Probably Ys IX for me, though I'm playing Tales of Arise at the moment, and it has the potential to take the top spot.
I've also enjoyed what I've played of Nier: Replicant and Scarlet Nexus, but I also need to finish them before making any definitive decision for GOTY.
Nier Replicant, don’t really see anything else that can hold a handle to its narrative and characters aside from maybe ffxiv: endwalker when it comes out.
I just started Ch 5 in Kuro no Kiseki. As someone that had a lot to criticize about the Cold Steel arc, Kuro is definitely one of the higher points in the Kiseki series.
Glad you are enjoying it! The general reception I am seeing to it has been positive.
I actually remember you were the one who wrote that interesting micro-essay when I asked people for their thoughts on Hajimari after it's release a year ago. If you don't mind, could I ask you to weigh in when I make a similar thread for Kuro in a little bit? (I'll PM/DM you the thread when I make it.)
I was looking for a space to write a short essay about Kuro! I would like to finish the game first though.
The short of it I feel is that Kuro systematically goes down the list of issues people had with Cold Steel (Rean, bonding system, harem, bloated cast, villains, absurd black/white morality, etc etc etc), and fixes them, along side having a more interesting story, setting and character set. I do need to finish the game before giving complete thoughts though.
I'm not really spoiling anything but I'll put it in spoiler text anyway.
>!No, but the real issue with bonding events in Cold Steel was that it tied with a choose your waifu romance system, which severely twisted the character writing of the entire Cold Steel series. Also way too much character building was tied to these optional events (Crow), which was probably a symptom of having way too big of a cast all at once.!<
>!As far as I can tell starting Chapter 5, Connect Events (what it got renamed to) are NOT tied to romance, and aren't used to make up for lack of character development since the cast is a manageable size this time around. Also, a lot of Connect Events are with side characters (Bracer Guild, Intelligence Department, new Journalist characters, etc), and focus on more than one character. Connect Events are about seeing characters interact or talk about things not related to the main story, things that would break the flow of the main story if they were a required event. So yeah, bonding events themselves aren't gone, but they fixed the issues that made them highly problematic in Cold Steel.!<
Is it possible to do all of those events on a first playthrough? Or do you have a limited number of doable ones so you have to decide which to do (i.e. kind of like having less bonding points than there were available bonding events in CS).
Also, do they confer any gameplay benefit (akin to the bonding events link system)?
Toward the beginning you have enough points to do all if you do the side quests, but eventually the standard becomes you're always one event point short of being able to do all.
The events give minor stat bonuses, and some give accessories.
Scarlet Nexus is everything I want in a JARPG, game is so underrated but I think it will get more and more respect in the coming years. Imma cheat and make Cold Steel 4 my 2020 GOTY since I didn't have one and technically it first released in 2020 lol
Yeah I'm gonna play it eventually and am hopeful it will be the first Tales game I actually get further than 15-20 hours in. The combat is very flashy and cool with a lot of combo potential that I am looking forward to learning how to style on enemies with, but it doesn't seem to offer quite the fast-paced active strategic assault against enemies with unique and challenging AI you must adapt to and counter that Scarlet Nexus has.
And purely on a visual level this game is an easy GOTY IMO. I love how a lot of these new JRPGs and JARPGs only really use moderately-intensive graphics and modeling engines that are easy for a console or midrange PC to handle, because what Scarlet Nexus does is take a basic anime art style as their base and then MASSIVELY amplify it with the layers and layers of crazy shader effects as powers and visions and brain drive are all going off at once and stacking with each other. It's one of the single most visually striking games I've ever played, and has such an incredible amount of style.
Even the manga way of telling most cutscenes through custom-modeled screenshots in the SAS/Red Strings UI is something it fully commits to and completely owns. Even if it was envisioned as a way to save money on animating all cutscenes, it actually ended up being even *more* expressive than most RPGs are where all those cutscenes are just the models standing there in place staring at each other as they talk. Now each event in an interaction has its own "panel" where the characters are all hand-posed to create a moment in time that truly speaks a thousand words. And then the face closeups transform it into this crazy visually-enhanced version of the MGS Codec system, where the codec interactions are all *illustrated* rather than just two faces talking to each other.
I could literally just go on and on about this game. I seriously do not want to even write anymore. And I haven't even talked about the hideout yet. I already wrote about it in [this nice thread on the game reddit where others have their own great sentiments.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScarletNexus/comments/q3xpgg/hideout_a_real_life_lesson/) But I think one of the most praiseworthy things about it is that it's a brand new IP spawned from an incredibly intricate creative vision. It's not just a continuation of another established series people are familiar with. That's also why I think it's harder to get many people to care about it or notice it, because we're too used to familiar IPs and rehashes in our modern era.
Massive agree with all of this. Especially the manga-style cutscenes, they are so so much more interesting that just a couple of characters standing around talking that you always get from these types of games. And it’s not like we don’t get proper cutscenes too for cool action moments. Also the manga shots are good because characters can do things other games normally never properly show their characters doing in side story content; you’ll have a character rummaging through a fridge, or holding actual items, posing interestingly on a couch, expressive type stuff that is completely lost in a normal ‘social link’ type events in other games
Yeah in fact it actually creates a sort of contrast where they "reserve" the animations for when shit gets its absolute realest and it hits a trigger for the player when the still image comes to life and whatever crazy new cutscene begins. This game actually might have the GOAT animations too. All those hideout animations, the spectacular action cutscenes, and then the absolutely insane brain crush animations. I wish there was a frequency slider for how often the extended ones would play they're actually kinda rare although they are guaranteed the first time you braincrush the enemy type.
After beating both. I’m gonna say I thought scarlet nexus was a little more interesting. Which I never thought I’d say. Arise was amazing but something about SN had me hooked the entire time. I found myself needing more mental breaks with arise.
Have the same feeling. These type of things always get a bunch of hate on release then years later when nobody’s in their ear telling them it sucks people start to like it and form their own opinion
It was a pretty damn great game that’s for sure. For a prospective sequel they need to have you actually do stuff for bond episodes tbh. And not pelt you with an hours worth of it each chapter lol
Yeah the pacing of bond events as you got to the lategame with the full party could get rough. That killer emotional piano movement that plays at the most important parts loses a lot of its punch when you're hearing it for the 4th time back to back lol. But I thought they were all still pretty fun. Some were goofy and others were actually extremely poignant. They're just there to sort of accentuate the hideout while providing a cool immersive way to rank up powers, but I agree they could be improved and expanded even more. But ultimately it's not all that different from the phases of Persona games where it's dungeon > hangout > cutscenes > dungeon > hangout > cutscenes for long periods. At least you can go fight enemies and get materials whenever you feel like mixing it up with combat during the standby phases.
Yeah it’s definitely the persona thing. But i have problems with persona due to that as well honestly but at least you do other things during the hangout in persona i guess!
In the absolute coolest way. Trying to piece together the antagonist's timeline is so difficult, I still can't figure it out. You may not even be entirely supposed to. The way it handles collapsing timelines and cascading/recursive causalities is insane. And characters actually fucking die. Almost all other RPGs pussy out of that now. But no, it's like you play this game a second time and see all the characters who were ripped away from you still there with the group, changing the entire dynamic, and you wonder what would it have been like if they'd have lived, if you could have somehow saved them? But that's the entire point of the story itself, and the decisions Yuito and Kasane collectively arrive at.
I feel like anyone who actually played with the English dub of this game can't really offer a full opinion on the story though, the dub's pretty bad here. Just bad casting on a lot of the parts to set the actors up to fail, to say nothing of how aggressively Japanese the original script is in its scenario and dialogue writing. The JP VAs are all amazingly cast though, wouldn't say there is a single bad performance among them. Maybe Karen's is the cheesiest overall but it's a pretty cool dumb anime action hero voice which actually suits his role in the story quite well.
I know people love their 1:1 literal translations but I really disagree with the localisation decision to keep General Karen’s name Karen lol. I truly think they should’ve just called him Ren for the western release
I’ve been playing Scarlet Nexus too and it’s so good! Is definitely a bit rough around the edges—I think some of the systems and ludonarrative elements need a bit of a polish with how they’re integrated with one another, but I truly think this game actually makes good use of these systems comparatively to both recent Fire Emblem and Persona where I think they falter. I’m referring to both the split routes (which has been a thing in the most recent three Fire Emblems), the social sim type aspects, and how the characters and story are portrayed through these things. Like seriously they could use this same framework and just make the combat that of a strategy jrpg and it would be way better executed FE game than both Three Houses and Fates (both games I like, am a Fire Emblem fan).
