20 Hidden Gem RPGs: Collab Ft. YouTubers!

[@orbalology]

Thanks for having me on for this one, David! Looks like there are a few titles I'll have to bump up & add to my ever growing backlog 👀

[@davidvinc]

That backlog is just never ending!

[@10k-Noodles]

It’s not an rpg but everyone should also remember to play Sky Gunner.

[@projared]

Thanks for letting me be a part of this! This was a great idea to recommend some overlooked RPGs!

[@davidvinc]

Thank you so much for joining in, I loved your pick, it was one of my favorite games on the original PlayStation!

[@GamingtheOtter]

Love seeing a big youtuber collaboration with other content creators regardless of size. It's beautiful.

[@andrewhegstrom2187]

Is Legaia a short playthrough though? I love the game but the grinding in it is a real slog. Unless you consider 40ish hours short, which in the PSX days is fair.

[@g3ntendo]

Thanks Jared I’ve always heard good things about this game but this was a sign that I need to go ahead and play it! 💪🏼

[@Gyaku91]

Dude I loved your choice! I played the demo of it so damn much as a kid and I never hear anything about it! I was certain it was a fever dream till I saw your old top ten years ago with it on the thumbnail XD I hope more folks get it in the future. It deserves the love

[@femtrooper]

Looooooving this! What a fantastic collab! So many great games and ones I totally need to get to as well! Thanks again for having me on this! :)

[@davidvinc]

Thanks so much for coming on! I love having you here!

[@g3ntendo]

I def have to play kakarot I own it in my back log 😂

[@raidomegnuo2868]

Don't get me wrong, you seem to know your stuff judging your shelves and all...but Dragon Ball Z Kakarot as a hidden gem? Really?

[@sk45293]

The short stories of Live A Live have the same appeal to me as the opening chapter chapters of DQIV. Now that I’m an adult with little time for games, these bite-size adventures are perfect!

[@JRPGLife]

LOVE this list! Hylics 2 is officially on my shortlist of RPGs to play 😅 Thanks for having us on!

[@davidvinc]

You're always welcome here and I'll see you in SoCal!

[@unlucky_thir13en]

Thank you for commenting this because I could not for the life of me read the in-game font from the footage 😅 Kept searching "Hihex 2" and getting results for screws 💀

[@uppernimbus]

David my man, thanks so much for having me on this wonderful collab! Really excited to watch this video and see everyone's choice in JRPGs!

[@davidvinc]

Anytime man, it was great to see your energy!

[@TotalLevelYT]

Great seeing so many of my friends and people that I've been watching for quite a while, along with adding more subscribers. There are quite a few games here that I'll have to check out for myself (Fantasian, Great Greed, and Vanguard Bandits intrigue me the most). Great video!

[@tantacles]

I'm super happy that I got to be a part of this! Thanks for having me on!

[@davidvinc]

Thank you so much for coming on board, even if you knew what you were doing LOL

[@luvlybaluga]

7th Dragon 3 VFD is one of the greatest RPGs no one ever talks about T__T

[@TotallyTubularJonathan]

Thank you so much for having me included David! A life goal has finally been achieved!

[@davidvinc]

Thanks so much for coming aboard, your pick was the only one that I hadn't even heard of!

[@brettshivers]

Hylics 1 and 2 are great games... I personally prefer the 1st because it's a shorter experience, but they're both superb and unique

[@frumiousgaming]

Yooooo

[@ObiKKa]

Surprisingly, this is the top trending comment thread. And thank you, Brett Shivers, for spelling out the titles of that weird series. The title screen at 36:25 doesn't seem clear and it was hard to hear him pronounce it since this series is so obscure. It's on itch, but also on Steam.

[@ErekLadd]

Thanks David for having me on!! So many great games and sooo many great people here!!!

[@davidvinc]

Yeah this was great! Thanks so much for sharing your pick with us, I loved it!

