Dragon Quest XI is not a good recommendation for beginners. Not because it's not good (it is amazing), not because it's not beginner friendly (it very much is) but because it is too damn long. Protracted playthrough time is one of the most cited reason for people to avoid JRPG or even RPGs in general. This is all the more true when the game is actually great like DQ XI because it creates a conflicting situation where the player wants to move on to something else but just can't.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night = #1 Action RPG ever. Diablo 1 : stands as 2nd best. Terranigma could only be 3rd ever at best.

So... Secret of Evermore is 3 spots too low. Where is Wanderer from Ys III ? It beats that ninja boy game...

13:30 as someone whos first jrpg was fire emblem three houses (maddening, casual) when i played it in the 5th grade, i moved straight into nocturne on normal and thought it was challenging but fun. moved onto smt 4 and thought it was too easy. when i picked up p5, i played it on hard (its harder than merciless) and no joke only died 4 times to okumura. in my entire playthrough. when i played 4 i chose very hard and still thought it was easy... i told my friend who has only played pokemon after i bought him 4 to play on hard, and It... didnt go well. he got so pissed at shadow yosuke that he dropped the game 2 hours in. this was kinda an eye opening moment for me. other people struggle, with persona? it was kinda shocking, but then i played pokemon. pokemon sucks.

Where's the cute quiff gone?

Thanks, this show has top RPG knowledge. Should I be concerned that I get more excited for new indie releases? I believe that we are at a turning point in the industry. Not a crash

this looks so fun! love the commentary haha

“If it’s a game that makes them feel dumb, then who’s gonna wanna play a game that makes them feel that way?” 💯 Loved seeing all the different kinds of footage. Nice balance between that and seeing your face and background. Good work.

my bf already "plays" rpgs, but finishes like 1% of them. He's 99% a pokemon gamer. but the rpgs ive been able to get him hooked on were NiNoKuni, Persona, and eventually Xenoblade games. he didn't like xeboblade 2's battle and pacing, but Torna hooked him and he went back and played more blade games since.

I agree with every pick 100%, I think they all deserve a shot and would be good starting points. I only have one thing I disagreed with and that is your comment about the PS4 port of Trails From Zero. I played through that game fully on PS4 and it plays perfectly fine and looks and sounds good as well. It does not have the amount of total work put into it as the Switch and PC ports but the extra text options they added for those other platforms you dont even really consider when you play it through. I would still consider it a perfectly fine option if Sony is who you spend most of the time with. Fantastic list and well made Derek! I will reference others to this video if I'm discussing with beginners!

Being a completionist is kinda' an issue for me. Seeing that "???" in a bestiary rare drop or that quest to defeat X number of X monster leaves me doing dull tasks that make the game boring or ends up overleveling my characters. Or worse, finding out I missed that one time optional character that drives me to restart (Suikoden). Other than that, having TOO much text (especially unvoiced) is sometimes an issue with modern games. Balancing story and gameplay is important, and some modern games just don't have a story as interesting as they think they do. :p

I disagree on a few points here. On the point of complexity, if a game's battle system is too simplistic, like a Mario RPG or Final Fantasy VII, if you are coming from other games, people question things like, "Why am I waiting to hit this dude? In other games I just press attack and it happens." or "Why am I waiting to watch this 5min long cutscene summon. Am I watching a movie or playing a game?" That is where I think an RPG needs a hook, to show new comers why RPG's are special or what makes them different and enjoyable. Things like Grandia 2 or Panzer Dragoon Saga are both easy, linier experiences but give the player something to hook them to see why RPG's give an experience that is not possible in other genres. Grandia 2 for example rewards the player with interrupting attacks and adding more power to moves by spending coins on magic in menus, but you can do neither of these things and still get through the game. So where other RPG's force tutorials or hold back progression unless you "get it" or grind to level up, Grandia allows the player to slowly absorb what the differences in the genre are with out hampering the experience. For me, I think these are the kind of things that speak more highly of the genre and reward new comers while no putting new comers off or worse, boring them back to genres they are used to.

For Squarenix, I hate to say this but moneywise they should focus on one major release on all platforms with tons of marketing. Then on the side release tons of ''older stuff'' with a fresh coat of paint on mobile since it cost them pennies.

Amnesia is so overused to explain character actions. What a lame way to write a story

This video was nostalgic to me. My first RPG ever was Final Fantasy X. Seriously; that was the only good thing that I got out of my first year at university! I am even playing it now on PS4. I completed the game for the first time, and have now backtracked to get Celestial Weapons and maybe max out blitzball. Yeah, I am one of those super-rare players who enjoys that notorious minigame. The thing is most people seem to not know that you can change the controls from auto to manual, which gives a bit more strategy and skill to the mingame.