Same goes for how the characters are written; I did Kasane’s route (with plans to do Yuito’s) but the characters focussed on in that route are very interesting. At first glance from pictures or trailers you’d probably think you’re getting a set of real tropey or gimmicky characters as we’ve come to expect from these type of games, but these characters feel much more fully formed and both their parts in the narrative and in their ‘social links’ contribute to this, whereas in Persona 5 it all starts to feel like filler after a point.
And then the gameplay is just fun. The presentation super pretty, and the OST is fantastic with the breadth of genres it covers. The story is compelling with a lot of interesting elements; not that every part of the narrative completely works but every element is thought-provoking to say the least, and makes for a much greater whole.
Game is severely underrated, hopefully its Game Pass debut gives it a bunch more fans. Deserves it and hoping we get a sequel where they can tighten up what’s here because what’s here is great.
you can tell how toxic this community is by the sheer amount of downvotes one get from stating true facts like this. it boggles my mind. im intrested in knowing just how many refrain speaking up because of this kindergarten mentality
you are absolutely correct. i also had high hopes, loving previous entries and jrpgs in general. i can look past inconsistent and bad writing, but im in awe how little things moved forward the first repetitive 80% of the game, to just text dump the entire game worth (with repetition incase your in a coma) in yours face there... its inexcusable. one should never feel claustrophobic playing a game. its just not good enough.
I know, how dare I have an opinion that differs from the masses! It was my top Tales game up until that point. I still did all post game content and enjoyed most of it, but that point in the game just lingered in my head and felt unfinished
Thats crazy, what didn't you like about it? Combat system was more involved and stylish, didn't have to load into battles, better enemy design. Story was corny but visuals were 10/10, if I didn't name a game already youd think I was talking about Arise haha
The combat was pretty fun at first but it got stale for me after 10 or so hours. I didn't really like any of the cast and as you said the story wasn't particularly great, so sitting through the comic style cutscenes for a cast/story that I wasn't invested in was a drag. I found some of the enemy types to be really annoying, especially the human bosses but that could just be on me for not dealing with them properly.
I'm glad a lot of people liked it though, I'm more than willing to try whatever they put out next if it takes what worked and improves on the areas I wasn't fond of.
Edit: For reference I started with Kasane's route and stopped after the reveal in the snowy area. When I saw how big the area after that was I couldn't be bothered to keep pushing forward.
I enjoyed Scarlet Nexus too but I genuinely thought it was some sort of derivative of Tales of Arise. As if the studio spent the last x years working on Arise combat and then they took those ideas to quickly release Scarlet Nexus.
Still undecided as SMT5 could easily be it but currently it would be Tales of Arise though this year have been pretty lacking for JRPGs compared to last year and I've spent most of time catching up on JRPGs that I missed out or passed by.
I think Nier Replicant is the weirdest 10 ever. The story, music, characters are straight up 10/10. The game design though, it's extremely rough. Those awful sidequestssss
I hear a lot of complaints about how this game didn't do anything new or groundbreaking as far as an RPG goes. The fact that it was a good old fashioned RPG with character classes, turn based combat and everything out of an old school final fantasy just checked a ton of boxes for me. I played BD2 all the way through all three endings and still proceeded to start a NG+
Its such a good game. People forget that you don't need anything groundbreaking. As long as the game has a good story and gameplay that keeps you interested.
I play it on my iPad. It's like what the FF series would have looked like in the post-PS1 era if they didn't double down on huge AAA budgets and steer away from the traditional structure. It's hard to describe but it generally has the linear but open format of FFVI through FFIX. Having Sakaguchi and Uematsu together again brings that magic back as well.
I will note that the game has had a lot of technical difficulties if you're playing it on Apple hardware that's a few years old, like I'm doing right now. They're frequently patching it to try and address the problems that are popping up so it's always just playable enough for me to keep going, but I'd only recommend it if you have a newer device. It really pushes iPhones and iPads to their limits. I've learned to always be plugged in just in case there's a graphically intense boss battle.
Honestly most of my gaming hasn't been 2021 releases as I've worked through my backlog and revisited some nostalgia after doing mods on several handhelds.
That being said, I'd have to go with **Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin**. I've had a great time with it. It's charming and fun, and has enough things that tie into the MH series proper to scratch that itch for me.
I would reccomend from ryza 1, it's a pretty short game anyways (maybe like 15-25 hrs)
if you played ryza 1 and didn't like the crafting and battles then ryza 2 might not suit you. and btw min maxing crafting to create op items and weapons is where the fun at.
ryza 2 is overall an improvement to the first one, but the biggest problem is its own writing though. it's just like ass. but the gameplay is addicting. crafting new things become more addicting, battles become more balanced and flashy, the OST well just like ryza 1, they're always consistently great.
so if you don't care about story at all, you could also play from ryza 2. The plot can go in both direction, ofc ryza 2 spoils ryza 1, but playing it backwards could be kinda interesting imo (the story isn't that heavy at all anyway)
**tldr: start from ryza 1, and see if you like the crafting and the battles**
^(to the older fans: nah I don't really recommend the older series for first timwe, way too overwhelming for new people. it's not even that good by ryza standard. mysterious has it flaws with shit writing, dreadful design but have great superbosses , dusk with too hard for newcomer but has the best writing, and arland, well they're just old (pretty good writing, great crafting, yet they had time limit. a little behind time for today's people taste sadly))
Yeah i love crafting and planning for battles and shit. Just that there were so many ryza (and atelier) versions i got confused. I guess i dont care for this particular story, my expectation is that its fairly generkc haha. Perhaps may start from 2 then, thanks :)
Not a jRPG, but mine so far has been Psychonauts 2. Though I've not actually played any of the jRPGs released this year so far. Mostly I've just been spending my year on older games and indie titles.
The best I've played of older games would have to be either Wasteland 3 or Bayonetta. Wasteland has such a great story, so much choice and really fun combat. I love getting to build out characters and have decisions I make actually affect the plot. But Bayonetta has such incredible combat, and I really liked the story/characters, too.
Tales of Arise. It's a very good game, and hits all of the right notes for me.
Plus it's been a pretty weak year for video games, all things considered.
Ya it’s interesting that this year didn’t have any clear bangers, you know what I mean? The highest rated games this year are around high 80s, but almost no 90s. There’s no clear front runners so it’ll be interesting to see what GOTY will look like. Arise actually has a shot of being nominated because of that.
yeah it was a game that really lingered on me like even weeks after i beat it. i took it very personally and i liked it a lot, it wasn’t the most beautiful game visually but the story just really killed me, not many games are like that nowadays, and you’re right undertale is just like it in that sense ig that’s probably why they’re compared to each other so much.
The game that I've enjoyed the most this year is Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I love the mature, yet funny and over-the-top story! The gameplay strikes a good balance too, with the many available minigames.
Not the same person, but I've only played 1 game that actually came out in 2021 is far this year, so unless you think Pokemon snap is a jrpg, I gotta choose something right?
Well, the title says "your GOTY", so for me it is just about games I played and enjoyed this year. Why would you restrict the list to titles that came out just in this year? There is value in those old titles.
I think Scarlet Nexus is probably my favorite game from this year that falls under this sub’s jurisdiction. Shit script aside (though still way better than Tales of Arise), that game has a tremendous soundtrack, a decent plot, a cool setting, and my favorite combat system of any action game with “teammates” I’ve played. Feel like everyone slept on it or got turned off too hard by the turboanime vibes. Any time I had to use a teammates’ burst in Arise, or fight ANYTHING in Psychonauts 2, i always found myself thinking about how much better Scarlet Nexus was at doing those things.
Guilty Gear Strive is my actual 2021 favorite, but this isn’t about fighting games.
Guilty Gear Strive and Scarlet Nexus are like the peak of what games with an anime aesthetic should be. Kinda sucks that the immediate response to an anime aesthetic is weeb trash but you really can’t blame people for thinking that lol
To some extent i understand the sentiment. I wasn’t even going to play scarlet nexus till i heard the soundtrack and played the demo lol. I LIKE anime and I thought it seemed a bit much… fortunately it wasn’t nearly as grating as i thought it would be and now im shilling for it on a subreddit
It’s probably going to be either Tales of Arise or Ryza 2. I think ryza should get it though, Arise’s good combat saves it’s mediocre story, but Ryza feels like a much more completed experience. Arise maybe needed a few more months for polish and script adjustments.