[@Nevercraven]

Terranigma is such a gem and together with Soulblazer and Illusion of Gaia/Time makes for a great collection of games. Definitely a hidden gem 😇

[@TheGamingShelf]

Thanks for having me on again, David 😄 I love seeing so many people coming together to talk about some good ol’ underrated JRPGs 🥳

[@davidvinc]

You’re always welcome here Taylor and I’m super jealous that you got to play Fantasian, I’m still waiting for a port :(

[@aaronpitts6749]

Thanks for having Projared on. One of my favorites. (Besides David of course)

[@kianlin3260]

That Legend of Legaia mentioned by ProJared reminds me to its sequel, Legaia 2:Duel Saga in PS2. It has similar battle mechanic in better graphic. Nice collab, David 😊

[@marcsm2008]

This was an AMAZING video. I love hearing about little known games, and your idea of doing a colab for this was fantastic since this is a great way to know about KZbinrs I didn't know about. Thanks for doing this video, you are the best! (I actially know almost all those games already, but I'm not exactly normal. Lol)

[@radicalbyte]

I loved Terranigma back in the day and my 10-year-old has been playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 since release (with me watching), it's a wonderful and charming game. Hopefully there'll be a sequel on Switch 2.

[@infernofoxgaming10]

Thanks again for having me on and joining yourself and other KZbin RPG legends! Any time I can gush about Ys 3: Oath in Felghana and any Ys game, I will!

[@Evilriku13]

gotta ask, did you play Ys 4: Dawn of Ys too?

[@infernofoxgaming10]

@@Evilriku13 Yes, a while back via a fan-translated version. I enjoyed it MUCH more than Mask of the Sun, though honestly I still liked Memories of Celceta the most (except that ending 😠)

[@irwinvillanueva1308]

it's great someone mentioned the 7th dragon series.

[@bandrew1442]

These collabs are always so much fun

[@Shinky]

Thanks so much for having me on David! There’s some super good games on this list!

[@davidvinc]

Yeah there are, and I loved your Working Designs pick, they had so many good games!

[@Shinky]

@@davidvinc Gotta rep that working designs! Such a great publisher!

[@PAINNN666]

Great taste. VB best here.

[@PAINNN666]

@@Shinky Not that great. I mean they change difficulty in some games and in bad direction. Excluding VB by the way. It's easier

[@Shinky]

@@PAINNN666 The increased difficulty was the only way I experienced them so it’s irrelevant to my experience.

[@GamingtheOtter]

HellfireRPG is my favorite voice. I want him to read some of the lines of dialogue from dinosaur planet. Also Shadow Hearts is a fantastic game! Love the collaboration project David!

[@6SamChat9]

Even though I'm not really much of a jrpg myself. I love the massive energy that is produced in these videos. I find it very thrilling And I'm seeking out new people to subscribe too. 😅

[@davidvinc]

Well thank you!

[@toolman4745]

It's so funny seeing everyone's different experiences in life but in this case JRPGs. I'm not sure why but Shadow Hearts was hardcore on my radar when it came out. So much so that I even found out that there was a prequel to it in Koudelka that I wanted to play before playing Shadow Hearts so I tracked it down at my local EB Games/Gamestop and played it first. I've always loved this series. The only one I didn't play was the last entry because the protag's outfit looked ridiculous (I was weird back then) and also it got not the best reviews. I backed PennyBlood because of my love of this series. Wow this group of collaborators was STACKED!

[@FriendsAndGamingYT]

So happy to see digimon story cyber sleuth be mentioned, a game that really does deserve more love! I've been looking at getting some of these games, just wish they where cheaper to pick up! Always love seeing videos like this that shows so much personality of so many people and the games they love!

[@pikapikapitiful]

Threads of fate for me. Underrated action rpg for ps1. I've beat it more times than I can count

[@xeartnexus3020]

I love when these happen. It's most of my favorite creators coming together to talk about my first great love-RPGs. Thank you guys for your content!

[@frumiousgaming]

Femtrooper, just the gems, miss bubbles, and totally tubular Jonathan!! You been raiding my subscription list??

