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Post by Ex on Apr 11, 2020 12:38:14 GMT -5
I know we've talked about our favorite JRPGs before. But this thread is a little different.* There's a whole lot of JRPG knowledge floating around in the heads of HRG members. So I think it'd be beneficial for each of us to help create a little knowledgebase for our guests and ourselves. This specific concept is based on listing your personal Top 10 recommendations for must play English fan translated JRPGs per generation. The five specific generations in question are: Third Generation (8-bit NES, SMS, MSX, etc.) Fourth Generation (16-bit SNES, Genesis, TG16, etc.) Fifth Generation (PS1, N64, Saturn, etc.) Sixth Generation (PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Dreamcast) Handhelds (Special "generation" category that can be any generation, just has to be a handheld game.) So that'd be a total of 50 recommendations across five generations if you know of that many. If you can't think of 10 must play English fan translated JRPGs in a particular generation, just list as many as you think are worth noting in that generation. And yes action-RPGs and SRPGs are good for inclusion as well, insofar as they are of Japanese origin. Again keep in mind, we're not listing officially localized JRPGs. We're looking for English fan translated stuff that was never localized officially, or was at least fan translated before it was ever officially localized. And we're not listing by platform here, but by generation. Only the best of the best can make the five lists! Bonus points if you include a sentence per recommendation, explaining why the game's a must play.I will be back later with my own suggestions. Right now I've got to get outside and do yard work before my wife has a conniption. * Xeogred if we have somehow had this exact thread before, just consider this Version 2.0!
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Post by Sarge on Apr 11, 2020 14:11:14 GMT -5
Ooh, this should be fun. Maybe we should also have a list that chronicles non-JRPGs as well, because there are some fantastic action games that have gotten patches.
I'm going to start with the 8-bit era, and see what I can come up with off the top of my head before I go looking stuff up.
Final Fantasy III - The best NES RPG we didn't get. Fantastic stuff. Radia Senki - I haven't actually finished this one, but I like it a lot. Enough to make a repro of it back in the day. Mashin Hero Wataru Gaiden - From our friends at Westone, a cool action-RPG that has combat that resembles Monster World.
And... I gotta go look up more. Ha.
Tenchi wo Kurau II - AKA Destiny of an Emperor II. Haven't beaten, but put a lot of time in. Excellent, excellent game. Esper Dream 2 - A pretty slick ARPG that apparently hugely improves on the original game. Also uses extra sound channels. Jajamaru Gekimaden: Maboroshi no Kinmajou - A Zelda-like Ninja-kun game. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to a little while back. Cosmo Police Galivan - Getting a little far afield, more of a Metroid-like. Still very good. Final Fantasy II - A hesitant recommendation here. As folks know, the original form of this can be pretty rough, but the translation itself is fine. Modern versions are a bit smoother, but some actually think they're too easy. Earthbound Zero - I'm absolutely cheating with this here, but given that the game never actually got a release until it dropped on Wii U, I'd be remiss to not mention it.
Well dang, I'm missing getting one more entry in. From what I've seen, though, something like Chaos World might fit the bill. I think AGTP is looking at an overhaul of the translation, so maybe wait for that? Silva Saga also looks awesome.
I also want to give a special shout out to the Phantasy Star retranslation. While outside the scope of this topic, it's the ideal way to play for things to actually, you know, make more sense.
Moving on to 16-bit. Honestly, this is where most entries will reside, and I think this might very well need more than ten entries because of so many good games. I'll limit myself to ten for now, though.
Off the top of my head before I go hunting again...
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Do I really need to go into this again? Best game we didn't get from SquareSoft. Treasure of the Rudras - Ultra solid JRPG with a cool per protagonist storyline that comes together in the end. Dragon Quest VI - No, the most complete patch out there isn't actually finished. It's good enough, and I beat the game with it. I wish someone would finish that patch up, because I think the SNES version looks nicer than the DS game. Seiken Densetsu 3 - One of the earliest fan translations, and still one of the best. Tremendously polished stuff. Holy Umbrella: Dondera's Wild - Very fun action-RPG, with some Metroid-like exploration elements. Ganbare Goemon 3 - This one gets heavily into Zelda territory, so I think it counts. This has easily been my favorite retro game of the year to this point. Fan-freaking-tastic. King Colossus - A Genesis game draws near! While I don't consider this in the upper-tier like the games above, it's still a solid ARPG. Xak III - I don't think the patch itself is particularly polished, but the underlying game was quite solid for the period of time I played. Gunman's Proof - Another Zelda-like, although a bit more action-oriented in ways. A fun, breezy playthrough. Mystic Ark - Another game I wouldn't put in the stratosphere, but a solid JRPG that drags at points. Two translations are out there, even! I played AGTP's, although there seemed to be a bug with the conveyor belts in one area. I have no idea if the Dynamic Designs patch has the same problem.
