UPGRADE YOUR GROUP AND SURVIVE! - ELEMENTAL SURVIVORS

[@SamobeeGames]

Thanks so much for playing and sharing! So happy you enjoy the JRPG vibes! Charlene, the artist and game designer, grew up with these games and the whole "Nintendo Power" magazine aesthetic. We'll be launching August 25th and already have regular content updates planned. To anyone commenting on the "slow pace", there are different difficulty settings plus there will be an update shortly after launch that unlocks more ways to affect the difficulty for each area, plus a whole lot of side quests that will add some big challenges mid-level. We also cranked up the speed since the original demo. Thanks again for playing!

[@Aura-Of-Syrinx]

Any plans for more than Steam? Like Switch or Android/iOS? This game looks so chill for being on the couch with something on in the background

[@SamobeeGames]

OMG we'd love to but no plans yet! @@Aura-Of-Syrinx

[@RuNoMai]

@@SamobeeGames Seconding that this is the kind of game that I would LOVE to have on the Switch!

[@supermansleftnut]

This is incredible! I love the dedication! Tom always knows how to find these perfect little gems! You've built something great here! Nailed the aesthetic. Great game!

[@Jeku-]

The soundtrack slaps, 6/5

[@Prophes0r]

Marco and Lewy the Mushroom brothers? I love them! They are such good electricians and are always looking out for Prince Nectarine.

[@Billdooe]

For old style ones Chrono Trigger was an absolute gem. I've replayed it over and over. As for the FF's, Despite the love/hate the community has for it, I've always been fond of 8(But it was my first) Secret of mana was pretty fun too.

[@jean-francoisben4642]

I'm in Team FF7. I discovered the FF series with this game when I bought for my 18th birthday and it's still my favorite even though I truly love many games of this serie. I do plan to play FF8 since I got it on switch with my FF7 and I have no doubt it'll be good. 😁

[@amys.6619]

Love that this slowly evolved into a superchill video.

[@kyleerikson4971]

Top Comment, you nailed it, m8

[@LaughingThesaurus]

Absolutely Octopath Traveler, it's pretty old school. And, the big thing is, Octopath Traveler 2 improves on the first one in so many ways while basically being fundamentally the same. So, if you end up liking it, then you'll have TONS of extra stories and adventures in the form of the sequel.

[@kyleerikson4971]

Wish I'd seen this before my comment. THIS! Would be great for the channel, another series with plenty of TomVoiceActing opportunities would be SO much fun. I'm only playing the first Octopath now, but the whole time thinking of Our Boy, Tom.

[@Alba_Longa]

This game is so damn chill the video turned into a podcast. Love it!

[@isupposeiexist]

I love how much effort goes into making something look and feel proper old school

[@SamobeeGames]

Hi! It's just two of us and we have such a huge passion for oldschool JRPGs and we are having SO MUCH FUN making this game! Thank you for the comment!

[@theMinecraftman87]

This feels like a super chill and I'm here for it

[@BugEyedCreep]

Blue Dragon was my personal favorite from my childhood

[@spencestephenson5696]

Getting a Golden Sun call out has honestly made my day. It is my peak handheld game, top 5 for sure.

[@LokiPhish42]

Was there 2 games? Had elemental gennies that could came their attacks?

[@Etaripamai47]

​@LokiPhish42 3 games actually. Golden sun, Golden sun the lost age, and Golden sun dark dawn. All were excellent, but the first 2 on GBA were tier 0 rpgs for me alongside legend of dragoon for the ps1. Flint the djinn was s+tier lol

[@That_Guy_Brando]

If you want a recommendation for an old school style JRPG to play then I believe that C’Thulu Saves The World is not only up your alley but is just the whole alley.

[@liallen9380]

I remember playing this one during Nextfest and finding it a bit slow... which can be a common complaint about Survivor-likes at the start, but this one just felt slow the entire time. Seems to track through this run, as well. It is a cute nostalgic concept, but the pacing just isn't really there. Or at least compared to more stand-out titles in the genre (20 Minutes til Dawn, HoloCure) that had a better ramping feel. Or maybe it's just me? Still, every genre is gonna have ups and downs, and I do appreciate Tom showcasing games that would otherwise just fall through the cracks a bit.