[@alwynjaegar1778]

Always felt jade cocoon was underated and overshadowed and it had a few adult moments which made kids think ya know😮😊

[@Turbo_Waitress]

I was really hoping the Persona 2 duology would get a rerelease on the Switch. I would love to be able to play both back-to-back on one console in one consistent form. I’m glad to see it mentioned here.

[@PetiteKero]

Terranigma is one of the best games of all time. Not only because of the story but the combat system aged sooo well. Needless to say, I support every video where Terranigma is only slightly mentioned. ❤ Also, about the pronunciation of "Live A Live". It's "raibu a raibu" (ライブ・ア・ライブ), so both "live" are pronounced identically. 😀

[@UpsetN3RD]

Paper Mario The Origami King is definitely on my 10/10 list as well,I loved that game so much,so I was very happy to see it on your list too. I am going to make another post about my 10/10 games too,but wanted to say this first.😅

[@yochrisnelson]

These collabs are always so fun. I also appreciate your twist on the concept by grouping them by themes and doing the little interstitial commentary. That's why you're one of the best in the game!

[@davidvinc]

Awww thank you so much!

[@TheCloudX]

Great collaboration! Thanks for highlighting so many great games. Miss the golden age of PS1 jrpgs.

[@TheRadBash]

Epic video David! Everyone had some solid picks! I've played some of these but will need to check out a few!

[@carlosrueda9204]

I wanna hear projared talk about the games of 30 years ago, today. So sad that series got yeeted

[@ChadGurney]

David, you are a darling. I love this channel. I have not seen a favorite retro strategy RPG video in a while.

[@mulasdd]

Fantasian is one of the most fun games i’ve played recently and im so glad someone else is still talking about it

[@jamesmohr7373]

I wish they would add unique combat like Legend of Dragoon and Legend of Legaia. Being able to summon enemies you defeated was awesome too! I think a Final Fantasy did that as well, cant remember which one off the top of my head.

[@Masterom2000x]

If the outside of the box says, "Working Designs," PLAY IT. Don't even think twice.

[@Tarvitz92]

OG Dragon warrior monsters... what a throw back. I spent countless hours in DWM2 trying to fuse the demon monsters and doing the key system. That was a great collab! these are always a lot of fun.

[@zerra_adventure]

Love the collaboration!! Nice titles, there were some I've never heard before, so thank you! My backlog is the only one unhappy with this xD

[@jamessnedeker4799]

I am loving your gameroom. Oftentimes, I just listen to your videos while driving from work or something so its great to see all the amazing mementos. You may want to turn around though as you got a Boo sneaking up on you. And again also loving the collab video with great content creators. The underground theme from Terranigma is my ringtone and I need to give Tokyo Xanadu and Dragon Quest Builders another shot along with some of these other gems.

[@leolightfellow]

This was so cool. Such a huge collab, the biggest so far. :) There's a lot to comment on, but for now I'll just say I found it amusing when SuperDerek for once didn't recommend Terranigma... then I saw ErekLadd recommended it and I was like "I see what happened." Fun stuff. :)

[@ItsNothingAmazing]

Thank you for having me on David!!

[@g3ntendo]

Thank you so much for having me on! I absolutely LOVE everyone’s picks! I absolutely have to play legend of legaia asap!

[@davidvinc]

Oh it’s absolutely fantastic!

[@subfez5588]

This was great. Loved it. Following you for a year ish. Love all your videos. Thank you for spreading the rpg news, reviews, opinions, and collaborations. Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m here for it!!

[@judedecoff1672]

Omg you are like the dream daddy!!! RPGs , Muscles, LGBTQ , who could want more!?!❤❤❤

[@Matthew7772005]

Absolutely loved this video so much. I want to play so many of these games. I love seeing all my favorite creators in one video. Thanks David. This made my weekend. Thanks also to 19 creators for your input.

[@mainelyjoe]

Awesome video, I love seeing some of my favorite youtubers coming together!

[@davidvinc]

Glad you enjoyed the video! I love doing these!

