Top 10 Most Underrated JRPGs

[@mossiness]

0:00 Intro 1:49 Shadow Hearts/Shadow Hearts Covenant (PS2) 3:11 Suikoden III (PS2) 4:28 Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES) 5:48 Fate/Extra (PSP) 7:16 Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS, PS, Sega Saturn) 8:28 Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GameCube) 9:43 Vandal Hearts (PS, Sega Saturn, PC (SKorean)) 10:59 Hexyz Force (PSP) 12:14 Eternal Poison (PS2) 13:28 Growlanser: Heritage of War (Growlanser V: Generations) (PS2)

[@_mako]

seeing growlanser on there made me so happy. ive never seen a game come close to being as good as that, from the story to the gameplay. it truly is unique and has been for over a decade now. i have so much love this game. its such a shame that its direct sequel never made it out of japan, although im glad it had a pretty complete story on its own

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Growlanser FTW

[@robertdanker6193]

I agree with all the games on this list except Fate extra, I found the battle system to be frustrating. Great video!!

[@tigmo55]

Thank you for sharing this video, Erick! I feel the EXACT same way about Shadow Hearts I & II. Both games are amazing with Covenant probably being my favorite SH game. Baten Kaitos was also wonderful! The only knock I had on that game was the voice acting. Not all of it but some of the videos were pretty irritating. Lol.

[@Chelaxim]

I think Yggdra Union is criminally underrated. I think the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable was the first time where different systems with actual competition when it came to jrpgs.

[@sonny167349]

I so much agree with you~ it had it's flaws. But for me Yggdra Union was one of the most gratifying games I've played on GBA and PSP~ And I honestly feel it's a sin it is so....underrated.

[@juwanbantug5465]

I feel like the entirity of the Dept. Heaven series is underrated, starting from Yggdra Union and Riviera to KitN and Gungnir. I'm also including in Blaze and Gloria Union, even though both games don't have an english localization.

[@egregiousarts6088]

Michael Lewis: The JRPG King!

[@paulfogolin4054]

Great list Erick! We have extremely similar taste, especially re Lufia 2 and Suikoden III. Love your channel, keep up the good work.

[@aloisiosenra]

So glad you included Lufia 2 and Vandal Hearts on your list... I love these games.

[@eliotwildermann]

That plot twist at the end of shadow hearts 2 was fucking nuts i really liked it an would've loved to see a continuation of the plot

[@Ingeniousleo85]

I don’t think I’ve played any of the games you listed! I came to discover the JRPG genre very late in life and completely missed everything before the PS4 basically. Playing catch up now. I really enjoy your videos! Great job

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Thank you!

[@ChescoYT]

+1

[@ArabianAce]

I agree with you! Growlanser is indeed criminally underrated. Growlanser V is really good, but I found Growlanser IV to be a bit better in my opinion. I gotta say though, Growlanser V was much more mysterious to me. :-)

[@elasmojones]

Growlanser IV almost makes my top 10 video games of all time. Best part about it - the ridiculous amount of ladies you can end up with.

[@noctis_caelum]

IMO, Valkyria Chronicles 3 is the best psp game. And it's underrated too.

[@DevonDekhran]

Man I totally agree with soul hackers, it took me such a long time to discover about it, and there's so little people talk about it, but I've beaten it last month and it's awesome The story, music, gameplay I was blown away by it as I didn't expect anything

[@vagabundorkchaosmagick-use2898]

When Lufia 2 was released in America, in the 90, I was there and I can tell you, at least in Mexico, it was not underrated, it was well appreciated. Back then, RPGs were not very popular here, but Chrono Trigger, and then FF 7, changed that, but games like Lufia 2, FF 6 and Breath of Fire 2, as well as Illusion of Gaia and Secret of Evermore, made the genre popularize, to the point Itochu Mexico got approval from Nintendo of Japan to make original games as well as localize in Spanish, games only released in Japan, starting with Magic Knight Rayearth; sadly, it never happened. But as time went on, Lufia 2 was forgotten and you're right, it should be more known and played.