[@suicune1324]

Tom didnt use it but you can speed up the whole game when you look at the left side of the screen. It helps a lot

[@ajcunningham5892]

This was a particularly enjoyable episode of the JRPG Podcast with Tom

[@contactxain]

I loved star ocean second story, it had a nice branching narrative with two separate main characters.

[@Imatorpedo]

Mario RPG is getting a remake on switch. Very fun story, may be worth picking up. Think in November.

[@TheRexisFern]

I'd toss my vote for the Bravely Default series. Love turn based battle games, and the BD2 on the switch is top tier.

[@kamikazesopp]

I want to agree so bad, but the blatant "Please buy time-coins with real money instead of waiting like a scrub!" dialog when you did the fancy turn-thing (haven't played in 10 years, sorry) got my goat pretty bad after a while. That, and my little idle town-thing getting swarmed by those hacked max-level monsters.

[@TheRexisFern]

@@kamikazesopp I promise, with all my heart, the switch doesn't bother with any if the gimmicks and all of the good things.

[@TheItachikiller]

Golden sun is amazing, I loved how your spells and class changed with each djinn you equipped. I think I actually have the guide for the game somewhere on my shelves still. You should give the third one a shot! It's on the Nintendo DS

[@A70M1C]

Chrono Trigger has always been my favorite classic JRPG. The soundtrack is just stellar as well.

[@nagrom777]

Omg, someone organically mentioning Grandia?! You are thinking of the right game Tom and I loved that game. I asked for that game SO much on its release that I got 2 copies of it for Christmas and I still own my original copy to this day. What a great game. It did a lot of unique things for its time.

[@nagrom777]

Altho not a pixel art game. One I would really recommend if you like ps2 era JRPGs is Radiata Stories. It had an interesting diverging storyline, a really interesting combat system, and over 170+ recruitable NPCs you can add to your party. It was a bit sandbox in how you spent your time; but also had a timeline until events start unfolding anyway. Really intresting game imo and one, like Grandia, I never really see anyone talk about or mention typically.

[@maxboot2115]

Golden Sun is still one of my favourite games of all time to this day. Excellent taste in games from Tom once again.

[@LinkedToReality]

"Star Ocean: The Second Story" is having a remaster released on Steam later this year, I can't recommend that game enough, probably one of the best JRPGs ever made in my personal opinion.

[@PierceArner]

Appreciating the Survivor-like genre, as it's been giving my brain a break between long sessions of playing *_Baldur's Gate 3_* lately. While the 0.6 update in *_HoloCure_* has my attention now, I just wanted ta say thanks for the backlog of alternatives to go check out once I'm hunting for another one again!

[@ethan-loves]

On this day I finally found out why I like Tom so much - he's also a fan of Paper Mario TTYD! That was the first game I fell in love with, so creative and fun :)

[@MoltenTruros]

Man I do feel like Tom would enjoy the Etrian Odyssey series, especially with how he loves to come up with names and backstories for all these bosses :'D

[@MrTimmas]

I would 100% watch and play along with tom playing old school rpgs o.o.. it would be an amazing thing to watch

[@Blackwolf83ad]

Love the Grandia games. If you can find them Suikoden, Shadow Hearts, and Wild Arms are superb games. All of which are getting spiritual successors.

[@MGriffoz]

I really love the little "monster forecast" on the RHS too so you have an idea of what's coming up. Cool game!

[@PaladinNasicom]

14:49 Tom basically describes Final Fantasy 4(2). (also I think the paladin's name was a reference to the same game)

[@ArcaNiraela]

Excellent game choice Tom! Brilliant video as always too. Have you looked into Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened? It's a Sherlock meets Cthulhu Lovecraft adventure that's apparently pretty good! Could be a job for the Riddle Bros...

[@sonofhades57]

I didn't actually get into JRPGs as a kid, but as an adult I've been enjoying games like Chrono Trigger, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, and Persona 5 Royal.

[@CamronJK]

Really enjoy this game, more chill than most survivor-likes which, personally, I want. If I want stressful fast action, I can play the other ones.

[@SamobeeGames]

[@sorenthekirin3921]

Based on Tom’s story for this I’d love to play his JRPG setting!

[@rolebo1]

I have a vivid memory playing Dragon Quest 9, was fighting a boss and got a critical hit, which missed. So far the only game I have ever played that calculated crit chance before hit chance.

[@music3897]

There was a game on Dreamcast I think that you built and army but had a RPG aspect to it as well. Have no idea the name of it but have been searching for what it was for a while now.