[@hansjaeger4166]

Been a while since I saw vanguard bandits, talk about nostalgia also I love terranigma

[@spvvky]

A great guide for someone curious about the genre that might know the biggest titles. Thanks for sharing everyone. Commenting to boost because I'm sure it was a lot of work!

[@TheLunarLegend]

Guests have good taste. Anytime people talk about underappreciated rpgs shadowhearts is always to of my list.

[@resellingwithjon]

A couple I’ll throw out there as RPGs I absolutely loved but never hear anyone mention are Eternal Sonata and Magna Carta 2. Eternal Sonata takes place basically as a fever dream of Chopin while he’s on his deathbed. As a huge fan of Chopin’s classical music and RPGs, this was an epic game for me. Magna Carta 2 wasn’t necessarily top tier by any means, but I really enjoyed it.

[@thequincy_]

What's wild is that I actually have played Hexyz Force a while ago through emulation and it really wasn't bad. The combat had more depth than I guess what you'd consider a "typical RPG", mainly in how the turn order and how skills work. I'm gonna have to make my back around to it eventually. The PSP has a ton of different RPGs on it that are hardly ever talked about, but are very enjoyable

[@DozenMarks]

PSP is definitely full of some secrets. I really enjoy the Dungeon Explorer game for PSP also. Really fun dungeon crawler action RPG. The original trio of games in the series on Turbografx and Sega CD are great too with a real kind of Gauntlet type feel to them too.

[@Zarathustra-rj4yz]

I recently got a retroid pocket 3 and have been binging rpgs especially translated sfc/snes games that we missed out on in the 🇺🇸 that are absolutely fantastic. So many sparking gems at my fingertips. Always learning about "new" classic games.

[@Vaquix000]

That mermaid on the thumbnail is adorable. Also love the funny gainboy tanktop. Picked really great RPG's - having played the Shadow Hearts trilogy, Legend of Legaia and Terranigma I can definitely recommend them. I'd have put Skies of Arcadia on here but maybe that's not "hidden" enough, not sure how well it did but would love another one like it. Perhaps a spiritual successor rather than a sequel since you already explore the whole world in that game, but I'd love to see that theme of exploring the sky and finding floating lands again.

[@jjmini]

Really loved this list of creators, they all had unique picks and takes on some classic gems. One creator id love to see on here in the future is eyesonbee. Feel like she could bring some really good takes to the table!

[@davidvinc]

Oh I love her! I’ve met her on quite a few occasions now, she’s a gem.

[@jjmini]

@@davidvinc Yessssss, she is one of my favorite people. An absolute Gem of a person

[@chickenfillets]

Fantastic Collab . I would like to throw Harvestella on the pile as well!

[@davidvinc]

It’s a great one!

[@Shamazya]

Ah, I was juuussssttt thinking about how a title from STING should be on the list and the last entry doesn't disappoint. I love almost everything from STING, very interesting stories and gameplay.

[@joshuagrandison7219]

Found your channel from Orbalology and I'm glad I did because this video is a treasure trove of games and youtubers for me to check out! Hidden gems indeed!

[@davidvinc]

Glad to have you on board!

[@CapnRetro]

"Don't lose faith, save your state" Mr. Sujano Edit: I'm gonna throw in recommend: Willow (NES) - kinda like Zelda Dog's Life (PS2) - A funny memorable dog adventure Survival Kids 1&2 (GBC) - Open world (as far as GBC games go) survival game

[@vitt27]

I really like your vibe and your enthusiasm in general. Thanks for always bringing us some nice content :)

[@davidvinc]

I appreciate that!

[@blairmcmackin8857]

I love the game Paladins Quest. I think it's by far the most underrated snes rpg.

[@MissBubbles]

Absolute legend, thank you for letting me push my agenda for a new DQB game 🥰🫧

[@davidvinc]

Hahaha! We should join forces for more DQ in the west!

[@ChristopherAngeles]

Great video, loved how you featured so many other content creators, will totally check them out. I added so many games to my backlog/to play list. Also surprised @justthegems didnt say Harvestella

[@gotinogaden]

Those were all solid picks! I'd also recommend "Resonance of Fate" on the PS3, which has a rather unique combat system and enough complexity to keep you engaged for hours.