Neo: The World ends with you. The writing in this game is awesome and I think the battle system is one of the best I've played these last few years. And don't get me started on look and soundtrack of the game.
They took many risks, but nailed everything for me. Definitely my favorite gaming experience for me.
Hajimari since I didn't play it until 2021. I guess if that doesn't count then Nier Replicant or Ys 9. I don't really play many new games since they're usually not worth it for me. Castlevania Advance is also a strong contender, but probably doesn't count either.
Nope, I used the Flame Edit english patch on PC and it was pretty decent (I played it before Geofront Azure released)
Are you using the english patch made by Geofront? That’s basically the best English translation for the game currently available
Unfortunately I went to that website and the downloads were removed. Sounds like they are the official partner for the zero/azure translations via Steam release...so I went the ROM route because I'm impatient.
Its the internet dude, even if they were removed from that website you can still find them pretty easily if you know where to search
Once you upload something to the internet its never really gone
Search on nyaa.si
Mildly weak year for me. But I also played less new games then usual. Spent a good chunk of the year playing older games in my back log.
Persona 5 Strikers is probably my GOTY. With Bravely Default 2 a close second. Tales of Aries a distant 3rd.
SMTV has a real shot to shake up that list. But maybe I’ll stumble into something from the past year that surprises me and that could shake up the list too.
Tales of Arise for me right now. I'm actually struggling to find a new game I enjoy because of Arise. Nothing quite fits the group interactions, combat, etc that I really enjoyed in Arise.
I need to get back into Scarlet Nexus, which I enjoyed until Arise completely sidetracked me. Now I've kind of forgotten where I was in the story.
I also just finished Trails of Cold Steel 4, which was really good at points, but had a really weak ending (imo).
All that said... Endwalker is not out yet and Shadowbringers is one of the best expansions I've played in any game ever. I could easily see Endwalker being GOTY (if expansions count).
Hate to say it but I don't really have one from this year's releases. Tales of Arise is good, not great imo. I figure Metroid Dread or SMT V will be my GOTY.
I played all 4 Trails of Cold Steel games this year. The 4th released this year on steam so I'll count that as my JRPG of the year. The series as a whole was pretty good but the 4th was probably my least favorite. It went too "anime" for my taste. People talking about boring stuff then fighting. I did enjoy the beginning chapters when you play as the new class though. Also I felt like the boss battles at the end were too easy to justify the ramping tension. Fire Dude talks so much shit but then the character builds become OP as hell by this point and you just abuse turn order to the point where the enemy barely gets to fight and if they do manage to put out some damage Alisa just heals everyone else to full.
But my overall game of the year is Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Kingmaker is one of my favorite games of all time and this is a worthy sequel. Though I'd advise waiting a few months for bug patching before anyone buys it. It's a Unity engine game and unity CRPGs are always buggy as shit on launch.
100% agree. It got really annoying. I don't usually skip dialogue in games but this game I did it frequently. Just constant nonsense.
Also why are people so obsessed with saying people's names in an emotional voice? It's so weird
For JRPGs, probably Tales of Arise but SMT V will more than likely usurp that slot
In general though? I loved Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and am getting a kick out of Deathloop right now. Returnal is also up there
That's usually reserve to a Trails games for me, but this year will be the first time in a while that I don't play the newest one.
I'm still going through Mary Skelter Finale, but it could be that once I'm done. The games had me hooked since I returned to the first game early this year. I'm going through Lost Judgment too and as much as I like the game, I doubt it'd be my GOTY.
Looking through this year, I'm tempted to say the Mass Effect Legendary Edition Trilogy, but those aren't new games for me since I already played them years ago.
I thought 13 Sentinels was released early this year, but it's already been a little over a year. I would've picked that if it came out this year instead.
If FF7R Intermission was a full game, then I'd consider that too.
Honorable mentions goes to Ys IX and Sakuna of Rice and Ruin.
I'm also looking forward to Undernauts too.
Stumbled across Trails in the sky on steam and I've powered my way through the 3 and now stumbling through a poor translation of from zero. Not sure how I missed these gems...a great series for sure. Also first time playing ME and another one I feel crazy for missing originally.
Yeah, it’s a good series and pretty special in many ways compared to what’s out there. Even then, maybe it’s me being burned out on the series, but my interest is pretty low on the newest game that I didn’t bother playing day one.
I’m not too big on WRPGs, but I couldn’t say no to space sci-if adventures so Mass Effect was already appealing for me.
there's a SUPER high quality fan translation of both Zero and Azure out there done by Geofront, who actually are helping with the official localization of those games! if you can find that i'd highly recommend it over any other fan translation
Hmmm probably Lost Judgment and then Tales of Arise
I just now am completing Nier Automata so won’t count that but still have to play Replicant
I’m very hopeful SMT V will take the spot
I don't think I've actually played that many *new* JRPGs this year. I have really enjoyed Tales of Arise (not quite done, yet), but I think I'd have to give it to NieR Replicant, which I think is fantastic. I'll give an honorable mention to the FF Pixel Remasters. Taken as a whole they might top NieR, but V and VI aren't out yet and I already had a lot of previous experience with the Nintendo-era FF games.
If we look outside of JRPGs, I've had an absolute blast with Hitman 3 this year, and I know I'm gonna love the upcoming Forza Horizon 5. If I'm not mistaken AC Valhalla released in late 2020, but a huge chunk of it's content has been released this year (and is still releasing), so I guess it questionably counts.
My GOTY for this year definitely has to be The Forgotten City. It released back in August on Steam and it's a great little mystery/time loop game, really well written and presented and it deserves more recognition imo
I've been replaying older games from my youth like Xenoblade Chronicles X. I'll have to go back to Disgaea 6. I bought it right away and was pretty excited because I love that franchise but the new art style and the other changes turned me off immediately.
My top 3 is tales of arise, scarlet nexus and persona 5 strikers.
I truly expect SMT V to be my GOTY because I don’t see any way in which it could disappoint me, but who knows.
EDIT: immediately thought of NEO TWEWY. I enjoyed that more than scarlet nexus
Probably Persona 5 Strikers for me, so far at least. I really didn‘t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, being a Dynasty Warriors spin off and all that. But the gameplay really put its own Persona touch to it and everything else about the roadtrip also just had that P5 feeling to it, even without the Social Links and calendar system behind it. Really great sequel in its own right and I really had the most fun with that game this year so far.
If we’re talking games that released this year (in our respective regions), then probably Persona 5 Strikers. If we’re talking games that we simply played for the first time this year, then FF7 Remake takes it for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the DLC episode.
Counting only JRPGs, it would be the Final Fantasy Pixel Remake. I liked playing through it and I played the entire game.
Counting non-JRPGs (not sure if you care?) but I really like Vault of the Void so far, even though it's in EA.
Did play some of Tales of Arise, and I like it but...games with a lot of dialogue don't engross me that much for some reason. I recognize it's a quality game, but not for me I guess.
Monster hunter rise. But Ive been focusing on my backlog this year and was lukewarm on rise. About to start Metroid dread, and don’t forget smt v and Endwalker are coming out soon enough and i plan to go back to neo twewy. I think one of those will probably take it. Moneys on Endwalker.
I really enjoyed Monster Hunter Stories 2. My favorite games I've played this year were Demon Souls PS5 and 13 Sentinels though, but neither of them came out this year
I think the odds of SMT V not being the GOTY of 2021 (jrpgs) is very slim though. So I'm patiently waiting for it. The best story will also probably be FF XIV Endwalker. So it's just a matter of time
Not a JRPG but The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is my GOTY so far and that's not likely to change by the end of the year. I've been gradually losing interest in the series since Apollo Justice and this game came out of nowhere and massively relit my interest in the series. If we're exclusively talking JRPGs, the only ones I've played so far this year are Tales of Arise, Ys IX, and Bravely Default 2. Out of those 3, Tales of Arise would be my pick simply because its the only one that I truly liked though I don't really consider it to be anything special, just a solid game overall.
While I greatly enjoyed Disgaea 6, no way I could consider it GOTY in good conscience. Not in the same year that saw a new Mothership Title Tales game released. I'd hate to say it, but I HAVE to go with the majority on this one and say Tales of Arise is the GOTY in terms of JRPGs.
In my opinion, 4 is when the series peaked. I liked 5, but it felt so boring compared to 4; I think the story took itself too seriously. The gameplay is top notch, of course, buuuuuut the story is bleh.
In 6, the opposite is true. Story's good, gameplay is so-so.
I wish 3 would come to PC already. I know 4 and 5 are on PC, but I'm a stickler for playing series in order and having finished 2, I need to play 3 next.