I decided to get a rog ally and jump into this series I hear so many wonderful things about sky so going there 😁 I have the other ones on PlayStation and switch so I got my work cut out for me .

Final fantasy 5? Romancing Saga 3? Treasure of the Rudras? Dragon Quest 5?

Completely disagree with avoiding the OG classics. They're usually much shorter and mostly hold up today. Plus you can use speedup and save states to make them less sluggish feeling-even on official versions thanks to certain re-releases. The remake of the first Dragon Quest that's on Switch is perfect for an RPG newbie, for example.

Romancing saga 3...now that's a toughie

18:37 indeed. Very earthboundy.

Just finished watching it and its... a BAD movie. What makes it such a bad experience is that the story/plot is such a convoluted mess that is made worse by the fact that you don't care about ANY character. There is no character arc that you as an audience will feel invested into. It was unfortunately made excusively for those that played DQV. Because only them can fill the gaps in their minds or appreciate all the references made in the film. Anyone else who didn't play the game, will feel completely alienated. Because the movie was ZERO effort in trying to tell a story that makes sense to newcomers. Or just to anyone that enjoys movies. Another pet peeve is that the creature designs were the only ones based on Akira Toriyama's designs. The designs for humans aren't. And IMO they look bad and even repulsive (the characters eyes especially - there is something off about them). I feel like the producers of this film wanted to copy the style of "How to Train Your Dragon". But failing to even achieve that. But yeah, the pacing is horrible. There is no sense of real progression as happens in most movies about a hero's journey.... or even in most RPGs. Which is a huge setback for this film. When the hero finally beats the baddie, you don't feel that the victory was earned. The controversial ending didn't even bother me as much as the other issues that I mentioned. Its a shame because otherwise the visuals are very impressive (other than the human designs).

I've been playing JRPGs since Final Fantasy IV on SNES and Chrono Trigger is my favorite video game of all time. Persona 4 Golden is where I started and fell in love with the Persona series. I enjoyed 5 a lot too, but as a whole, I found it a lot more daunting and it took me about 60 more hours to beat than 4 Golden, which already was the most number of hours that I had ever put into my first playthrough of any game upon first beating it.

1:42 ...I don't know...with hp being at the bottom...harder to keep an eye on health.

I think an accessible rpg for noobs is one that let you brute force your way through. Most ''hardcore'' rpgs will rip you apart if you don't properly learn their mechanics

love the hair Derek! :D

teach a man to JRPG, he will have a nice weekend. teach a man to emulate, he will enjoy life to its fullest.

I commented in the last video that FFMQ was my first JRPG and it might be fine nowadays if you're 6 like I was, but I guess I should also elaborate now like you have that that's also only the case if you take it as an introduction to the concept of the genre as a whole and use it as a first step to playing other actually-good JRPGs. Like, I liked FFMQ as a kid because I hadn't played anything like it before with swords and magic and a real "story", and that got me interested in checking out other games like it. I probably would've rented stuff like Lufia 2, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, etc. from Blockbuster eventually, but MQ just happened to jumpstart it for me. That all said your criteria's correct and I definitely had a very specific condition on my statement, and even then it was pretty half-hearted, because MQ is the type of game that has a place in my heart but I could absolutely never play it again. There's also just such a plethora of options at this point comparatively that it lessens it even more.

I REALLY loved that you talked about mechanical complexity. My very first RPG was Dragon Warrior(Dragon Quest here in the states) and I knew NOTHING about “grinding” or any of that stuff. My dad bought it for me at a garage sale for $7 without a manual, box, or the players guide. Needless to say I quit the game fast and died a lot which I hated. Fast forward several years to yep.. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and I learned it all! Grinding, magic, exploration, buying things, etc. All the RPG mechanics that are staples in those games. Beat Mystic Quest and like you said “then got into the GOOD stuff: Earthbound, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana. Woo! AND I went back and slaughtered Dragon Quest 1. It felt very satisfying and yeah, still love RPGs till this day. 🥰🥰 But yeah if a game makes you feel dumb, you’ll drop it like an ex girlfriend. 👍💪

I applaud you for not recommending Trails from Zero to a beginner (starting from Trails in the Sky is a must) but I wouldn't write off the PS4 version. If that is someone's preferred platform then it is perfectly ok to play that version. They wont be missing out on anything.

I want to say that while you said to avoid the OG classics, they actually remade the OG Final Fantasy 1-6 games in the Pixel Remaster series which has some quality of life improvements like boosted EXP and money, turn off encounters and always run.