[@snazzydrew]

7th Dragon III Code: VFD mentioned! O___O Legit the most hidden of gems in the 3ds library. I love it!

[@Morraak]

Fantasian looks like a really cool JRPG, would totally play it if it ever came to Steam.

[@AlohaGamester]

Loved the collab! Great input from each channel.

[@lambertar]

Miss Bubbles : "If you love craft..." Me : "I love Lovecraft !" 👀 Great collab !

[@Rave265]

Doooood, did not expect Hylics 2. Nice, trippy game with even nicer, funkier music. I could listen to every battle theme all day, lol.

[@isssma0]

Lots of my all time favorites here on this list! Legend of Legaia is what comes into my mind first when people mention RPG, I love Dragon Warrior Monsters and is definitely one of my all-time favorites, Digimon Cybersleuth may get repetitive, but I’ve spent countless of hours on it, and the value for money you get from it is insane. 7th dragon is something I wish I can complete, and I have come so close to beating it, but it’s hard to start over again because I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Hopefully there would be a plan for a switch port.

[@Igor-jz9kc]

Oh yeah! I'm so glad I'm not the only one who likes these old super games. I have played almost all of the recommended games here! And it's great that you let the people who recommend the games talk themselves on your channel. It adds extra spice.Legend of Legaia is one of my most favorite games. I just love the story, the characters and the unique battle style and the different look of armor and weapons. I want a qulity remake of this game and a sequel. Not the Legaia 2, but a continuation of the first one. Legend of Dragoon is also cool, my only rant with it is the limited item space and lack of special learnable arts for Dragoon forms.

[@DragonKingX78]

Persona 1 and both 2s are very underrated.

[@garchomowner]

I would love to offee one of my hidden gem too: avalon code on nintendo ds. It has such unique progresssion and plot where you must record every object in your magic grimoire and the world is going to end. The most unique thing the world is def going to end, no way to save it, but your character is chosen to pave the way to a new creation by recording people, objects, culture, monsters, etc. It also has a unique progression system where with your magic book you can change attributes to items and equipment to make them stronger.

[@madkaiser4887]

WOAH! What a ALL-STAR Line-Up of Content Creators including some of my good friends here, and all for a truly epic video Also yeah I’m guess I’m weird of pronouncing Live A Live differently from what Sackchief says, haha….😅 and ooh NightSkyPrince talking about a Falcom game, that’s a nice feeling

[@tsukino_mahou]

No, he's pronouncing "Live A Live" incorrectly the whole time and I had to skip the segment for it. The box says "ライブ・ア・ライブ" and that means it's as in "live broadcast" twice. Maybe it was just a joke I'm not aware of from not knowing that person's videos, but it came off as the opposite of how David handles it by laughing at not knowing.

[@helveciog]

Legend of legaia is a masterpiece.

[@grey_wulf]

Hi David! These are some awesome rpg recommendations. I've played many of them, and agree 100%. This was a fun watch! Thanks again for another great video and have a blessed day!

[@kixb4632]

new sub dude, barely discovering you now but there are a few creators in this video ive followed for a few years. love to see it, keep rockin.

[@davidvinc]

Welcome aboard!

[@kevintrjohnson]

Some of my favorites that almost nobody talks about are Oreshika (it's a little like the Persona-ripoff Conception in that you're essentially trying to breed a stronger family, but more interesting) and Muramasa Rebirth (especially with the DLC) on PS Vita as well as Phantasy Star Portable 2 (probably my favorite PSO variation--I played this with my siblings for probably 100 hours or more) and Kingdom of Paradise (it takes a while to get the most out of the battle system, but creating your own combos is fun as hell) for PSP. Is that a Chargeman Ken parody in Zanki Zero? I'm going to have to play that game.