[@MARK111174]

cool, I actually own Growlanser HoW; need to go back and play it; thank you for the reminder

[@taigaaisaka5066]

I own almost every game on this list. I love jrpgs, I have a lot of random stuff.

[@JouMiranda19]

Out of all these, I only have Shadow Hearts, Baten Kaitos, and Eternal Poison. The first 2 Shadow Hearts were amazing. I still remember the amount of Yuri fans crying over him not showing up in the third game. Baten Kaitos has bad voice acting, but youll get used to it but you'll love the unique battle system and seeing how items age with time (ex. Milk turns to Yogurt then turns to Cheese or with meat you have 1 hour to cook or it will rot) and Baten Kaitos Origins is an amazing prequel to the original, but unfortunately it was for the Gamecube which wasn't as known for JRPGs (besides Tales of Symphonia) as the Ps2. And for Eternal Poison, I think it was underrated because at least where I live it released on the same day as Persona 4 and everybody went for that instead and at the end of the Ps2 life cycle, by the time they were done with P4 they just went with the the Ps3. I remember when I bought the game at release the EB games employee was pretty much saying why not buy Persona 4?, I still have it with the soundtrack disc. Sorry for the giant wall of text, but these games are amazing but one way or another got underappreciated.

[@ErickLandonRPG]

No worries, I'm glad you came to share your thoughts on my video. Thanks!

[@kevinjones7870]

I spent many happy hours playing Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts Covenant, those two were awesome games

[@Eggnificent]

Congrats on 40K Subscribers Erick!

[@MARK111174]

Sweet Home fan translation for NES (very cool)-survival horror/rpg

[@bloody4558]

Growlanser Heritage of War, the only Growlanser I've played and one I completed more than thrice

[@Dhalin]

Shadow Hearts: From the New World does in fact have something to do with SH1 & SH2. At the beginning of SH2, you open a door. This door release a ton of Malice out into the world, and a good bit of this Malice ends up, aaaaaalllll the way in the Americas which is where FtNW takes place. That, and the book that is used in SH1 and SH2 is used again in SH3 (I forget the name of it, that book people try to resurrect people with) which is kinda how the main character ends up the way he is. The Malice and that Book are kinda the whole driving plot of FtNW (or at least they are what cause the events of the entire game to happen). I am Not saying that this should change why FtNW is not on this list, but I just wanted to clarify that FtNW is indeed part of the SH1 and SH2 verses and the storylines do connect (albeit a little loosely). Rage-Quit video of Lufia? I'm going to have to find that... the game is hard, but it isn't That hard if you know what to do. Vandal Hearts... I had this game once... but I somehow lost it, and I cannot find it, at all. Kinda a bummer, I got like halfway through the game and somehow the CD up and disappeared... The rest of them I have either never heard of, or don't have the correct console for, or just never saw in stores...

[@alexandrojavierpinto2501]

Fate Extra has also a interesting story and a good reflection for the Holy Grail War and some More interesting things. Also, each Servant story that appears in the game are interesting to read, to think about much things. I really like, and I could say that I love it :v. Hexyz Force too. Irene Remember me sometimes of Celes u know?. Besto waifu And Griek is besto Bro.

[@alexandrojavierpinto2501]

@Firion Al'Hade It has some issues. At least the grinding is Fun.

[@alexandrojavierpinto2501]

@Firion Al'Hade Besides, you can have an ítem that evades all battles if you equip it. The game isn't so hard too and the story is very cool.

[@alexandrojavierpinto2501]

@Firion Al'Hade I liked their relationship too. She always cared for him and tried to be with him even in bad times. She even stayed like 1 or 2 weeks with him when he was possesed by that power. They complement each other very well, and Dreav Is such a bro.

[@RonaldVR]

You are a true RPG hero 👍

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Hahaha, thanks.

[@MARK111174]

cannot call Octopath Traveler underrated; getting high praise

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

Overrated then. Boring simple mobile level game

[@gabrielike1370]

RagingRejectTV this ain’t it chief

[@m4rcin847]

@@I_Am_The_Social_Reject More like overpriced. Its not full price game level.