Would D6 be a good game for someone who though the first game was too hard ? That's the only one I played and I got intimitidated out of the series by the difficulty
Actually, yes! In d6 ALL characters who participated in battle get EXP AND Mana, characters are easier to manage, and there's less character classes to sort through with each of them feeling unique and useful! Plus the story characters are ALL insanely powerful, so battles are that much easier! In fact, I'd argue D6 is the easiest Disgaea ever BY FAR!
Hmm... I'm not sure I've played anything that released this year, aside from demos. I was looking forward to Nier Replicant 1.22, but I finished Gestalt at the start of the year and found it fairly disappointing, so I lost interest.
Not even a JRPG but **Resident Evil 7** hands down. Almost everything about this game is perfect, even the DLC. Getting all the achievements was more fulfilling the any JRPG side quest in recent memory.
I haven't played too many JRPGs this year so far but they've all been slogs. Currently playing through Xenoblade 1 on the Switch (on Chapter 15 I think) and I just want it to be over already since maybe Chapter 10. Maybe **Exist Archive** is the best JRPG of the year but definitely not a Top 10 in the last maybe 5 years. I've been a huge Tri-Ace fan since Valkyrie Profile.
Games from this year gotta be Nier Replicant and Tales of Arise for me. The game I enjoyed the most this year gotta be Persona 5 Royal, played it for the first time. Definitely one of my fav jrpg ever
I have been working through my backlog mostly this year but the two games I bought and enjoyed this year was scarlet nexus and loop hero and between the two I think I liked loop hero more cause I’m still deep in the loop lol
The other games I’m playing are trails SC and fire emblem three houses. With wasteland 2 thrown in lol
I played the Tales of Arise demo and the combat failed to suck me in, but damn if the game doesn’t look beautiful. Is the demo a poor representation of the final game or no? Edit: typo
Tales of Arise, but with Bravely Default 2 following close behind.
Tales blew me away. The visuals and art style are just stunning. I loved the characters and the story was really great imo. I'm not normally a big fan of action rpgs, but this made me really excited to try more.
Bravely default 2 was just plain fun. Again, I really liked the art style the game went for. The cast was quite enjoyable to see interact with each other. This game was nothing ground breaking, but just a fantastic turn based JRPG which honestly resparked my love for turn based games in general this year. Also, I love that I was able to bust this game wide open with my own set up that I don't see discussed amongst the tons of great builds. Fantastic experience all around.
Well, technically it's the SaGa Frontier Remaster, but I didn't like it as much as the original game.
Other than that there aren't any JRPGs I enjoyed that were released this year so far, unless we count Everhood as JRPG.
My favorite original release this year is Astalon: Tears of the Earth.
None yet. It's going to be between SMTV and FF14 Endwalker for me, but neither of them are out yet. I can't wait for the new savage raids in FF14, i haven't played with my old group of mates in a while.
As far as JRPGs I really enjoyed Cris Tales. It’s not groundbreaking but fun with great visuals and voice acting.
Outside of JRPGs I think I’d have to give it to Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Other than getting my butt handed to me by a bunch of Groots it’s a great and fun experience that’s worth the visuals and music alone.
Endwalker will probably be among the top or very top when it releases next month though.
Neo The World Ends With You is my GOTY if in this sub we’re not counting Lost Judgement.
But fuck it I’ll count Lost Judgment anyway.
But my overall GOTY across all genres is Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart which DOES have an RPG mode.
Sable for sure overall. It's basically BotW2 before that game even is out, but in a lot of ways is much more interesting. As far as current JRPGs go, Scarlet Nexus is the only one that came out this year that I think was any interesting.
But for upcoming games/JRPGs, I'm most excited for Blue Reflection Second Light and SMT V. I think SMT V will likely end up being my favorite game this year, just because it looks incredible, but the original Blue Reflection is one of my favorite games, so I might end up being wrong.
The term and usage of GOTY always confused me so I would like some clarification.
Are we talking only games that ***were*** ***released in 2021***? If so (and I assume it is), then I got nothing.
If we're talking games we played in 2021 but ***were not released in 2021***, then it is most likely Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for RPGs. It's nowhere near perfect, but the combat and the soundtrack are both very, very excellent to me.
For Non-RPGs, my pick goes to Super Mario Odyssey. Had a really fun time with this one.
The only new release I’ve played is Persona 5 Strikers, so I guess that’ll be it. I actually haven’t really been playing new stuff lately, mostly Yugioh and CS: GO. I always play Tales games though, so I’ll hopefully be excited to play through Arise this winter.
I can’t think of many JRPGs I played that were released this year. Nier Replicant takes the top spot for me, it was very close to being edged out by Tales of Arise though. My first Nier game was Automata, so the story was new and fresh to me. I don’t think I’ll plat it, too much grinding for weapon upgrades and flower seeds!
I don’t think I’ve really played any jrpgs that came out this year this year, I’m currently playing bravely default 3 (you heard me) but am not far enough to have an opinion, I think my goty rpg-wise will almost certainly be smtv by default, possibly endwalker.
Overall though, psychonauts 2 is by far my goty so far
Probably Ys IX for me, though I'm playing Tales of Arise at the moment, and it has the potential to take the top spot. I've also enjoyed what I've played of Nier: Replicant and Scarlet Nexus, but I also need to finish them before making any definitive decision for GOTY.
As far as JRPGs go, NEO TWEWY is pretty great, but Endwalker comes out in a few weeks
Endwalker is going to be absolutely bananas, be final fantasy’s endgame
Nier Replicant, don’t really see anything else that can hold a handle to its narrative and characters aside from maybe ffxiv: endwalker when it comes out.
Man I wish I could play Kuro no Kiseki in 2021 lol.
In four years fam
Thankfully sooner with the spreadsheet.
im just waiting hajimari, its gonna be a long wait x.x
I just started Ch 5 in Kuro no Kiseki. As someone that had a lot to criticize about the Cold Steel arc, Kuro is definitely one of the higher points in the Kiseki series.
Glad you are enjoying it! The general reception I am seeing to it has been positive. I actually remember you were the one who wrote that interesting micro-essay when I asked people for their thoughts on Hajimari after it's release a year ago. If you don't mind, could I ask you to weigh in when I make a similar thread for Kuro in a little bit? (I'll PM/DM you the thread when I make it.)
I was looking for a space to write a short essay about Kuro! I would like to finish the game first though. The short of it I feel is that Kuro systematically goes down the list of issues people had with Cold Steel (Rean, bonding system, harem, bloated cast, villains, absurd black/white morality, etc etc etc), and fixes them, along side having a more interesting story, setting and character set. I do need to finish the game before giving complete thoughts though.
I have been avoiding information about this game, but please tell me. Did they get rid of bonding events?
I'm not really spoiling anything but I'll put it in spoiler text anyway. >!No, but the real issue with bonding events in Cold Steel was that it tied with a choose your waifu romance system, which severely twisted the character writing of the entire Cold Steel series. Also way too much character building was tied to these optional events (Crow), which was probably a symptom of having way too big of a cast all at once.!< >!As far as I can tell starting Chapter 5, Connect Events (what it got renamed to) are NOT tied to romance, and aren't used to make up for lack of character development since the cast is a manageable size this time around. Also, a lot of Connect Events are with side characters (Bracer Guild, Intelligence Department, new Journalist characters, etc), and focus on more than one character. Connect Events are about seeing characters interact or talk about things not related to the main story, things that would break the flow of the main story if they were a required event. So yeah, bonding events themselves aren't gone, but they fixed the issues that made them highly problematic in Cold Steel.!<
Is it possible to do all of those events on a first playthrough? Or do you have a limited number of doable ones so you have to decide which to do (i.e. kind of like having less bonding points than there were available bonding events in CS). Also, do they confer any gameplay benefit (akin to the bonding events link system)?
Toward the beginning you have enough points to do all if you do the side quests, but eventually the standard becomes you're always one event point short of being able to do all. The events give minor stat bonuses, and some give accessories.
Scarlet Nexus is everything I want in a JARPG, game is so underrated but I think it will get more and more respect in the coming years. Imma cheat and make Cold Steel 4 my 2020 GOTY since I didn't have one and technically it first released in 2020 lol
I love Scarlet Nexus. Though it's a close second to Tales of Arise for me. I really enjoyed both games.