I got offended 😂 when you said dont replay the same rpgs! Haha me literally playing the same games every year... chrono trigger for the 18th time 😂

There is always emulation for Mystic Quest, although I know you probably don't advocate emulation as it's considered illegal. However, with the recent rise of randomizers and Archipelago and Mystic Quest getting added to the Archipelago list, I think it's high time we stop pretending that emulation is dogsh** to avoid stepping on and just accept it. ;p

As a kid i always played chess and zelda. Then i moved to strategy games like age of empire and advance war. But later as a beginner in rpgs, my first rpgs were: 1. Pokemon sapphire 2. Chrono Trigger 3. Mario rpg snes

My top 3 rpgs i recommend for beginners are: 1. Skies of Arcadia - easy battles, deep story, lots of fun sidequests to keep you busy 2. Lost odyssey - easy battles, really deep story, amazing graphics and music! 3. Last remnant - battles are random so very little strategy needed, good story, nice graphics on PC

Another amazing video thanks for all the content you put out can't be easy with all the editing that goes into every video

I wouldn't recommend ffx or ni no kuni for beginners. When I was relatively new to rpgs. I actually was unable to go finish these at the time as I could stuck. Ffx half way and ni no kuni final boss. However trails in the sky was also a early jrpg for me and I beat that

Hey Derek, great video. Thank you for the hours of entertainment 👏

a good schedule i'm doing right now with Eyiuden Chronicles is: one dungeon a day. finished a dungeon? i save my game and return the next day, doing the dialogues and story until the next dungeon comes and i finish it. rinse and repeat. i've done this before with lunar 1 and it was a success!

Excellent explanation of the previous video and all of it makes sense. However, we are going to disagree on Mystic Quest. Yes, it's easy and mind numbing at times..... However, I like to think about it as a solid '90s RPG because of the story itself. Crystal themed, young boy taking on the world, evil king, gathers party members throughout his journey. It fits the mold. Also, highly nostalgic for me personally in the game so I will always have rose colored glasses for Mystic Quest

I wanna play The Adventures of Hourai High again. I know a lot of people seem to hate it, but there weren't many SNES comedy RPGs outside of Earth Bound and comedy RPGs these days just do reference humour rather than actually being silly fun. I still don't understand the dislike around it.

Dragon quest 11 made me get into JRPGs in a big way.

These are some nice criteria you mention right there, Derek! I agree with you on most of them, although on the easiness it probably depends on the age of the player as well as how accustomed they are to games, in my opinion. The first 3 (J)RPGs I finished were Final Fantasy X, Nier: Automata and Tales of Berseria, as far as I can remember, around 2017 or so. They were fun and had an engaging story. I had a laugh to myself remembering how I turned on a certain option in FFX, though, because I had no idea side quests were a thing to grow your characters back then🤡

We need to start a petition for Derek to play Nier Automata. That game is such a rare breed.

Good list of criteria here! The priority tiering helps too, and I agree that some things are a lot more important than others. You talking about criterion 3, mechanical complexity, reminds me about how many good games out there... really really need a guide or at least a lot of time investment and knowledge to figure out the mechanics. Even worse if there are hidden ones. In cases like Pokemon games, with a lot of hidden or pseudo-hidden mechanics (EVs and IVs, specifics on weird moves, etc.), it's not as bad, since you don't need that knowledge to beat the game, only to do high end competitive. For others like... (I am sure other comments will slaughter me) Final Fantasy VI, the stat bonuses from espers are visible but their importance is not really pushed much. I remember the first time I played it (as my second or third RPG ever), I hit a wall right at Kefka's Tower because there was a difficulty spike and I had been passing around espers willy--nilly to be a completionist and have everyone learn every spell, rather than focusing on the stat boosts. Sure, grinding more levels made up for it, but it's a softer example of how 'hidden' mechanical complexity can make a game a lot rougher on a new RPG player.

Great videos Derick. I personally think getting into an RPG is all about just playing whatever appeals to you. The first RPG I played was SMT4 which is definitely a good place to start in terms of Megami Tensei, but many would say because of the series known difficulty and rarity/ cost. Is a bad place to start. Many people would say start with something like Paper Mario or Pokémon, but those series didn’t appeal to me in terms of what I saw from the visuals and design. I think the idea of being told to play something you have no interest in too learn the mechanics of the genre so you can eventually play something you do care about is kinda silly, and if I did begin with something like Mario RPG or Undertale ect I probably wouldn’t be so invested into the genre today and wouldn’t of found many of my favourite games of all time. Just my personal opinion however I do understand the idea of videos like this because there’s so much history in the RPG genre. But yeah my biggest tip for getting into RPGS is just play whatever grabs your interest the most and stick with it- if you end up not clicking with it that’s okay because not every game needs to be experienced by everyone

Another great, well-thought out, and expertly paced video Derek. I love your passion not only for loving JRPGs yourself but wanting bring newcomers into the fold. Nothing is more disappointing and discouraging for enthusiasts of any hobby to look down on beginners. We should welcome the interest and never come off as elitist. I'd love to know your thoughts on more recent Indie greats like Sea of Stars and Eiyuden Chronicle and how they might stack up to a beginner. Keep up the great vibes Derek. You're a champion of RPGs my good sir! 😎

Thank you for going into this! I enjoyed your “For Beginners” recommendations. I will speak up and say that for difficulty, I greatly appreciate when there are difficulty OPTIONS. I’ve loved video games and played for a long time, but I won’t say that I’m super great at them. I have appreciated having options to make something easier or harder, and tend to find more enjoyment on easier difficulties. Having the option really makes a game more approachable for more players, I think.

