I think most of us play JRPG’s only once, often for the story as well. But are there games for you you already have played a few times and could start that any time?
My most played game at all is probably Final Fantasy X, hadn’t much games as a child and my sisters always deleted my safe state. Even today i play i all 4-5 years. And i guess every Fire Emblem for me because i try to beat different challanges. Iron Man or only certain chars, nothing to hardcore.
Chrono Trigger and both Golden Sun games back to back. I do all of those every few years. Love’em to death.
Chrono Trigger
I have a rotation of Final Fantasy 4-8 and Chrono Trigger that I play on my phone. Sometimes I go a few years without playing, but overall I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played in the 10 years I’ve had a smartphone.
I’ve definitely played through 7 about 15 times. 8 and 9 twice.
Mario RPG I knew like the back of my hand growing up, I had played it so much. There’s been a few others as well.
Legend of Dragoon got a few play through. Grandia II as well.
Rude sisters!
My most replayed one is probably Final Fantasy VI, although I think as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to love FFX just as much. Four replays later, the game still makes me super emotional.
If I could put Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure into one mega-game, that would definitely be a candidate, too.
Bit of a stretch of the definition of a JRPG, but Final Fantasy Tactics and/or Tactics Ogre.
I wouldn’t say it’s a stretch. Tactical games are always quite easy for me to repay in general. Played FF tactic a few times as well
I’m not sure why, but there’s always been a cadre in the JRPG community that excludes tactics/strategy games from the genre.
The SaGa series are pretty good JRPGs, both in terms of gameplay and story. My personal favorites are:
- Romancing SaGa 3
- SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions
- Romancing SaGa 2
Octopath Traveler is really good too, with the second one in the series being the best one.
I played the first Octopath Traveler for about 80 hours. Quite good game but i wouldn’t play it more often because i always thought it’s level scaling is not perfect, switch between hard and very easy parts. But can’t say something about the second one.
Star Ocean 2
After years of replaying the PlayStation game, I’m working through the remake on Switch.