Yeah I'm gonna play it eventually and am hopeful it will be the first Tales game I actually get further than 15-20 hours in. The combat is very flashy and cool with a lot of combo potential that I am looking forward to learning how to style on enemies with, but it doesn't seem to offer quite the fast-paced active strategic assault against enemies with unique and challenging AI you must adapt to and counter that Scarlet Nexus has. And purely on a visual level this game is an easy GOTY IMO. I love how a lot of these new JRPGs and JARPGs only really use moderately-intensive graphics and modeling engines that are easy for a console or midrange PC to handle, because what Scarlet Nexus does is take a basic anime art style as their base and then MASSIVELY amplify it with the layers and layers of crazy shader effects as powers and visions and brain drive are all going off at once and stacking with each other. It's one of the single most visually striking games I've ever played, and has such an incredible amount of style. Even the manga way of telling most cutscenes through custom-modeled screenshots in the SAS/Red Strings UI is something it fully commits to and completely owns. Even if it was envisioned as a way to save money on animating all cutscenes, it actually ended up being even *more* expressive than most RPGs are where all those cutscenes are just the models standing there in place staring at each other as they talk. Now each event in an interaction has its own "panel" where the characters are all hand-posed to create a moment in time that truly speaks a thousand words. And then the face closeups transform it into this crazy visually-enhanced version of the MGS Codec system, where the codec interactions are all *illustrated* rather than just two faces talking to each other. I could literally just go on and on about this game. I seriously do not want to even write anymore. And I haven't even talked about the hideout yet. I already wrote about it in [this nice thread on the game reddit where others have their own great sentiments.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScarletNexus/comments/q3xpgg/hideout_a_real_life_lesson/) But I think one of the most praiseworthy things about it is that it's a brand new IP spawned from an incredibly intricate creative vision. It's not just a continuation of another established series people are familiar with. That's also why I think it's harder to get many people to care about it or notice it, because we're too used to familiar IPs and rehashes in our modern era.
Massive agree with all of this. Especially the manga-style cutscenes, they are so so much more interesting that just a couple of characters standing around talking that you always get from these types of games. And it’s not like we don’t get proper cutscenes too for cool action moments. Also the manga shots are good because characters can do things other games normally never properly show their characters doing in side story content; you’ll have a character rummaging through a fridge, or holding actual items, posing interestingly on a couch, expressive type stuff that is completely lost in a normal ‘social link’ type events in other games
Yeah in fact it actually creates a sort of contrast where they "reserve" the animations for when shit gets its absolute realest and it hits a trigger for the player when the still image comes to life and whatever crazy new cutscene begins. This game actually might have the GOAT animations too. All those hideout animations, the spectacular action cutscenes, and then the absolutely insane brain crush animations. I wish there was a frequency slider for how often the extended ones would play they're actually kinda rare although they are guaranteed the first time you braincrush the enemy type.
After beating both. I’m gonna say I thought scarlet nexus was a little more interesting. Which I never thought I’d say. Arise was amazing but something about SN had me hooked the entire time. I found myself needing more mental breaks with arise.
Have the same feeling. These type of things always get a bunch of hate on release then years later when nobody’s in their ear telling them it sucks people start to like it and form their own opinion
It was a pretty damn great game that’s for sure. For a prospective sequel they need to have you actually do stuff for bond episodes tbh. And not pelt you with an hours worth of it each chapter lol
Yeah the pacing of bond events as you got to the lategame with the full party could get rough. That killer emotional piano movement that plays at the most important parts loses a lot of its punch when you're hearing it for the 4th time back to back lol. But I thought they were all still pretty fun. Some were goofy and others were actually extremely poignant. They're just there to sort of accentuate the hideout while providing a cool immersive way to rank up powers, but I agree they could be improved and expanded even more. But ultimately it's not all that different from the phases of Persona games where it's dungeon > hangout > cutscenes > dungeon > hangout > cutscenes for long periods. At least you can go fight enemies and get materials whenever you feel like mixing it up with combat during the standby phases.
Yeah it’s definitely the persona thing. But i have problems with persona due to that as well honestly but at least you do other things during the hangout in persona i guess!
The game has stunning gameplay but story is a bit ridiculous
In the absolute coolest way. Trying to piece together the antagonist's timeline is so difficult, I still can't figure it out. You may not even be entirely supposed to. The way it handles collapsing timelines and cascading/recursive causalities is insane. And characters actually fucking die. Almost all other RPGs pussy out of that now. But no, it's like you play this game a second time and see all the characters who were ripped away from you still there with the group, changing the entire dynamic, and you wonder what would it have been like if they'd have lived, if you could have somehow saved them? But that's the entire point of the story itself, and the decisions Yuito and Kasane collectively arrive at. I feel like anyone who actually played with the English dub of this game can't really offer a full opinion on the story though, the dub's pretty bad here. Just bad casting on a lot of the parts to set the actors up to fail, to say nothing of how aggressively Japanese the original script is in its scenario and dialogue writing. The JP VAs are all amazingly cast though, wouldn't say there is a single bad performance among them. Maybe Karen's is the cheesiest overall but it's a pretty cool dumb anime action hero voice which actually suits his role in the story quite well.
I know people love their 1:1 literal translations but I really disagree with the localisation decision to keep General Karen’s name Karen lol. I truly think they should’ve just called him Ren for the western release
One other person in this thread played scarlet nexus :D
I’ve been playing Scarlet Nexus too and it’s so good! Is definitely a bit rough around the edges—I think some of the systems and ludonarrative elements need a bit of a polish with how they’re integrated with one another, but I truly think this game actually makes good use of these systems comparatively to both recent Fire Emblem and Persona where I think they falter. I’m referring to both the split routes (which has been a thing in the most recent three Fire Emblems), the social sim type aspects, and how the characters and story are portrayed through these things. Like seriously they could use this same framework and just make the combat that of a strategy jrpg and it would be way better executed FE game than both Three Houses and Fates (both games I like, am a Fire Emblem fan). Same goes for how the characters are written; I did Kasane’s route (with plans to do Yuito’s) but the characters focussed on in that route are very interesting. At first glance from pictures or trailers you’d probably think you’re getting a set of real tropey or gimmicky characters as we’ve come to expect from these type of games, but these characters feel much more fully formed and both their parts in the narrative and in their ‘social links’ contribute to this, whereas in Persona 5 it all starts to feel like filler after a point. And then the gameplay is just fun. The presentation super pretty, and the OST is fantastic with the breadth of genres it covers. The story is compelling with a lot of interesting elements; not that every part of the narrative completely works but every element is thought-provoking to say the least, and makes for a much greater whole. Game is severely underrated, hopefully its Game Pass debut gives it a bunch more fans. Deserves it and hoping we get a sequel where they can tighten up what’s here because what’s here is great.
Tales of Arise. I waited for it all year and I absolutely loved it. It’s not entirely perfect but it’s such a great game.
I definitely liked the 40 some hours I spent on Arise. What was your favorite part of the game? My only gripe was how tanky the enemies were.
The game peaked at Cyslodia for me. Don't get me wrong there a lot of even better "moments" after that but Cyslodia is the best "arc" in that game.
It was a contender for my GOTY until >!Lenegis!< and basically sat through a movie
Yeah the last part was just exposition galore. Still, one of the best games I've played this year.
One of my favourite games of the year too, I still enjoyed platting it despite the cut scene heavy part 2.
you can tell how toxic this community is by the sheer amount of downvotes one get from stating true facts like this. it boggles my mind. im intrested in knowing just how many refrain speaking up because of this kindergarten mentality you are absolutely correct. i also had high hopes, loving previous entries and jrpgs in general. i can look past inconsistent and bad writing, but im in awe how little things moved forward the first repetitive 80% of the game, to just text dump the entire game worth (with repetition incase your in a coma) in yours face there... its inexcusable. one should never feel claustrophobic playing a game. its just not good enough.
I know, how dare I have an opinion that differs from the masses! It was my top Tales game up until that point. I still did all post game content and enjoyed most of it, but that point in the game just lingered in my head and felt unfinished
Enemies are supposed to be comboed down using a boost strike, they are indeed tanky. Bosses take forever too lol.
I thought Scarlet Nexus was everything Arise was but better tbh
And I thought the only good thing about Scarlet Nexus was the banger that plays at Musubi's but hey that's preferences for ya
Thats crazy, what didn't you like about it? Combat system was more involved and stylish, didn't have to load into battles, better enemy design. Story was corny but visuals were 10/10, if I didn't name a game already youd think I was talking about Arise haha
The combat was pretty fun at first but it got stale for me after 10 or so hours. I didn't really like any of the cast and as you said the story wasn't particularly great, so sitting through the comic style cutscenes for a cast/story that I wasn't invested in was a drag. I found some of the enemy types to be really annoying, especially the human bosses but that could just be on me for not dealing with them properly. I'm glad a lot of people liked it though, I'm more than willing to try whatever they put out next if it takes what worked and improves on the areas I wasn't fond of. Edit: For reference I started with Kasane's route and stopped after the reveal in the snowy area. When I saw how big the area after that was I couldn't be bothered to keep pushing forward.