It's honestly great to break down these categories, I feel like a lot of them don't get considered enough, especially availability. That said, anyone with the Switch NSO Expansion Pak has access to the original Paper Mario, which is a great starter RPG!

I've been emulating for 20 years now and to this date I shiver at the thought that I need to play something emulated, let alone via a pirated ROM. Countless times I have lost my save due to a bad ROM that has some fatal errors. Countless time I have experienced immersion breaking bugs that spoiled my fun. I am not against emulation and do it myself when there is no other adequate option. However, I completely avoid recommending that to anyone, let alone newbies. It has to be even more daunting for them.

You have a lot of titles on your list that I dont agree with. Because you recommand lots of games with very specific battle mechanics that can easily push people away from RPGs if they think every other RPG is similar. I agree with two titles on your list: FF 10: because its one of the easiest FF titles and has a good story. Chrono Trigger: because I found it easy and you can grind fast. But this are the ones I dont agree. I would avoid those games as a starting point for RPGs, if you want to get into this game genre and plan on playing lots of RPGs. Pokemon Lets Go is in my opinion the worst Pokemon Game to get into the pokemon series. The capture mechanic is very borring, repetitive and frustrating. Because the controlls are not good. Pokemon Go has much more fun mechanics. You dont have any battles against wild pokemon, which the other games have. So you are forced to do the capture mechanic even if you dont like it. I would really recommand any other pokemon game instead of this. Lets go is the worst pokemon game. Pokemon Games in general are a very good start to get into RPGs because they are very easy, because you can easily over level. Ni no kuni 1 is in my opinion a bad game for beginners. I love this game, it is great. But it is very hard for new players. First it has a high difficulty, leveling up in this game takes for ever, so you cant just grind if a endboss is to hard. You need to switch fast between the commands, so you need to have fast reaction speed. Later in the game you get AI companions and there AI is very bad, so they die a lot. Which forces you to heal a lot, while you already have to be fast at switching commands. I would recommand games where you get more time to react, what you have in turn-based games or action RPGs where party members habe better AI. There are lots of RPGs where your computer companions avoid almost all attacks. For example the Ys games or rogue galaxy. Rogue Galaxy was made by the same company, is also an action RPG and is much better for beginners, because you dont have to switch between commands and therefore can evade attacks much easier. You will have much less game overs in Rogue Galaxy, you can buy it in the PS E-Shop. I think if you already played at least 5 other RPGs, this is a good game to play. But I would avoid it as your very first RPG. Yakuza Like a Dragon is in my opinion a bad game for beginners, because of the battle mechanic. It is very random. You cant easily switch targets. Sometimes objects that should just be decoration block you from attacking specific enemies. Your skills dont show you any number or any indicator of how powerfull or effective they are. Trying to find strong attacks is a guessing game and thats not good gameplay. Jobs are not well balanced. There are countless reviews of that game on youtube that explain the problem with the battle mechanics in detail. I cant list everything here. I would recommand in stead trying Final Fantasy 5 because it has the same job system and is balanced extremly good. Every job has its own advantages and disadvantages. And you can switch them all freely everytime. What Yakuza like a dragon has going for it are story, characters, humor. So its a good game for people that dont care about battle mechanics. So if someone doesnt want to try RPGs because he does not want to learn complex battle mechanics than this is a good game to recommand as a first RPG to try. I didnt play Southpark Stick of truth. But the second South Park RPG. And I didnt like it because there where no random battles. So I had to collect stuff and play minigames I found borring to level up. If the first game is similar I would only recommand this game as an RPG starting point if I knew the person likes to play minigames and collect stuff. I didnt play persona 5 but I read in reviews that you have to restart doungeons if you dont make them in time or something. This is also not a good game mechanic for beginners. I would recommand RPG for beginners: Pokemon Games (Generation 1 to 5): easy to grind, easy battle system Final Fantasy Games (1, 2 and 5 to 10): easy to grind, easy battle system Tales of Games (Abyss, Vesperia, Berseria): easy to grind, you can choose the difficulty, also recommand symphonia because its a very easy game but it first chapters are very difficult for beginners. Rogue Galaxy Ys 8 Megaman Battle Network 3, 6