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Post by toei on Apr 12, 2020 4:39:55 GMT -5
Sarge Silva Saga is cool. It's a typical NES RPG in a lot of ways, except it's really fast-paced, in that the dungeons are short and the battles fast (I think the encounter rate was relatively low too), so it keeps things moving. I also played through the SNES sequel, but I barely remember it. I know it wasn't bad, but for a SNES RPG, it was nothing special. As for the Dragon Quest VI patch, it's really 99.9% complete, basically. The only bit of untranslated text I remember coming across when I returned to an early town later on and talked to everybody. The biggest thing with Xak 3 is that the anime cutscenes aren't subbed. There's a text file translation on GameFAQs or somewhere that you can use to follow along, though. The translation definitely isn't polished, but it's a really solid game. I had tried both Mystic Ark patches, and the text was much more pleasant to read in the AGTP patch. WildBill loves to give everyone dumb regional accents and stick bad attempts at jokes everywhere. Will post a list later.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 12, 2020 7:31:12 GMT -5
Yeah I found three threads that are kind of similar, but this is still fun and more specific. I certainly haven't played that many translated games though, but most of the ones I have played are all awesome.
NES:
Final Fantasy III - Echoing Sarge above. This game was an awesome journey to get through. It's a pure 100% dungeon crawler though with no worthwhile story/characters, though it does make up for that with some excellent atmosphere at times with its unique flooded world with floating islands and such. Had a very cool vibe. The final dungeon(s) is the most insane in the entire franchise and anyone who's beaten this original version, gets some huge respect from me.
SNES:
- Seiken Densetsu 3 - I loved Mana growing up but then I joined the internet many years ago and saw it's divisive... well whether you like Secret of Mana or not, I think everyone should still give SD3 a shot because it changes a handful of mechanics. I personally think it's one of the most gorgeous games on the system along with one of the best OST's (has like 10 boss battle themes, find me another SNES JRPG that does that!), and it is my favorite ARPG combat system of all time. The story isn't the standout or anything, but it's got vibes and a charm like no other. You also get to choose 3 out of 6 playable characters, with 3 different branching paths depending on who your lead character is (three different lead villains and final bosses even). Then there's a class system for two points in the game, so the replay value is extremely high as well. The second half opens up a bit in a FF6 kind of way. It can be a very challenging game too.
(hard to say if SD3 truly counts now, with it finally getting an official release as Trials of Mana 20 some years later. I hope to replay it this year to see how the new translation is. I'm not sure how I feel about the kiddie dialect I've seen with Charlotte, the old fan translation didn't have that. The old fan work was definitely legit and seemed official all things considered).
- Front Mission: Gun Hazard - everyone here got me on this, it's incredible. A very unique game that blends side scrolling action with ARPG elements. Stellar graphics, OST, and a solid story.
- Alchahest - a neat and very strange HAL/Square production, an arcadey isometric ARPG that you can finish over a weekend or so. Has one of my favorite SNES OST's.