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

@@m4rcin847 Price is the least of my worries. If it was treated like an indie game and not praised like it's something special, I would just ignore it and let the people that don't have standards waste their money. To think I spent the same money on Octopath as FF7 remake which is so much better. It's criminal lol

[@averagehuman3161]

@@I_Am_The_Social_Reject agreed. Octo is trash lol way overrated

[@Eggnificent]

Suikoden 3 is the hardest entry out of the Suikoden series. But I beat it. And I think it was the only entry other than 4 where I didn't get all 108 SOD (I got 104). I think the battle system held this entry back, but I like the skill upgrade system. Lufia 2 needs more love. Especially for revolutionizing the Rouge Dungeon genre with random dungeon mode. I totally missed SMT growing up as the games were only Japanside (and I didn't know Japanese at the time). Vandal Hearts 1 and 2 were awesome games and I beat them both. If Konami made a Vandal Hearts or Goemon Collection I wouldn't be upset at them. If you did the Vandalier sidequest you get 6 more battles in VH1 and in VH2 you are able to train and your skills are tied to your weapons and armor however you need a strategy guide to find the dialog options to unlock those battles in VH1. What I like about it is that there are simultaneous movement actions. There is no enemy phase. They move while you move. If

[@AxelsVirtue]

I think you got Suikoden III and V backwards. From what I've seen in fan forums, III retained most of the fans from II while at least half the fan-base refused to give V a fair shot after being disappointed by IV. As a result, Konami gave up on the main series.

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

Exactly

[@alana258]

I was so happy to see Lufia 2 on the list, I love that game so much! Too bad it got such a bad remake on the DS :( I hope the Lufia series can make a great comeback someday..

[@kjeld1]

Karin Koenig

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Well said!

[@MadGaming-87]

Eternal Poison And Growlanser Heritage Of War Both Of Them Is My Favorite JRPG On PS2

[@NyRain545]

So much Atlus here lol nice list man like always i'm so glad i found your channel you deserve more views.

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Thank you.

[@ShiroKatagari]

It's always good to see Vandal Hearts getting some love. The sequel is also good, although the simultaeneous combat turns take some getting used to (and I'm not surprised that it never caught on within the genre). Eternal Poison is one I've often thought about buying but never get round to it. As for other hidden JRPG gems, have you looked at Stella Deus?

[@sergiobarboza3281]

Awesome video as usual. Hey do you remember Working Desings? they have tons of criminally underrated JRPGs like Dragon Force. It would be nice to see a video about their Saturn releases.

[@daniel_cofresi]

In my opinion the most underrated RPG is Alundra for PSX: great characters, music, puzzle based dungeons and the best and most moving story i've ever seen. It also happens to be my favorite game of all time

[@asmodeus58XX]

It's also Action Adventure, not an RPG.

[@miriadetasy]

Thanks man, ill give these a try

[@konovolov]

Currently playing through Suikoden 1 and 2 again. Perhaps 3 is underrated because it wasn't released in Europe?

[@nadirsaleh7839]

Lufia 2, one of my favourite RPG's ever!

[@near_p7712]

One of my absolute favorites is Oriental Blue Ao no Tengai for the gba. It was japan only, but theres a translation online.

[@x3nowildfir393]

I agree with this list, most of the games I have played on here are really underrated.

[@David_Alvarez77]

Good list! A mix of games that I love and some I've never tried. I love Eternal Poison and Vandal Hearts.

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Thank you. And yeah, those two games are really good.

[@diagtot8310]

good list (thumps up for soul hackers especially), the most underrated game for me is ar tonelico 2 (tho the whole exa_pico saga is that.. except for maybe qoga.. but even that story is awesome, huge part plays the well thought-through world setting)

[@angrylooweegee]

Imo the Persona 2 the duology felt underrated among the fans, but I consider them cult classics since they are my favorite games of all time

[@musicfriendly12]

About Soul Hackers... Can you do a video about 1st person dungeon crawler rpgs?

[@Yemith_Gaming]

Fortunate to have a few of these. I have Eternal Poison in my collection, but never played it.

