JRPGs are becoming quite a popular genre these days. In the olden times, these games and series were restricted to Nintendo or Sony consoles. And to some degree, that's still true. But recently there have been more PC ports of many games in the genre, such as the February 2016 port of Tales of Symphonia.
Even with some of the more notable titles getting PC ports, many JRPG games that should have PC ports are mysteriously missing, with no sign of making the move any time soon. It's an injustice to gamers everywhere that we haven't gotten these games on our computers yet. And here are 6 that we want to see ported over as soon as possible.
World of Final Fantasy
This PlayStation exclusive was released in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise and prior to Final Fantasy XV in 2016.
World of Final Fantasy takes the more traditional approach, having the turn-based gameplay of many older titles in the franchise. What makes the game unique is capturing mirages -- various enemies from past Final Fantasy games the player must collect and battle with. To prevent clutter during battle, a new mechanic called stacking was created for the player characters to fight alongside their mirages. There are also different types of summons, the most notable of which are called champions -- chibi forms of Final Fantasy characters which are summoned temporarily, similar to summons in other Final Fantasy games.
World of Final Fantasy is currently available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. With more games in the franchise being ported to the PC recently, maybe younger PC users will get to play this as their first introduction to the series someday.
Rogue Galaxy
What if I told you there was a video game which is essentially a mix of Star Wars, Treasure Planet, and anime? Level-5's 2005 action RPG Rogue Galaxy is just that.
The main character of Rogue Galaxy is Jaster Rogue, an agricultural farmer who lives on a desert planet and wishes for something more. A fateful encounter with a robot and an alien leads to him joining a crew of space pirates, and throughout the course of the game he learns that the fate of the galaxy rests in his hands .
Rogue Galaxy has random encounters and a hack and slash combat system--similar to some games of the Tales series-- in which the player fights with a party of three characters. The player controls only one character in the party at a time, but which character it is can be switched . There are also plenty of different special and team attacks which characters can initiate once their action gauge is filled up. Characters can only attack a limited number of times until their attack gauge needs to be refilled, so there is an extra element of strategy added to the combat.
Level 5 isn't known for PC ports, but now that Rogue Galaxy has a few more fans than it used to, maybe a PC port isn't as unlikely as it once was.
Rogue Galaxy is currently available on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 4.
Skies of Arcadia
Skies of Arcadia was developed by Overworks and originally released on the Dreamcast in 2001. This skyfaring JRPG is about an air pirate named Vyse and his crew as they try to stop an evil empire from destroying the world. Skies of Arcadia is a relatively typical turn-based JRPG, but has a greater focus on exploration than other games in the genre, and allows players to fly and fight with the airship the crew uses to travel the world.
An enhanced port of Skies of Arcadia, known as Skies of Arcadia: Legends, was released on the Game Cube in 2003. The improvements included minor graphical changes, new side quests, and a slightly lowered random encounter rate.
Characters from Skies of Arcadia have made cameo appearances in other Sega games like Valkyria Chronicles. Maybe one day Sega will stop teasing us and bring the game to PC and other consoles.
Resonance of Fate
Resonance of Fate was developed by Tri-Ace, published by Sega, and originally released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.
Resonance of Fate takes place on Earth in the near future, when pollution has destroyed most life on the planet. The main characters are a group of mercenaries who discover a dastardly plan by those in the highest social class, and along the way come to understand their role in the story.
Resonance of Fate is unique in that it uses a combat system which revolves around various types of firearms, rather than magic spells and medieval weaponry.
Another thing which makes this game stand out is its distinctive soundtrack, which was co-composed by Motoi Sakuraba (Tales of series, Baten Kaitos) and Kohei Tanaka (One Piece, Gravity Rush).
Similar to fellow Sega published JRPG Skies of Arcadia, this game has yet to see a re-release on PC -- but maybe the gun-toting JRPG will make a comeback soon.
Eternal Sonata
Eternal Sonata was developed by tri-Crescendo and published by Bandai Namco Games. The Xbox 360 version of the game was released in 2007 with an enhanced PlayStation 3 version released in 2009.
Eternal Sonata is centered around renowned composer and main character, Frederic Chopin, and the story of the game takes place in an imaginary dream world that's heavily inspired by his life and music.
What makes Eternal Sonata noteworthy (other than its main inspiration) is that its combat focuses on musical elements. There are also special attacks which are unique to each character. And while the combat is turn-based, there are still some action game elements thrown in. In addition to these elements, light and darkness can affect how enemies look and fight, and also determine which types of magic can be used in each battle.
This musical adventure has yet to see a re-release, but with Bandai Namco releasing more games on PC recently, it may only be a matter of time.
Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Vesperia is the tenth game in the mainline Tales series, developed by Namco Tales Studio, published by Namco Bandai Games. It was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, followed by a Japan-exclusive enhanced port for PlayStation 3 in 2009.
The story of Vesperia centers on Yuri Lowell, a former soldier who creates a guild in order to help a noble woman he met on one of his missions.
The gameplay of Tales of Vesperia is similar to previous Tales games, and features a slightly enhanced version of the Linear Motion Battle System seen in other games in the series (now called "Evolved Flex-Range LMBS"). Players control one character in the party, while others are controlled by A.I. Vesperia is unique is that it has a multiplayer feature where four players can play together on one console.
Tales of Vesperia never even saw a release of its enhanced PlayStation 3 port in the West. But with games like Tales of Symphonia getting ported to PC and Tales of Berseria being released on PC alongside its PlayStation 4 release, we may see Vesperia again soon.
PC Ports TBD
So there you have it, six great and unique JRPGs which we want ported to PC as soon as possible. Will they all eventually see a re-release on PC? That's for the original publishers and developers to decide. Some ports are definitely more likely than others, but we can always dream.
What other JRPGs do you think deserve to be on this list? Let us know in the comments!
Published: Apr 14, 2017 12:01 pm