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - someone dumped the PSX's script for this, so you can play this version with no loading times and the awesome SNES OST. I like LuCT far more than FFT, but you won't find anyone else on the internet saying that. Either way, for anyone who loves FFT and Matsuno directed games, you should see where a lot of his blueprints began with this one. It has three branching paths and seemed more dynamic than FFT's story to me. I liked being able to use 10 or so units per mission too, unlike the trimmed down FFT only allowing half of that, if even. That said the LuCT battles probably take longer.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 12, 2020 19:12:44 GMT -5
I should swap out Mystic Ark for Alcahest. Short, but lots of fun. Indeed, a sort of arcade-RPG. An Ar-PG? Movin' on to the 32-bit generation. Here's where things get a lot dicier, because there just isn't as much to choose from. Heck, I haven't even finished some of these. Tales of Phantasia - The PSX version improves on the SNES game, and also doesn't have DeJap's ridiculous "f***s like a tiger" line. Win-win. Persona 2: Innocent Sin - Yes, this eventually got a PSP release, but the PSX version dropped first. The patch is very well done - I put in probably six or seven hours. It's the first part of the Persona 2 tale, with the one we got originally ( Eternal Punishment) being the second. Shining Force III Scenarios 2 & 3 - I realize these aren't perfectly complete, but they are in beta and playable right now. I have to recommend them, even if I've barely played them (I have played SFIII's US release for around five hours, though.) Policenauts - I don't like it as much as Snatcher, from what I've played, but it's still quite good, and the translation is excellent. Available in both Saturn and PSX flavors. No, it's not a JRPG, but I'm having to reach a little bit here. King's Field - Barely touched it, but it's pretty important as the first of the series. Aaaaaand... that's all I can really speak to. There are a few others that look cool, however, like Brigandine: Grand Edition, Langrisser III, Tear Ring Saga, and so on. Let's see what we can find in the PS2 generation... Front Mission 5 - If it's as good as FM4 (and I suspect it is), it belongs here. Dragon Quest V - Not my favorite of the series, but it does look like a good alternative way to play the game. Not the best graphics, but some folks believe this is the best version of the game. Rent-A-Hero - I don't think it's that good, and it's certainly cheating, but there's a fully localized version of this floating around on the web for XBOX. Apparently that's it. Handheld time: Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru - AKA For the Frog the Bell Tolls. Closer to an adventure game than RPG, it's still notable for its sterling translation quality. Sylvan Tale - Very cool ARPG for Game Gear. Definitely worth a spin. Shining Force: Final Conflict - Yeah, I haven't put much time into it, but it's really nice. Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2 - The followup to what we got as Retro Game Challenge. Pretty great, even if I thought some aspects were better in the first game. SaGa 2/3 - I'm going to put both of these into their own category. I've played several hours of SaGa 2, and it's solid. I suspect the sequel is much the same. Mother 3 - Even if I didn't like the more somber tone in this one, the localization was fantastic. It was good enough to be official Nintendo material. Nayuta no Kiseki - It's still on my to-play list, but what I've seen of it is excellent Falcom stuff.
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Post by toei on Apr 12, 2020 20:18:12 GMT -5
Sarge More commentary: Shining Force III Sc. 2 & 3 are effectively complete, and they've been for a while. Beta just means they want to polish minor stuff, I guess. I played through both in their entirety and the translation was never a problem. I do recommend the whole saga, even though there's a bit of lull in the middle (the middle scenario feels less necessary than the first and the last). Langrisser IV is also very good (III and V are still untranslated). Policenauts is solid, even though, yes, Snatcher was better. And I dug For the Frog the Bell Tolls. One of the few GB games I really like. Speaking of which, have you played Marvelous? I can't see you not enjoying it if you liked Kaeru. They're different and all, but they're both adventure games using Zelda engines, and they both have a similar tone.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 12, 2020 21:00:16 GMT -5
Oh, dang, I forgot that one. Ex has recommended that to me as well. I've played about an hour of it, and I should get back to it.
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Post by Ex on Apr 12, 2020 21:53:17 GMT -5
SargeYes, I believe you personally would enjoy Marvelous. It's very charming, and definitely reminded me of For the Frog the Bell Tolls, although I found Marvelous to be far superior. And at least now there's a full English patch that translates the graphics and everything. When I played through it, there was only the partial Tashi patch, but I muddled my way to the credits. It's a good, and unique, SFC action-adventure. - I've enjoyed reading the contributions to the thread so far. I will post my Top 10 lists sometime next week.
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Post by Ex on Apr 15, 2020 14:31:07 GMT -5
Ex's top must play English fan translated JRPG recs. Only recommending games I've actually beaten, not just casually played or played and then stopped halfway. So this is hardly indicative of exclusive lists of the best options out there. 8-bitSweet Home - my review16-bitAlcahest - A simple and fast action-RPG blast with unique movement mechanics.
Front Mission - Probably the best SRPG available on SNES/SFC. Front Mission: Gun Hazard - If you enjoy mecha action-platformers, this is top tier of that genre.
Monster World IV - A charming and breezy action-RPG platformer.
32-bitKing's Field - FromSoftware's breakthrough game is one of the greatest first person dungeon crawlers ever made.
128-bit Front Mission 5: Scars of the War - my review
Handhelds: Cave Noire - A clever fast pocket roguelike.
Soma Bringer - Literally Diablo + Secret of Mana + Xenoblade = Pure Criminally Ignored Bliss
If I remember more I've beaten and really enjoyed, I'll add them in later. It's clear I've got plenty of catching up to do though.
Edit: Added review links.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 30, 2021 19:07:47 GMT -5
More thread necro-ing! Anyone stumble on anything new since we last discussed fan translations and JRPGs?
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