[@PennyBnu]

Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King on PS2, I put SOOOOOOOO many hours into that game it was amazing!

[@panda93247]

I would love to see a Final Fantasy Tactics playthrough. They did come out with the updated version not too long ago for it as well.

[@jmpreiss]

Phantasy Star 2 and Phantasy Star 4 for the Sega Genesis are the games from my childhood that will always be with me.

[@mzjalic324]

My fiancé loves some of the older Fire Emblem games that have this aesthetic with the pixel art characters, although I realize Fire Emblem plays a bit different than other JRPGs

[@lecram86]

My fav RPG of all time is SNES Chrono Trigger. I still believe that is perfect and has so many elements that I have never seen combined in a single RPG even now that I have to rank it the best. Then there you had Secret of Evermore which was amazing too. Lufia 2 is a great one. EarthBound is another classic we cannot forget, although I did not enjoy it as any of the 3 above. Not at the same level as those but really good also Breath of Fire 2. More recently one that I really enjoyed and went a bit under the radar was Radiant Historia probably the best together with Golden Sun in that generation. There are some really fun Dragon Quest there and a friend of mine says that the one for Switch DQ XI is like the best RPG that he has ever played. The Tales series has also some good ones, my fav is Tales of Symphony, I spent so many hours on that game, did game + hunt every secret, treasure, etc... And some absolutely unknown ones I have for GC and that I enjoyed a lot: Beaten Kaitos Lost Kingdoms Those two had some unique card-based combat mixed with classic jrpg turn-based combat that was awesome to unlock and evolve your deck.

[@JRFreeman]

I was always into Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest when I was younger. Dragon Warrior 3 on the Gameboy Color is an all-time great for me. This game does hit the nostalgia buttons on art style alone.

[@DerBernsteinfrost]

I have just rewatched the Warhammer vids you did with Ben a few years back, would love to see more, maybe the return of krell and Conroy van Von volkvan

[@Neomagi125]

They are re releasing Star Ocean the Second Story in November, A Classic PS1 JRPG. I was always a big fan of Ashton, almost as much as Ashton was a fan of Barrels.

[@SamobeeGames]

Star Ocean Second Story is one of my FAVES. I loved the cooking battles haha. Ashton was totally one of my fave characters yes!

[@AverageGamer767]

jade cacoon from ps1 was one of the best games i can remember playing

[@luneth777]

I love you even more for mentioning Golden Sun and saying that series is great~

[@tamasbako3732]

Xenogears is one of my all time fav JRPGs. And recently Chained Echoes was released by one guy. It is an amazing love letter to old school jrpga

[@deaconholmes3426]

Golden Sun is an absolute gem of a game

[@lauraadams4496]

Tom not getting to play jrpgs makes me sad id be so down for any playthrough from tom, but him reliving his childhood sounds amazing to witness.

[@Freeasacar]

The Super Mario RPG remake that's coming out later this year is the next big thing coming to the old school RPG world. I'd definitely recommend it if you own a Switch and liked Paper Mario and Final Fantasy.

[@greyp3]

For old school JRPGS, I will always love Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics

[@Tectonicbg]

Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana... all amazing games

[@foreng3095]

Those mountains really looked like wooden palisade tops to me.

[@Zappygunshot]

I love the music! It might be because I woke up listening to her, but it kind of reminds me of Wednesday Campanella; in particular the first track as it starts to take off reminded me of Orihime. I'll definitely be checking this game out, any game with music this good is going to be cool.

[@kyrs.7687]

On the topic of tabletop games, consider looking into Fabula Ultima. While I'm not completely in love with all its mechanics (or its balancing, especially), it really captures the feel of an oldschool JRPG and has a pretty easy learning curve.

[@Derpingmuffin]

Come for the Tom, stay for the lore

[@kamikazesopp]

Gonna be honest, these all feel, look and sound the same to me at this point. None seem too bad, but I instantly forget all of them upon clicking the next video (Notable exceptions: 20 minutes til dawn and Vampire Survivors). Also, Final Fantasy 9 is indeed fantastic. In contrast, FF8 is what taught me that terrible story, unlikable main characters and weird economy can indeed ruin an entire game quite easily.