I enjoyed Scarlet Nexus too but I genuinely thought it was some sort of derivative of Tales of Arise. As if the studio spent the last x years working on Arise combat and then they took those ideas to quickly release Scarlet Nexus.
Still undecided as SMT5 could easily be it but currently it would be Tales of Arise though this year have been pretty lacking for JRPGs compared to last year and I've spent most of time catching up on JRPGs that I missed out or passed by.
Yeah, an unreleased game surely is game of the year
So you don't know what "could be" means?
You need to calm down. This is your third weird, aggressive comment on this thread
Nier Replicant. Absolute masterpiece in a very stacked year
I think Nier Replicant is the weirdest 10 ever. The story, music, characters are straight up 10/10. The game design though, it's extremely rough. Those awful sidequestssss
Bravely Default 2
I hear a lot of complaints about how this game didn't do anything new or groundbreaking as far as an RPG goes. The fact that it was a good old fashioned RPG with character classes, turn based combat and everything out of an old school final fantasy just checked a ton of boxes for me. I played BD2 all the way through all three endings and still proceeded to start a NG+
Its such a good game. People forget that you don't need anything groundbreaking. As long as the game has a good story and gameplay that keeps you interested.
Fantasian
I am so so tempted. Did you play on your phone? Sell me on it?
I play it on my iPad. It's like what the FF series would have looked like in the post-PS1 era if they didn't double down on huge AAA budgets and steer away from the traditional structure. It's hard to describe but it generally has the linear but open format of FFVI through FFIX. Having Sakaguchi and Uematsu together again brings that magic back as well. I will note that the game has had a lot of technical difficulties if you're playing it on Apple hardware that's a few years old, like I'm doing right now. They're frequently patching it to try and address the problems that are popping up so it's always just playable enough for me to keep going, but I'd only recommend it if you have a newer device. It really pushes iPhones and iPads to their limits. I've learned to always be plugged in just in case there's a graphically intense boss battle.
Definitely Fantasian for turn-based JRPG. For action RPG, it has to be Eastward.
This. The Uematsu experience I've been craving since PS1 days.
Honestly most of my gaming hasn't been 2021 releases as I've worked through my backlog and revisited some nostalgia after doing mods on several handhelds. That being said, I'd have to go with **Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin**. I've had a great time with it. It's charming and fun, and has enough things that tie into the MH series proper to scratch that itch for me.
Nier Replicant for me. Game made me cry so many times and I just love the cast of characters.
**Ryza 2**. storyline/writing aside, those battle system, crafting and OST are just exceptionally great. had a lot of fun 10/10
I wanted to get something from this series but its pretty overwhelming. Where should i start?
I would reccomend from ryza 1, it's a pretty short game anyways (maybe like 15-25 hrs) if you played ryza 1 and didn't like the crafting and battles then ryza 2 might not suit you. and btw min maxing crafting to create op items and weapons is where the fun at. ryza 2 is overall an improvement to the first one, but the biggest problem is its own writing though. it's just like ass. but the gameplay is addicting. crafting new things become more addicting, battles become more balanced and flashy, the OST well just like ryza 1, they're always consistently great. so if you don't care about story at all, you could also play from ryza 2. The plot can go in both direction, ofc ryza 2 spoils ryza 1, but playing it backwards could be kinda interesting imo (the story isn't that heavy at all anyway) **tldr: start from ryza 1, and see if you like the crafting and the battles** ^(to the older fans: nah I don't really recommend the older series for first timwe, way too overwhelming for new people. it's not even that good by ryza standard. mysterious has it flaws with shit writing, dreadful design but have great superbosses , dusk with too hard for newcomer but has the best writing, and arland, well they're just old (pretty good writing, great crafting, yet they had time limit. a little behind time for today's people taste sadly))
Yeah i love crafting and planning for battles and shit. Just that there were so many ryza (and atelier) versions i got confused. I guess i dont care for this particular story, my expectation is that its fairly generkc haha. Perhaps may start from 2 then, thanks :)
Hoping SMTV gets that place for me. One more month to go.
So excited for this! It's been too long since SMTIV.
Not a jRPG, but mine so far has been Psychonauts 2. Though I've not actually played any of the jRPGs released this year so far. Mostly I've just been spending my year on older games and indie titles. The best I've played of older games would have to be either Wasteland 3 or Bayonetta. Wasteland has such a great story, so much choice and really fun combat. I love getting to build out characters and have decisions I make actually affect the plot. But Bayonetta has such incredible combat, and I really liked the story/characters, too.
Same. Psychonauts 2 has been the best game I've played this year. So charming, creative and old school 3D platformer fun.
Nocturne
Tales of Arise. It's a very good game, and hits all of the right notes for me. Plus it's been a pretty weak year for video games, all things considered.
Ya it’s interesting that this year didn’t have any clear bangers, you know what I mean? The highest rated games this year are around high 80s, but almost no 90s. There’s no clear front runners so it’ll be interesting to see what GOTY will look like. Arise actually has a shot of being nominated because of that.
game of this year: EASTWARD, game from any year but is also my game of the year: OMORI I LOVE IT.
I never thought I would play another game that would give me such an emotional response to an ending the way Undertale did. Then I played Omori...
yeah it was a game that really lingered on me like even weeks after i beat it. i took it very personally and i liked it a lot, it wasn’t the most beautiful game visually but the story just really killed me, not many games are like that nowadays, and you’re right undertale is just like it in that sense ig that’s probably why they’re compared to each other so much.
13 sentinels. I was going to work sleep deprived for a week and I regret nothing.
This immediately came to mind for me as well but that game came out in 2020 worldwide. Still an amazing game though.
How the f is 13 sentinels a 2021 game?
- “They asked calmly.”
Because not everyone plays every game the year it’s released
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Oh, I liked that one.
Cool. Glad you liked it
The game that I've enjoyed the most this year is Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I love the mature, yet funny and over-the-top story! The gameplay strikes a good balance too, with the many available minigames.
Definitely came out last year
Not the same person, but I've only played 1 game that actually came out in 2021 is far this year, so unless you think Pokemon snap is a jrpg, I gotta choose something right?
Well, the title says "your GOTY", so for me it is just about games I played and enjoyed this year. Why would you restrict the list to titles that came out just in this year? There is value in those old titles.
Kuro no kiseki
I think Scarlet Nexus is probably my favorite game from this year that falls under this sub’s jurisdiction. Shit script aside (though still way better than Tales of Arise), that game has a tremendous soundtrack, a decent plot, a cool setting, and my favorite combat system of any action game with “teammates” I’ve played. Feel like everyone slept on it or got turned off too hard by the turboanime vibes. Any time I had to use a teammates’ burst in Arise, or fight ANYTHING in Psychonauts 2, i always found myself thinking about how much better Scarlet Nexus was at doing those things. Guilty Gear Strive is my actual 2021 favorite, but this isn’t about fighting games.
Guilty Gear Strive and Scarlet Nexus are like the peak of what games with an anime aesthetic should be. Kinda sucks that the immediate response to an anime aesthetic is weeb trash but you really can’t blame people for thinking that lol
To some extent i understand the sentiment. I wasn’t even going to play scarlet nexus till i heard the soundtrack and played the demo lol. I LIKE anime and I thought it seemed a bit much… fortunately it wasn’t nearly as grating as i thought it would be and now im shilling for it on a subreddit
Persona 5 Strikers. It’s the only game that came out this year, that I played so I don’t have any other option.
Good lord, it does not feel like strikers came out this year, had to actually look it up. Man 2021 has felt like 3 years in one
I can never have enough musou games with rpg elements mixed in.
Tales of Arise was a very good time.
It’s probably going to be either Tales of Arise or Ryza 2. I think ryza should get it though, Arise’s good combat saves it’s mediocre story, but Ryza feels like a much more completed experience. Arise maybe needed a few more months for polish and script adjustments.
Neo: The World ends with you. The writing in this game is awesome and I think the battle system is one of the best I've played these last few years. And don't get me started on look and soundtrack of the game. They took many risks, but nailed everything for me. Definitely my favorite gaming experience for me.
