoughts on all the RPGs I played this year. This was a really great year for both new releases and me personally as I started investing into playing JRPGs with Japanese text which has been its own bundle of fun and let me expand into amazing titles I played this year like Sakura Wars 2 and Ys X
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Am torn between Star Ocean Divine Force or Diofield Chronicles. What would you recommend?
Havenât touched star ocean yet, but diofield is interesting my problem with it is about 3/4 through you kind have seen that game outside the story bits like nothing new happens nor does it get any harder
Completed Tales of Arise base game in about 50 hours. A great 8.0/10 for me with the story/characters being the highlight of the game. Combat was good but didnât grab me and I didnât like the skill trees at all. Good music, sound and voice acting. Visually, game looks great for the most part but I donât know what it is with Japanese games as they always have horrible NPC pop-in. Same with FF XVI, Yakuza games and others. Literally, 10 feet away and NPCâs just pop in to place. But other than that and not being able to customize the HUD (hated not being able to turn off damage numbers), no other major issues for me.
Playing eternights as my first game in 2024 and yea itâs very interesting thatâs for sure.
Ps. Iâm not sure whatâs the definition of a jrpg is, so if this is not a jrpg let me know so i can delete my post.
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I played this on PS earlier in the year. Bit different.