[@OfficialJamion]

I kind of want to see Tom and Ben take on BG3 personally

[@dragonzord6615]

Yeah i'd love that. Fuck off FTL for a few weeks (as much as I enjoy their crimes against spacemanity) and do some bg3

[@Flayver]

FF2 FF3 and FFT played all three of those absolute TONS as a kid.

[@bcdmasamune]

I always loved Suikoden 1+2 on PS1. I'm also super excited for the remake of Mario RPG.

[@RobbieEl]

Don't forget the Suikoden remasters coming soon.

[@SamobeeGames]

OMG I love Suikoden so muchhhhhhh!!!

[@alffly7449]

First JRPG? Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System. Favourite JRPG? Skies of Arcadia.

[@MrOpeningact]

FF-X Was the first non pokemon J-RPG I'd played so it always has a special place in my heart, but Lost Odyssey is easily my all time fave, such a hidden gem. There's also Rogue Galaxy which isn't turn based but has some really fun mechanics and a story that isn't too bonkers

[@justintesch9208]

Super Mario RPG Secret of the 7 Stars was huge fore me. I would love a remake of that for sure.

[@MrTuneslol]

I would trade you my firstborn to see an entire Angory Tom playthrough of legend of the dragoon.... It's such a phenomenal game, and right in that final fantasy 7 to 8 range of games. The story is s+ tier and the gameplay is much like games I've seen you play before. God it's good, I'd watch every second of that playthrough unabashedly. I'd set a timer, free my schedule up, take time off work, divorce my husband, give my dog away, and put my kids up for adoption all just so I could enjoy your first(?) experience with it, or to see you play though it again if that's the case. Also, I have none of those things to give away in the firs place 😅 I'd just super super enjoy watching you play through it all lmao I *love* the ramble videos, your superchill videos were some of my absolute favorite content. I wish they performed better so that you'd do them more often, but know they were very much appreciated for those of us who did thoroughly enjoy them 😁 Some more jrpg content would be gigahype!! LOVE all the doomtrain references 😂 Final Fantasy 8 is best Final Fantasy 😅 Thanks for the great uploads Tomathy ❤❤❤

[@Eeraschyyr]

Maybe the Dragon Quest games would tick the JRPG boxes? Don't know if you've gone through them, but it might be worth a look. Edit: Heck, after the ramblings, it might do real good. It's classic fantasy in classic JRPG style, cute pixel art and all. As a fun fact, apparently when a new Dragon Quest game comes out in Japan, it's a national holiday.

[@kezmsfilms1300]

Daily reminder that Tom is an amazing person and to thank him for all he has done/will do - Day 1359 Oh this is a very nice Survivorup, loving the JRPG stylings of it :D Not just the visuals, but the way the game works too ha ha, very on brand :D I tell you, I could listen to Tom talk about JRPGs all day :D so good

[@codyr4612]

Man, a remake of Golden Sun 1&2 and then a continuation from there as if Dark Dawn never existed would make me super happy. Never finished Dark Dawn, it just had too much stuff that didn't make sense.

[@Potoaster]

I used to grind this old web based rpg-style game called Realm of The Mad God

[@wheany]

My favorite jrpgs as a kid were Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2 for the gameboy, the first 2 games of what was later known as the SaGa series.

[@AndrewArmstrong]

Dragon Quest IX was the GOAT. Absolute classic, desperately needs a remaster

[@ThatPsdude]

Have you played CrossCode Tom? That's got some retro feels to it but is a modern, and is a great game! Plus it's 16 bit graphics!

[@psilightning1188]

Honestly do recommend Octopath you can start with 1 or 2 as there’s only really slight nods to the first game in the sequel.

[@pyroclastic1670]

There are a bunch of great jrpgs from when i was a kid. Grandia comes to mind. and i love the story of Final Fantasy 6. But one of the all time best imo has to be Legend of Dragoon. Just such a great story and love the music.

[@Legault397]

Hooray! We beat the snake-train! Too bad the entire world is overrun with giant snakes now though

[@spencerwilkie4218]

Id really like to see more of this!!!!

[@legion999]

My favourites were Golden Sun, Final Fantasy 8, Tales of Destiny. Breath of Fire 4 was also memorable.

[@ogcb3a5tman57]

Can honestly say your the reason I play these types of games. You make them seem much more enjoyable. Wish the barbarian could a been Toddy lol

[@shartlord4959]

Epic battle fantasy is a franchise i've been into since they were only flash games, I recently played ebf5 on steam and quite enjoyed it. It's very lighthearted and doesn't take itself super seriously but has surprising depth with its combat mechanics. I highly recommend you give it a try if you like traditional style jrpgs.