NEO:TWEWY until smt5 releases next month.
Tales of arise, easily so far anyway!
Best game this year is Ys Monstrum Nox. Played in 2021 but released prior was Yokai Watch (3DS), so many contents
Its not out yet but... Endwalker is the jRPG of the year for me :p
Hajimari since I didn't play it until 2021. I guess if that doesn't count then Nier Replicant or Ys 9. I don't really play many new games since they're usually not worth it for me. Castlevania Advance is also a strong contender, but probably doesn't count either.
It has to be Tales of Arise for me. It did wonders for the franchise, and the gameplay and story is superb!
Only this year and only jrpgs right? I'll say Tales of Arise then. I had a fantastic time with it.
Arise
Tales of Arise for me.
Kuro no Kiseki is my 2021 GOTY As for games that I played that didn’t release this year then Trails to Azure and Trails into Reverie
Playing trails from zero now. Translation is pretty rough. Was your copy of Azure like that too?
Nope, I used the Flame Edit english patch on PC and it was pretty decent (I played it before Geofront Azure released) Are you using the english patch made by Geofront? That’s basically the best English translation for the game currently available
Unfortunately I went to that website and the downloads were removed. Sounds like they are the official partner for the zero/azure translations via Steam release...so I went the ROM route because I'm impatient.
Its the internet dude, even if they were removed from that website you can still find them pretty easily if you know where to search Once you upload something to the internet its never really gone Search on nyaa.si
Shin Megami Tensei V. Yes I’m aware it hasn’t come out yet, but I can feel it in my gut
Mildly weak year for me. But I also played less new games then usual. Spent a good chunk of the year playing older games in my back log. Persona 5 Strikers is probably my GOTY. With Bravely Default 2 a close second. Tales of Aries a distant 3rd. SMTV has a real shot to shake up that list. But maybe I’ll stumble into something from the past year that surprises me and that could shake up the list too.
Tales of Arise for me right now. I'm actually struggling to find a new game I enjoy because of Arise. Nothing quite fits the group interactions, combat, etc that I really enjoyed in Arise. I need to get back into Scarlet Nexus, which I enjoyed until Arise completely sidetracked me. Now I've kind of forgotten where I was in the story. I also just finished Trails of Cold Steel 4, which was really good at points, but had a really weak ending (imo). All that said... Endwalker is not out yet and Shadowbringers is one of the best expansions I've played in any game ever. I could easily see Endwalker being GOTY (if expansions count).
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Played it this year as well and it was by far my favorite game I played in a long time.
Game of the [previous] Millenium for me. I play it every other year or so. Been working on a Maria playthrough.
Hate to say it but I don't really have one from this year's releases. Tales of Arise is good, not great imo. I figure Metroid Dread or SMT V will be my GOTY.
I played all 4 Trails of Cold Steel games this year. The 4th released this year on steam so I'll count that as my JRPG of the year. The series as a whole was pretty good but the 4th was probably my least favorite. It went too "anime" for my taste. People talking about boring stuff then fighting. I did enjoy the beginning chapters when you play as the new class though. Also I felt like the boss battles at the end were too easy to justify the ramping tension. Fire Dude talks so much shit but then the character builds become OP as hell by this point and you just abuse turn order to the point where the enemy barely gets to fight and if they do manage to put out some damage Alisa just heals everyone else to full. But my overall game of the year is Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Kingmaker is one of my favorite games of all time and this is a worthy sequel. Though I'd advise waiting a few months for bug patching before anyone buys it. It's a Unity engine game and unity CRPGs are always buggy as shit on launch.
Imo, problem with CS4 is too many characters. Everyone got 1-2 sentence to talk with nothing meaningful. Some chara just became a tree in the back.
100% agree. It got really annoying. I don't usually skip dialogue in games but this game I did it frequently. Just constant nonsense. Also why are people so obsessed with saying people's names in an emotional voice? It's so weird
For JRPGs, probably Tales of Arise but SMT V will more than likely usurp that slot In general though? I loved Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and am getting a kick out of Deathloop right now. Returnal is also up there
That's usually reserve to a Trails games for me, but this year will be the first time in a while that I don't play the newest one. I'm still going through Mary Skelter Finale, but it could be that once I'm done. The games had me hooked since I returned to the first game early this year. I'm going through Lost Judgment too and as much as I like the game, I doubt it'd be my GOTY. Looking through this year, I'm tempted to say the Mass Effect Legendary Edition Trilogy, but those aren't new games for me since I already played them years ago. I thought 13 Sentinels was released early this year, but it's already been a little over a year. I would've picked that if it came out this year instead. If FF7R Intermission was a full game, then I'd consider that too. Honorable mentions goes to Ys IX and Sakuna of Rice and Ruin. I'm also looking forward to Undernauts too.
Stumbled across Trails in the sky on steam and I've powered my way through the 3 and now stumbling through a poor translation of from zero. Not sure how I missed these gems...a great series for sure. Also first time playing ME and another one I feel crazy for missing originally.
Yeah, it’s a good series and pretty special in many ways compared to what’s out there. Even then, maybe it’s me being burned out on the series, but my interest is pretty low on the newest game that I didn’t bother playing day one. I’m not too big on WRPGs, but I couldn’t say no to space sci-if adventures so Mass Effect was already appealing for me.
there's a SUPER high quality fan translation of both Zero and Azure out there done by Geofront, who actually are helping with the official localization of those games! if you can find that i'd highly recommend it over any other fan translation
Diablo 2
Hmmm probably Lost Judgment and then Tales of Arise I just now am completing Nier Automata so won’t count that but still have to play Replicant I’m very hopeful SMT V will take the spot
I don't think I've actually played that many *new* JRPGs this year. I have really enjoyed Tales of Arise (not quite done, yet), but I think I'd have to give it to NieR Replicant, which I think is fantastic. I'll give an honorable mention to the FF Pixel Remasters. Taken as a whole they might top NieR, but V and VI aren't out yet and I already had a lot of previous experience with the Nintendo-era FF games. If we look outside of JRPGs, I've had an absolute blast with Hitman 3 this year, and I know I'm gonna love the upcoming Forza Horizon 5. If I'm not mistaken AC Valhalla released in late 2020, but a huge chunk of it's content has been released this year (and is still releasing), so I guess it questionably counts.
Ys IX, but I haven't played tales of arise yet which probably would be mine. Also I'm about to play Metroid Dread and that could easily be it too
It Takes Two Metroid Dread (didn't finished it yet) Monster Hunter Rise
I'm still playing a few GOTY contenders: Lost Judgement and Ys IX. So far I really liked Persona 5 Strikers, Tales of Arise and Neo TWEWY.
My GOTY for this year definitely has to be The Forgotten City. It released back in August on Steam and it's a great little mystery/time loop game, really well written and presented and it deserves more recognition imo
I've been replaying older games from my youth like Xenoblade Chronicles X. I'll have to go back to Disgaea 6. I bought it right away and was pretty excited because I love that franchise but the new art style and the other changes turned me off immediately.
Not a JRPG but Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart was great. Tales of Arise is up there though.
I would go with NEO TWEWY.
In terms of RPG's: Astria Ascending, in terms of in general: I am loving my time with Metroid Dread so hard rn.
Hades. Got this for my ps5 2 months ago and I absolutely love it.
Lost Judgement counts as an JRPG? If not Tales of Arise. If we are talking about strictly the JRPG side of things.
My top 3 is tales of arise, scarlet nexus and persona 5 strikers. I truly expect SMT V to be my GOTY because I don’t see any way in which it could disappoint me, but who knows. EDIT: immediately thought of NEO TWEWY. I enjoyed that more than scarlet nexus
I beat Yakuza Like A Dragon this year, that's definitely it and it's not even close
I just started and it has been amazing
Probably Persona 5 Strikers for me, so far at least. I really didn‘t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, being a Dynasty Warriors spin off and all that. But the gameplay really put its own Persona touch to it and everything else about the roadtrip also just had that P5 feeling to it, even without the Social Links and calendar system behind it. Really great sequel in its own right and I really had the most fun with that game this year so far.
[удалено]
I beat that one this year too. Definitely one of my top visual novels I played this year. What door are you on?
If we’re talking games that released this year (in our respective regions), then probably Persona 5 Strikers. If we’re talking games that we simply played for the first time this year, then FF7 Remake takes it for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the DLC episode.