[@williambooth7885]

Some of these game rooms make me sooooo jealous. Every time David does a game room update, I'm all 😍😍and 😭😭at the same time. One day I must have such a setup

[@10k-Noodles]

Legend of Dragoon and Live-A-Live being hyped in a David vid is hilarioua. I’m here for Dragoon. The other literally just received a remaster.

[@CrocodileBrach]

Really making me question not buying Tokyo Xanadu! Might get it in a sale now!

[@davidvinc]

Yeah, someone never saw the 80s classic Olivia Newton John movie. I need to introduce NSP to classic gay cinema

[@DozenMarks]

Tokyo Xanadu DEFINITELY deserves to be in this list. I put it off for a few years and kicked myself when I finally got around to playing it for waiting.

[@saeefa]

I want to add my own hidden gem and that is 'Arc The Lad twilight of the Spirits' heavily underrated and unfortunately forgotten

[@BvngeeGvm]

Legend of dragoon is neither hidden nor underrated. It’s highly rated by basically everyone who plays and known by any mild JRPG fan

[@90shandheldgamer]

Epic collab! Lots of awesome KZbinrs!

[@davidvinc]

Yes they are!

[@90shandheldgamer]

@@davidvinc You too man! Great job putting this together!

[@thekinginyellow7]

Great video! Everyone here has impeccable taste, no wonder they’re all my favorite youtubers 😆

[@Jasonf0416]

Love that Bravely Default 2 framed picture!!

[@10k-Noodles]

Hearing Night Sky prince talk about a game that isn’t bad modern Final Fantasy is pretty refreshing.

[@MuujaGG]

Every time Dragon Warrior Monsters gets mentioned, NOBODY mentions the sequel(s). The story is charming, the translation is a lot smoother than the previous entry, the color palette is expanded to take advantage of GBC hardware, and there's an extended catalog of monsters to collect. Although, the fact that you have to link both games to gain access to the postgame content is really annoying to pull off nowadays. Also the fact that both the PS2 remaster and the 3DS remake weren't released outside of Japan really doesn't help its case. Hilariously, compared to batteries in Pokémon cartridges, the battery in my original Cobi's Journey cartridge from decades ago still works.

[@ArveEriksson]

I personally want to give Albert Odyssey on the Saturn (something-something Eldean?) a very loud shout-out. I'm playing it now, and I'm just charmed by the whole thing. SO much fun! I don't know if I'd have liked it quite this much when I first got my Saturn, but this game just lovebombs me right back.

[@TheGameSmith89]

Loved Hexyz Force! I bought it when I saw HCBailly was doing an LP of it and followed along with him!

[@JM-xi2dd]

Shadow Hearts is one of my favorite games ever. I was recently trying to remember what the name of this game was. Perfect timing!

[@carlosrueda9204]

I love these hidden gem videos. As a retro gamer i appreciate the classics.

[@socialistprofessor3206]

I agree fully about Hexys Force. That one was a true gem.

[@thehoff3189]

I've been excited to see this! Love the collabs

[@davidvinc]

Yay! Thank you!

[@Therealcovault]

Evolution + Evolution 2 are criminally underrated imo, especially Evolution 2. I played them on Dreamcast back in the day and I absolutely loved them!!! And nobody played I knew played them so I couldn't talk to a soul about it, still rings true to this day. It's kind of similar to Trails in a lot of ways (top tier world building, charm, craft like attacks) Everyone was playing Grandia, and Skies of Arcadia, but I was in the Evolution corner. Same was true for Earthbound back in the day. But talk about hidden gems 💎 I do have to say that I didn't like Evolution 1 quite as much as Evolution 2. Evolution 2: Far off promise, baby! Check it out

[@DozenMarks]

Great list of games here. I've probably played about 70% of them and even learned about a couple I hadn't heard about before. There's always some great games a lot of people haven't heard of before out there to try and play. Like Shining Force CD, for example.

[@keymo9480]

I always love these collabs! I’ve found so many good channels I’d have never seen.

[@foxplays_]

Big respect for the Hylics 2 mention! Such a great game, can't wait for Hylics 3