[@croix759]

I definitely agree about Vandal Hearts, I even prefer it over FFT.

[@SwordsmanOrion]

Every time I see or hear someone talking about Vandal Hearts, I always think it's a completely different PS1 SRPG called Vanguard Bandits. I get those two games confused in my head all the time. I've never actually played Vandal Hearts but I did play Vanguard Bandits. It was.... alright. Not my favorite SRPG ever. But it was better than Kartia. I only bought that game because of the Yoshitaka Amano artwork on the cover.

[@spo0oky981]

I agree with this list for the most part... Im not trying to say that your list is wrong, it is your opinion after all. one of the most underrated jrpgs in my opinion is brave fencer musashi by square. I think if people would give it a try they would love it! (square please make a sequel)

[@davidribeiro6874]

Theres Musashi: Samurai Legend on PS2. I believe its a sequel

[@Zodia195]

Some of my fav games are JRPGs and so let me see which of these I've heard of. I will say this, most of the time JRPGs get underrated because of 2 things- 1- because of the consul is on or 2 because it gets overshadowed by another more well known game. This is my opinion of course and there could be other factors. 10. So this is a PS2 game? I wonder if a factor for it being underrated is because if you compare this to the likes of Kingdom Hearts, the graphics don't hold up. Looking at the gameplay though, that's one interesting mechanic of timing your move to get a better hit. I like that. Normally I hate time mechanics in a game, but this is one of those few exceptions when I love it because I love being precise. 9. Only reason I never got into the franchise is because of one thing- I don't like strategy JRPGs because it reminds me too much of chess and I hate thinking too hard. 8. I bet this game got overshadowed by the 3 big ones of this time period- Secret of Mana, FF 6, and the classic Chrono Trigger. 7. *Looks at consul* Yeah, PSP and even Vita games aren't really talked about. Frankly the only game franchise I think off that was successful was Dangranronpa 1 and 2 (which were originally on the Vita). 6. Hmmm, hey I think you're doing a decent job in this video, but I do think you're being too general and repetative at times in your explanation on why you love these games. 5. Well, if something has an interesting story, that I'll check it out, but the gameplay from what I've seen, I have a hard time figuring it out. Maybe I can find a review of it to see how you use these cards in battle because Turn-based is my bread and butter. 4. I do recall hearing the name Vandal Hearts floating around, but like I said before Strategy JRPGs aren't my thing. 3. Well this game does look like it's up my alley, but I don't plan on getting a PSP so hopefully this will get the Virtual Consul treatment. 2. I am in the camp where I am fine with easy games because it means less stress and for me the point of a game is to have fun. So sadly, if this game is hard I won't be picking it up. 1. Well darn if this wasn't strategy, I'd check it out. Now I have tried this type of game, but it always gave me a headache, so I stop bothering. Overall interesting list, I just wish you weren't as general in describing these games. A few you did good on, especially describing the mechanics, but I heard masterpiece a lot, so it got redundant at times.

[@BTG25]

I love the Fate Extra. since you get to choose 1 of the 3 servants and it's graphics is good for the psp. If you haven''t heard there is another Fate Extra game on psp called Fate Extra CCC. Its not a sequel the story kinda takes you in a different dimension and lost your memories if I recall and in this game you get to choose the fourth servant Gilgamesh. The sequel to the Extra is fate Extella which is the same gameplay as the dynasty warriors. and I believe there's another sequel to the extella which my friend told me.

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Is CCC english translated?

[@BTG25]

There's no english version of it since it never went out on japan. But I believe there's a team that translate the game and managed to patch it up almost all of the texts but some are still in japanese. I'm sure even if its wnglish or not you can still manage to beat it since it's a lot easier compared to it's 1st game. Also the graphics become smoother.

[@Kaoren717]

What is the ost playing during your #1 review, 13:30 on...

[@BinaryDood]

what is that blackboard behind you

[@gulyasdavid6170]

too many very undaretted but great j-rpg... I'm from hungary and here the Xenogears and Saga trilogy is awfully undaretted and less know... my heart is bleeding... cuz one of my favorite games/j-rpgs of all time w the most deepest story..

