In the age of remakes and remasters, the game industry seems to stubbornly reoffer only games that have already proven successful.
While this makes sense from a business standpoint, there are plenty of games out there that have many merits but failed to find their audience.
ManyJRPGs,in particular, have been lost to time despite their innovative ideas—sometimes due to lackluster execution and sometimes simply because the competition smothered them.These are the games we should improve and revisit. In this list, we will look at eight of them.
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8Loop8: Summer of Gods
Persona Wannabe
What would happen if we combined the social components of the Persona series with a roguelike time-loop scenario?Loop8: Summer of Godsattempted to answer this question, but few liked the result.
Set in a charming 1980s Japanese town on the brink of catastrophe at the hands of fearsome creatures called Kegai, the game places you in the role of a protagonist whose relationships directly translate into power to fight back against the overwhelming menace.
If the enemies still prove too powerful, time loops back to the start of the month, and you’ll try again by forging new relationships.
Lackluster execution and niche appeal hindered the game’s chance to shine, but the core idea is interesting enough to deserve another shot.
7The Last Remnant
Ambitious to a Fault
The Last Remnant
The Last Remnantis a prime example of a game that wastoo ambitious for its time. This JRPG offered an innovative battle system focused on grand-scale battles between entire armies, something that had never been attempted before.
Unfortunately, the scale of the battles proved too challenging for the hardware of 2008, with frame rate drops and long loading times being the norm. Additionally, many gameplay aspects required serious refinement.
A full remake for a modern audience could elevate the game to its full potential. A technical overhaul, improved player onboarding, and a rebalanced difficulty would do wonders for the title.
We Need More Spooky JRPGs
JRPGs don’t often delve into horror territory, which is a shame. Back in 1999, Koudelka tried to blend the two genres by offering an interesting setting and great atmosphere.
Set in a haunted monastery in Wales, the player takes control of the titular medium as she explores the place, trying to unravel its mysteries while fighting the monsters lurking in its shadows.
Despite its atmospheric setting and unique genre fusion, the game received mixed reviews due toclunky combat and pacing issues. The main culprit was the tactical grid-based combat system plagued by slow animations.
Koudelka offers a rare mix of gothic horror and JRPG elements, and for that alone, it deserves to be played. A modern reinterpretation could straighten out its issues, allowing the game’s haunting story and mood to shine for a new generation of players.
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5Resonance of Fate
Amazing Stylish Combat
Resonance Of Fate
Resonance of Fateturned many heads with its unique style of combat, where guns are fired in the middle of long jumps and impossible acrobatic moves. Its dystopian steampunk setting formed the perfect frame for this gameplay style.
It’s unfortunate that a game this stylish turned away many players by being so obtuse. The mechanics that allow for such spectacular fighting scenes are quite complex, and the game does an abysmal job of explaining them, which was a huge turn-off for many.
If you manage to make sense of the complex systems, there isa wonderful experience to be had. But Resonance of Fate desperately needs a better onboarding process to finally find its audience.
4Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Dungeon Crawling Monster Negotiator
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
Sometimes, even critically acclaimed games fail to find success with the audience.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journeytook the franchise in a completely different direction from the rest of the series, making it a first-person dungeon crawler set in Antarctica.
While it received positive reviews for its rich themes and deep mechanics, the game didn’t resonate with the public at launch and ended up selling lower than anticipated.
Maybe players didn’t like the change in perspective, or perhaps the high difficulty and complex systems made it less accessible to casual players.
Years later, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is considered a cult classic andabsolutely worth a playthrougheven as is, but a few refinements could make it more appealing to a wider audience.
3Chrono Cross
The Burden of the Legacy
Chrono Cross
It’s incredible to think that some games considered cult classics today were not successful when they originally came out. Sometimes, this happens because of the burden of carrying the name of a predecessor. This is the case forChrono Cross.
Being a spiritual sequel to Chrono Trigger, even sharing half its name, came with many implications and expectations. Chrono Cross turned out to be a stupendous game, but it didn’t quite meet the huge expectations fans of the original had, which resulted in underwhelming sales.
Nevertheless, Chrono Cross is an amazing JRPG with a huge cast of characters, a great storyline, an innovative combat system, and one of the best music scores in gaming. It was remastered not too long ago, soif you missed it, it’s time to catch up.
2The Legend of Dragoon
Flawed but Loved
The Legend of Dragoon
When talking about late cult classics,The Legend of Dragoonis a game thatmany gamers look back on fondly, even though it didn’t achieve great success when it came out.
The Legend of Dragoon is far from being a masterpiece. The pacing was its biggest issue, and the story was simple, with plot twists being few and, for the most part, predictable.
Despite that, the world had its charm, and the characters were very likable. Additionally, the timing-based combat system worked really well, hitting the sweet spot between challenging and fun.
As a result, The Legend of Dragoon managed to gather a big community around it that has been advocating for a remake for years.
While it was re-released on the PlayStation Store some time ago, only re-imagining the title through modern lenses would allow The Legend of Dragoon to shed the flaws holding it back.
1Panzer Dragoon Saga
Gaming’s Greatest Lost Gem
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of those games that everyone has heard of, but very few people have played. It’s not surprising, considering that reportedly, only around 20,000 copies of the game were released in North America.
It’s truly a crime that such a revolutionary gem met such an unfortunate fate. The game pushed the finicky hardware of the Sega Saturn to its extreme limits, allowing it to accomplish feats that competitors running on better hardware would only match years later.
The fast and adrenaline-pumping combat was uncommon in JRPGs of the ’90s, but Panzer Dragoon Saga managed to provide just that. It’s a game that truly should be played by everyone.
The problem is that the source code has apparently been lost, which, with original copies selling for more than a thousand dollars, means that we won’t be able to give Panzer Dragoon Saga a second chance anytime soon.
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