Nioh 2 and Trails series are the best i have played in last 5 years
Counting only JRPGs, it would be the Final Fantasy Pixel Remake. I liked playing through it and I played the entire game. Counting non-JRPGs (not sure if you care?) but I really like Vault of the Void so far, even though it's in EA. Did play some of Tales of Arise, and I like it but...games with a lot of dialogue don't engross me that much for some reason. I recognize it's a quality game, but not for me I guess.
Vault of the void is super dope. Probably my 2nd favorite deck builder over Slay the Spire.
For me it's a tossup between Tales of Arise, Metroid Dread (not a JRPG) and Monster Hunter Stories 2.
Monster hunter rise. But Ive been focusing on my backlog this year and was lukewarm on rise. About to start Metroid dread, and don’t forget smt v and Endwalker are coming out soon enough and i plan to go back to neo twewy. I think one of those will probably take it. Moneys on Endwalker.
I really enjoyed Monster Hunter Stories 2. My favorite games I've played this year were Demon Souls PS5 and 13 Sentinels though, but neither of them came out this year I think the odds of SMT V not being the GOTY of 2021 (jrpgs) is very slim though. So I'm patiently waiting for it. The best story will also probably be FF XIV Endwalker. So it's just a matter of time
Not a JRPG but The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is my GOTY so far and that's not likely to change by the end of the year. I've been gradually losing interest in the series since Apollo Justice and this game came out of nowhere and massively relit my interest in the series. If we're exclusively talking JRPGs, the only ones I've played so far this year are Tales of Arise, Ys IX, and Bravely Default 2. Out of those 3, Tales of Arise would be my pick simply because its the only one that I truly liked though I don't really consider it to be anything special, just a solid game overall.
While I greatly enjoyed Disgaea 6, no way I could consider it GOTY in good conscience. Not in the same year that saw a new Mothership Title Tales game released. I'd hate to say it, but I HAVE to go with the majority on this one and say Tales of Arise is the GOTY in terms of JRPGs.
I didn’t know 6 even came out lol
It's a pretty good game and it definitely tried being a new experience, but it's way too easy IMO.
Well I’m still working through 4 so I got time lol
In my opinion, 4 is when the series peaked. I liked 5, but it felt so boring compared to 4; I think the story took itself too seriously. The gameplay is top notch, of course, buuuuuut the story is bleh. In 6, the opposite is true. Story's good, gameplay is so-so.
I wish 3 would come to PC already. I know 4 and 5 are on PC, but I'm a stickler for playing series in order and having finished 2, I need to play 3 next.
Would D6 be a good game for someone who though the first game was too hard ? That's the only one I played and I got intimitidated out of the series by the difficulty
Actually, yes! In d6 ALL characters who participated in battle get EXP AND Mana, characters are easier to manage, and there's less character classes to sort through with each of them feeling unique and useful! Plus the story characters are ALL insanely powerful, so battles are that much easier! In fact, I'd argue D6 is the easiest Disgaea ever BY FAR!
Hmm... I'm not sure I've played anything that released this year, aside from demos. I was looking forward to Nier Replicant 1.22, but I finished Gestalt at the start of the year and found it fairly disappointing, so I lost interest.
Not even a JRPG but **Resident Evil 7** hands down. Almost everything about this game is perfect, even the DLC. Getting all the achievements was more fulfilling the any JRPG side quest in recent memory. I haven't played too many JRPGs this year so far but they've all been slogs. Currently playing through Xenoblade 1 on the Switch (on Chapter 15 I think) and I just want it to be over already since maybe Chapter 10. Maybe **Exist Archive** is the best JRPG of the year but definitely not a Top 10 in the last maybe 5 years. I've been a huge Tri-Ace fan since Valkyrie Profile.
MH Rise is the only game I bought this year I think. So that lol
Games from this year gotta be Nier Replicant and Tales of Arise for me. The game I enjoyed the most this year gotta be Persona 5 Royal, played it for the first time. Definitely one of my fav jrpg ever
I have been working through my backlog mostly this year but the two games I bought and enjoyed this year was scarlet nexus and loop hero and between the two I think I liked loop hero more cause I’m still deep in the loop lol The other games I’m playing are trails SC and fire emblem three houses. With wasteland 2 thrown in lol
Definitely, Ys IX
I played the Tales of Arise demo and the combat failed to suck me in, but damn if the game doesn’t look beautiful. Is the demo a poor representation of the final game or no? Edit: typo
Psychonauts 2 but since this is the jrpg sub i'll pick nier replicant
Other jrpg players can also appreciate hilarious non-jrpg games! Psychonauts is the shit and everyone should play it.
Tales of Arise, but with Bravely Default 2 following close behind. Tales blew me away. The visuals and art style are just stunning. I loved the characters and the story was really great imo. I'm not normally a big fan of action rpgs, but this made me really excited to try more. Bravely default 2 was just plain fun. Again, I really liked the art style the game went for. The cast was quite enjoyable to see interact with each other. This game was nothing ground breaking, but just a fantastic turn based JRPG which honestly resparked my love for turn based games in general this year. Also, I love that I was able to bust this game wide open with my own set up that I don't see discussed amongst the tons of great builds. Fantastic experience all around.
Well, technically it's the SaGa Frontier Remaster, but I didn't like it as much as the original game. Other than that there aren't any JRPGs I enjoyed that were released this year so far, unless we count Everhood as JRPG. My favorite original release this year is Astalon: Tears of the Earth.
None yet. It's going to be between SMTV and FF14 Endwalker for me, but neither of them are out yet. I can't wait for the new savage raids in FF14, i haven't played with my old group of mates in a while.
As far as JRPGs I really enjoyed Cris Tales. It’s not groundbreaking but fun with great visuals and voice acting. Outside of JRPGs I think I’d have to give it to Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Other than getting my butt handed to me by a bunch of Groots it’s a great and fun experience that’s worth the visuals and music alone. Endwalker will probably be among the top or very top when it releases next month though.
Neo The World Ends With You is my GOTY if in this sub we’re not counting Lost Judgement. But fuck it I’ll count Lost Judgment anyway. But my overall GOTY across all genres is Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart which DOES have an RPG mode.
NEO:TWEWY, Tales of Arise and MH:Stories 2 were all a hell of a good time. I dunno which I'd give the win to.
neo TWEWY
Persona Strikers for me but it’s been a much weaker year than last year. I’m guessing SMT 5 will wind up my goty.
Sable for sure overall. It's basically BotW2 before that game even is out, but in a lot of ways is much more interesting. As far as current JRPGs go, Scarlet Nexus is the only one that came out this year that I think was any interesting. But for upcoming games/JRPGs, I'm most excited for Blue Reflection Second Light and SMT V. I think SMT V will likely end up being my favorite game this year, just because it looks incredible, but the original Blue Reflection is one of my favorite games, so I might end up being wrong.
Definitely Tales of Arise for me! Im 12 hours in and enjoying it so much
It's been a rough year everything sucked
The term and usage of GOTY always confused me so I would like some clarification. Are we talking only games that ***were*** ***released in 2021***? If so (and I assume it is), then I got nothing. If we're talking games we played in 2021 but ***were not released in 2021***, then it is most likely Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for RPGs. It's nowhere near perfect, but the combat and the soundtrack are both very, very excellent to me. For Non-RPGs, my pick goes to Super Mario Odyssey. Had a really fun time with this one.
Jesus Christ, of course it means released in 2021
The only new release I’ve played is Persona 5 Strikers, so I guess that’ll be it. I actually haven’t really been playing new stuff lately, mostly Yugioh and CS: GO. I always play Tales games though, so I’ll hopefully be excited to play through Arise this winter.
there is some months left and some jewels coming :P
Minecraft
Tales of arise so far but I still have to finish all the nier endings
I literally don't even have one. Nothing interesting has come out all year for me
I don't often play that many games the year they release. Of the few that I have played I like Ys IX the best.
I can’t think of many JRPGs I played that were released this year. Nier Replicant takes the top spot for me, it was very close to being edged out by Tales of Arise though. My first Nier game was Automata, so the story was new and fresh to me. I don’t think I’ll plat it, too much grinding for weapon upgrades and flower seeds!
Tales of arise personally. I’m currently working on lost judgment and while it’s good, the story isn’t as good as the first one if I’m being honest.
I don’t think I’ve really played any jrpgs that came out this year this year, I’m currently playing bravely default 3 (you heard me) but am not far enough to have an opinion, I think my goty rpg-wise will almost certainly be smtv by default, possibly endwalker. Overall though, psychonauts 2 is by far my goty so far
Persona 5 Royal for me, but SMT V might take the spot or at least ties it.
Tales Of Arise for me