[@josoares6284]

5:29 . is it a chrono trigger soundtrack or not? . i know that i already had been hearing that music before . but i dont know which game this is from.

[@bellick4]

chrono cross

[@ComradeArthur]

I wonder if game that sells for over $50 can be underrated. I mean, if the demand is *that high* I think the word is out there!

[@jeffreyrichey6039]

Can anyone help me. There is a handheld tactics JRPG. The main character is a girl who works for the church. Her attack is punching. She meets a mysterious dark ally who uses guns. His dark side is evil. I know it is vague, but I seem to be the only person who played it.

[@AirMage50]

Jeanne d’Arc?

[@jeffreyrichey6039]

@@AirMage50 No, but thank you for guessing.

[@7Ronin7]

Are you talking about La Pucelle Tactics? That's sounds like it to me.

[@AirMage50]

@@7Ronin7 probably you are right. Piere also fighting with her legs.

[@jeffreyrichey6039]

@@7Ronin7 Yws. Thank you!

[@jzblue345]

Spectral souls is a good one I tried it and loved it my first strategy rpg I actually liked

[@Lozard2324]

Still hope that shadow hearts gets a reboot or something. Also Legend of Legaia. But probably will never happen...

[@MentalOutlvl6]

Smt hackers was a pretty good game

[@D0ntTaseM3Br0]

Vandal Hearts was a very good game.

[@nr2676]

All of REAL Shin Megami Tensei games are so underrated, not only Soul Hackers.

[@denispodic7780]

The mainline series gets a lot of love, actually. Especially Nocturne (to the point of being overrated)

[@NP-ip3nj]

I love Soul Hackers

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

Suikoden 3 is the most loved under 2. 5 is dull. Way too slow and political. 4 was short and kinda dull but didn't seem too bad. 1 was amazing. Refuse to play 2 until I replay 1

[@Random.Walker.]

And true number one is... 1. Princess Crown.

[@spyroblue3477]

The must underrated game was The legend of dragoon, when i think about it I feel sick!! Why such a few people know it?

[@boxinchito]

Still looking for Eternal Poison complete

[@Feskprins]

I haven't watched the video yet, but if Legend of Legaia for PS1 isn't on this list, I'm calling the FBI.

[@ChescoYT]

ty for your videos

[@ErickLandonRPG]

You're welcome.

[@noneofdis307]

i love u

[@ErickLandonRPG]

Thanks (?)

[@Kisuke242]

Mana khemia student alliance

[@sharebear421]

Agreed on all these except fate extra. Game was just plain bad (then again I didn’t like the anime either)

[@TheVoltrom]

Vandal Hearts is the best srpg for ps1.

[@jongibson4866]

I can't stand card battle games... PERIOD. I've tried Yggdra Union and couldn't get into it because it needed me to have a damn card I didn't have and got killed... not just once but all of time.

[@ErickLandonRPG]

I don't blame you, it's one of the hardest PSP JRPGs ever made.

[@guusama3404]

yeiarpiyi xD

[@denispodic7780]

The more I watch your videos, the less credibility you seem to have. Since you disabled comments on your "overrated jrpg" video(even though you encouraged people to comment) let's talk about that a bit. Dark Souls isn't overrated one bit. People enjoy it because it's a callback to a time where games were actually difficult due to requiring skill, not because of cheap gimmicks? And yes, it might even be one of the most difficult JRPGs. Final Fantasy X gets the praise it does because of ditching pre-rendered backgrounds, being the first one to have voice acting, and also having a really engaging story. I wouldn't call it overrated, especially because as many people love it, an equal amount shit on it. And regarding Persona 4... Not having a SMT vibe? Dude, the psychology and the problematic of the game, as well as the themes and plot twists are completely SMT. Also, Q(even though a lame fanservice game) is not a 4 spin off, but a 3 and 4 crossover. And if any Persona game is overrated, it would be 3. That's about it. Your videos aren't terrible(quite entertaining, actually), but do your research and prepare your script a bit better.

[@denispodic7780]

Oh and, try to expand your game library 😂