Summary
Final Fantasy 7was treated as a big deal throughout the run-up to its release, but the series wasn’t as familiar in some territories as others. With most of its predecessors never making it to Europe,The Official UK PlayStation Magazineseemed in disbelief when their Christmas 1997 feature covered the game with the subtitle: “AJapaneseRPG? You’re joking…”
Nonetheless, whether players were into JRPGs from the beginning, or were fashionably late to the party, they’ve since seen many titles live up to or even exceed the hype. A few games managed to defy expectations and become hidden gems, modern-day classics, or even titans of the JRPG genre. Here are a few Japanese RPGs that managed to go above and beyond what players expected.
The first game in the Disney-Final Fantasycrossover series is low on the list, because people expected it to be a big seller from the get-go.FFis the biggest name in JRPGs (outside Japan), and Disney is a global force that’s been a part of people’s childhoods for a century. Yet they make for an unlikely pairing.FFis famous for its mature topics and heavy situations. Disney is soft, fluffy, and so conservative that staff couldn’t have beards until 2012.
Some fans thought that combining the two would feel more like a Disney tie-in game with someFFcharacters than a JRPG in its own right. Instead, while it wasn’t exactly a challenge for hardcore JRPG players in terms of gameplay, its plot was more complex (and admittedly convoluted) than people thought. It gaveFFfans enough story meat to make them feel at home.
Octopath Travelerwas a success on release, critically and financially, though it left room for improvement. The high number of random encounters, a few lackluster storylines, and its depiction of its female characters could have been better. This didn’t stop it being the game of the year for some players, but it made others think of skippingOctopath Traveler 2until they ended up giving it a try.
The second game reduced the random encounters, and sped up the battles, which were spiced up with new skills like the rechargeable Latent Powers. Players no longer need to swap out party members for specific tasks as often, and the storylines blended better as the cast crossed paths and shared banter. These improvements, among others, were enough to make those turned off byOT1into fans of the series.
TheYsseries has been around for decades, though its games rarely got full-on international releases during its heyday. Most players might have picked up on it during the mid-2000s withYs 6: Ark of Napishtim, the remakes of its first two titles, fan translations of the older games, or viaYs 8: Lacrimosa of Dana.
If they did get in on the eighth game, players likely didn’t know what to expect. Based on the game’s feedback, players thought they’d have fun, but weren’t expecting to be blown away. Instead, they found themselves falling in love with the gameplay, characters, and the story where they’d uncover the mystery behind the cursed Isle of Seiren. There’s a reason why the series has managedto last nearly 40 years.
LikeYs,The Legend of Heroes’ games didn’t really catch on outside Japan until itsTrailssubseries. Even then, the series' games lacked the graphical flash and designs of its bigger rivals. Compared to theFinal Fantasygames, the likes ofThe Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steelseemed generic and old-fashioned.
Yet once they played it, gamers often found themselves clicking with its Action Time battle system and Orbment system, where players could get different effects depending on the kind of quartz they used. It also helped that the game often goes on sale, making it a cheap and easy way to scratch the need for a new JRPG. As plain as its cover seemed, it was rich in content and easy to get into, which has helped it turn many skeptics intoTrailsfans.
The story ofYakuza/Like a Dragon’s longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu was (seemingly) over byYakuza 6. So, RGG Studio had the opportunity to follow a new hero’s journey. But instead of making its sequel,Yakuza: Like a Dragon, another open-world brawler, they turned it into a quirky JRPG. New protagonist Ichiban uncovers why he was made his clan’s fall guy, while supported by his quirky friends via turn-based battles, a job system,and summons called ‘Poundmates.’
It was as far from the old games as one could imagine — or was it? The classic games were open-world action games, yet they had plenty of RPG elements in them, like level-ups and status-boosting items.Yakuza: Like a Dragonjust went a bit further, which took some getting used to. RGG Studio didn’t seem worried if it faltered in sales, saying they’d go back to the old formula if it flopped. But instead, it became one of the most successful games in the series.
Nearly everyFinal Fantasygame is someone’s top favorite or least liked entry, with some even preferring the more polarizing games likeFinal Fantasy 13. Square Enix certainly had faith in the game, as they made a whole subseries devoted to it. TheFabula Nova Crystallisgames would have seen the likes ofFF13-2andFF Type-0joined by the curiously namedFF Versus 13.
After 10 years of staff changes, rewrites, and platform shifts, this title was finally released asFinal Fantasy 15, a separate game from theFNCseries. It was enough to give fans cold feet andbad memories ofDuke Nukem Forever, but it turned out quite well. The story may not have been the strongest, yet the camaraderie between Noctis and his boys, along with the action-based gameplay, helped it catch on with a wide audience.
Subscription services went from giving people a ton of options in one place, to feeling like a velvet rope cordoning off what used to be buyable as separate products. Paying $6.99 per month (or $49.99 annually) to play indie games and a few exclusives on Apple Arcade didn’t sound appealing to players who could get a ton of games for the same price at the next Steam sale. Yet the few people whodid give the service a trygot to play the first incarnation ofFantasian.
Most of the JRPGs on this list surpassed fans’ expectations, where their obscure origins, sudden genre changes, or unassuming looks didn’t click with them at first.Pokemon: Red & Blueis a different story. Creator Satoshi Tajiri pitched the idea of a monster-collecting, battle-based RPG to Nintendo as early as 1990, but the Big N didn’t really get how the concept could appeal to people. It wasn’t until Shigeru Miyamoto caught wind of the project that he was able to convince the company’s higher-ups to give it a go.
Even then, it took 6 years for Tajiri and company to turn their pocket monster-based Game Boy RPG into a reality. Once it came out, its easy-to-grasp, tricky-to-master gameplay grew into a global craze as fans tried to catch ‘em all, making good use of the handheld link cable for trading. From there, it became a multimedia juggernaut that practically printed money for Nintendo. They clearly got the project’s appeal once the cash started rolling in.