[@its_jerbear]

If it hasn’t already been suggested then the Dragon Quest series has some really fantastic entries. Very FF adjacent and a range of older pixel games to more modern 3D ones as well

[@Wyrd-Oh]

That background music keeps making me think of Adventure Time and I can't place why

[@north7992]

The only FF I ever played was 6. But played a good handfull of other classic JRPGs. Both Secret of Mana and Langrisser have gotten remakes/rereleases in the past few years. They're worth a play, and easily accessible between Switch/Steam/etc. I've wanted to try Octopath too but get distracted with other games and things.

[@Savayan]

The newer Persona games are fantastic, and the enemies include just the sort of weird little guys that you love so much. They are full 3d rather than pixel art though.

[@ashkirby_dx]

You've probably heard of it after it won a few Ennies this year but Fabula Ultima would be a great TTRPG system for JRPG vibes.

[@Scaggler]

Dragon quest 11S is a great way to get into the genre again, really solid graphics and you can choose pixel or modern 3d

[@WolchBot]

I think Earthbound, Chrono Trigger and FFIV are my top tier. Played 50% percent of so many JRPGs finished very few of them

[@connorthomas9603]

Any excuse to hear Tom ramble is good enough for me

[@JediMage]

I actually never played final fantasy as a kid! I had sega, so my games were shining force, light crusader, beyond oasis and landstalker. Probably first jrpg I had was Pokémon gold 😅

[@OmikronTitan]

Final Fantasy VI was peak FF, imo. Remake of that would be spectacular.

[@RubelliteFae]

TBH, my memories of Grandia, Wild Arms, Alundra (less RPG, more action/adventure?), Lunar SSSC, and Suikoden (I remember it had multiple types of encounters, like war battles) all kind of blend together Edit: My favourite was FFV. The Job System was exactly the sort of thing I'd always been looking for in RPGs. FFT had just about everything else I had been looking for. Re: FFIX, I got the feeling early on that it was kind of a wrap up & love letter to the FF series up to that point. It came through more & more as I played. Then I played FFX and it just confirmed my suspicion/bias. Once I realized I could just sit back & play "follow the red triangle" with the PS2 DVD remote I kind of lost interest in the series. 😅 Have heard good things here & there since, but don't really make time for that length of game these days.

[@Shadowquacker]

Because I was so edgy and liked obscure stuff, my favourites were Chrono Trigger when I was younger and Vagrant Story slightly later. I totally understand if you’ve never of heard of them because they’re both super underrated ;-)

[@IMOVIES1337]

Never got the game itself, but had a demo disc with Jade Cocoon and played that for way longer than i should have

[@sgleon95]

Legend of the Dragoon and Arc the Lad were great games from the early days as well.

[@Skybreaker1337]

Suikoden 2 is still the best JRPG I have ever played, and by a landslide. The only one that came close was Xenogears, and I do have a soft spot for Chrono Cross (Trigger is a masterpiece, but Cross has some of the best music and characters out there).

[@Firesmith]

if you want something in the genre id recoomend army of ruin. just by the share amount of unlocks and challenges it can be played multiple times without it getting boring. (every hardcore level also has its own challenges)

[@f1shze4lot]

All I can remember is that Ben roast

[@jakedudley6133]

Man, Paper Mario was the greatest, to be honest. I can't remember a game that felt like it ticked all the boxes for me like that one. Golden Sun also got me. My first Gameboy Color game.

[@ybh8in]

i'd 100% watch a tom play thru of a tales series game

[@SipsNumberOneFan]

I need more of this game!

[@SamobeeGames]

Eeeee thank you! It's coming August 25 and we hope you'll check it out and enjoy it!

[@SipsNumberOneFan]

@@SamobeeGames Can't wait! Seems super fun

[@krizspice]

"We are a holy barbarian" I believe that's called a paladin

[@Ovetupp]

I'm worried that Tom might try to fight and dethrone god (Lewis)

[@brycepatterson2158]

i loved Legends of dragoon (was overshadowed by finalfantasy), Darkcloud, aand another one i enjoyed was the white knight chonicles.

[@NoremacEcallaw]

if you wanted to play old jrpgs and you had three friends blaze & blade was a fave of mine