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The greatest JRPG of all time?

In today's daily ephemera of new releases and dazzling technologies and breakthroughs, it's easy to forget about the Golden Age of the PSONE -- or, as we knew it at the time, the PlayStation. This is especially true of the JRPG's of the system, which today still have no parallel. While many consider the SNES as the glory days of the JRPG, to me, that has always been just a prologue to what we saw on the PlayStation. It is true that many of us cut our teeth on Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, but the explosion of the genre catalyzed by Final Fantasy VII is a whole different matter. Not only were we treated to Square's trilogy of FF VII, VIII, and IX, but we also had Xenogears, Grandia, Wild Arms, Chrono Cross, Suikoden, among others. This was when the JRPG truly matured into an art form, and while we have had great games since, the depth and variety of them has never eclipsed what we saw on the PSONE. 

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“Amnesia? Again?!?”

There’s a special place in hell for JRPG fans.  Their sin?  Playing the same game with the same story over and over without complaining once.  I suppose there are worse crimes than this, but there is a sort of masochistic glee in which JRPG fans partake in their vice.  Perhaps we love grinding and crafting so much that we don’t really care about the story too much – despite our claims that we play these games for the tales they tell.  Perhaps it’s the newness of the dungeons or the shiny equipment that makes the tedium of saving the world over and over remain novel.  But, despite these tropes, this genre seems to continue on, and sometimes even with some of the most loathed archetypes and clichés, JRPGs can rise to heights other genres can’t. 

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Can't get enough of these fights.

Argue all you want about which RPG has the best characters and story, but neither of those things matter nearly as much as a game’s battle system. Since we typically spend upwards of forty hours in an RPG, the bulk of that time is spent fighting foes within the rule set the designers created, so it has to be compelling enough to keep pulling us along. Sometimes, a combat system is formulated with just the right amount of intricacy, a satisfying splash of spectacle, and exactly what was needed to get in our heads and keep us plugging away until we save the world on the brink of decimation. We’ve picked our favorite RPG battle systems and wanted to explain why we love them so dearly. Maybe you’ll gain an appreciation for a combat system you felt was a drag or you’ll decide to dig into a game you never tried before. Maybe you’ll think we’re daft and forgot the real greatest system around. We’re bound to have a big assortment of faves, so read through our picks and tell us what yours is too.

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We criticize because we love.

It's time for another excellent episode of Nerds Without Pants! Oh, you lucky, lucky people. This week, it's all about JRPGs for the main topic, but as always we begin with Consumption Junction.

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A mysterious tweet sets the internet aflame with anticipation.

Nintendo fans are no strangers to having localized versions of enticing Japanese fare dangled in front of them, with no real word of when, or even if the title will make its way over seas. The now infamous “Operation Rainfall” trio took quite some time and a heavy fan based push before even an announcement of localization was made - never mind an actual release date.

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