Best JRPG to start someone with...

[RepentantSky]

What is the best JRPG to have someone play as their first one? I'm trying to get a friend into them but I don't want to mess it up and have them hate the whole genre because of one bad experience. I asked him what kind of setting or style he'd like and it seems like the only thing he has a problem with is a High School setting which means Persona is out. That's really a shame but with that in mind, I think everything else is open, so any ideas?

[gamemaster1991]

This is not an easy question. There are tons of JRPGs that you can chose from but most of them assume that you know what you're doing. I looked up a good number of list for beginner JRPGs and they say most Final Fantasy and stuff like that but I'm not sure if those would really click for someone starting out, though I may be wrong, they are really good games and you may want to show them to him as well. Here's a few ideas I came up with.

Let's start off with an insult for people who play JRPGs. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest AKA Mystic Quest Legend AKA Baby's First Final Fantasy. This was made for Amaricans as a basic version of Final Fantasy. It's for beginners and as such, should be looked at like training wheels. That being said, he may look at it like an insult for how easy it is.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. It will teach your friend how to play it and is fairly easy to understand and has a sense of humor to itself. Plus if he like Mario, it will ease him in more.

Paper Mario. Same as above. I suggest the first one and Sticker Star (maybe) to ease him in and Super to give him some comfort (it being part platformer and part RPG)

Pokemon. It's fairly easy to play but difficult to master, Blah blah blah. If you need me to explain pokemon and why it's a good RPG, then you just need to play it.

Kingdom Hearts 1 and maybe II. This is a personal favorite and I can't really explain it. HK1 was my first real involvement with JRPGs and is the only one that treats itself like an RPG (IE no gimmicks to deal with). If he's not turned off by the many sequels on other consoles or the Disney characters, it should be good for him

Chrono Trigger. I have no idea. it may be the most difficult out of all of the ones I came up with. He may enjoy the story and the characters, but I also see him getting confused with the 4(I think) over world maps later in the game. Just a heads up.


After to introduce him to those, give him a mainstream Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, Skies of Arcadia, or Okage (which may or may not be also on the list).

[RepentantSky]

I didn't think about mentioning it, but he has dabbled a bit with the genre with Pokemon and some, but very little Kingdom Hearts. He does like Pokemon but did not like KH. He also played at least some of Chrono Trigger.

[Psychospacecow]

What systems can we assume are available here, is price an object, and should I stick to a general era? Its a great start if your friend has a 3DS or DS.

[RepentantSky]

As long as I can buy it on a DS/3DS. PS Vita/PSN or PS4 anything is in. I don't think era will matter.

[Psychospacecow]

Okay.

First of all, Dragon Quest. Everything under the Dragon Quest label with a half decent rating is worth considering (minus the mmo and maybe Rocket Slime since that's kinda out there.) Dragon Warrior games haven't aged well, but the DS remakes should be just fine. I say stick to these at first because its a title with name recognition, something new players can identify by and think of them based off of past experiences from other games after the first. Its just easier for the player.

There was recently a HD rerelease of Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2. Look into that.

If your friend likes any anime, then see if it has a game. This can be hit or miss as quality differs based on the maker. For instance, http://atlus.com/atlus-titles/attack-on-...ab-panel-1 Attack on Titan, though its an action game.

Bravely Default, this is a great game that takes everything amazing about Dragon Quest 9 and classic Final Fantasy and turns it up to 11. I wouldn't recommend this immediately because the story involves time travel, and while that's not a bad thing by any means, it leads to a lot of back tracking that can turn off certain players.
That's why I'm not recommending Chrono Trigger right off the bat, though that is largely an exception to the time travel problem.

For dungeon crawlers, (Like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon), I would recommend Etrian Odyssey. I didn't personally play this game, but it was well received.

For strategy, Valkyria Chronicles is a very difficult game, but its forgiving by the genre's standards.
I would recommend Fire Emblem games for strategy as well, but they typically don't age well price-wise. 13 was good and 14 is on the way, though the demeanor in 13 and 14 would probably be bad since its riddled with cliche and comes off something like a "high school" game.
There was also a Tactics Ogre game on PSP, but I haven't looked into it.


The key here is to start with something somewhat modern and work your way back. The quickest way to alienate someone from a genre is to start with its equivalent to The Pyramids. Sure, its a historical landmark they're historical landmarks that have stood the test of time, but building one isn't as pleasant as an IKEA chair.

[Melcadrien]

There was recently a HD rerelease of Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2. Look into that.

To me that game hasn't exactly aged too well. Especially with unskippable cutscenes.

Lets see... I'd go with Dragon Quest for the general RPGs. Out of all of them I'd recommend the latest one, which should be 9. 8 if it's available on PSN.

For the more unconventional ones Parasite Eve is a good one. Disgaea and FFT for strategy.

Also, anything from Falcom is good(YS or Trails in the Sky).

[Psychospacecow]

8 is supposedly going to come to the west on 3DS at some point as well.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/07/06/d...oming-west


True for FF10 not aging all that well, but its still a solid game that should do well if the other options don't seem right.

[RepentantSky]

I had him look through my 3DS RPG's and he picked Fire Emblem Awakening. That might actually work considering his experience with JRPG's is turn based, he plays D&D and seemed to be looking for something similar to that. If he plays casual mode, he's likely to get the most of it as well, which I made sure to tell him to do.