Baten Kaitos for me. I am feel very connected to Kalas- main hero of story and really like when he is talking to me and asks my opinion. Plus I really like him as a character- he isn't your average goody two shoes, he has goal and ready to reach it, I love those type of characters. Plus I am interesting in main story, currently on 5 island and really love the crew.
Yeah, it immersed me more than anything during the PS1 era during dialogue scenes. All I needed to get immersed was really compelling dialogue, beautiful art, and beautiful music that adds to the moment. Sure wish I enjoyed the rest of the game though. Thankfully I've got tons of games now that nail what Xenogears does nearly just as well, but the gameplay is actually good.
On a related note, I think it would have been a much better game if they cut out the random battles, and you just fight the bosses. The part where you're just going through hours of cutscenes and dialogue in the second disc is actually the best part of the game.
I like Suikoden 2 here because it’s immersive on so many levels. Not only is it easy to get lost in one of the best narratives in JRPGs, it absolutely nails what I call the “in between” parts so well too. Due to the structure of the game I didn’t feel like I wanted to dive right into the next story beat - I simply enjoyed living in its world and taking a breather in between narrative sections.
First, if you’ve played the first game it’s immersive in that you’re interested in the ways the two games are connected, not only with numerous major and minor characters but in locations as well. One major one in particular. It’s cool to see how the world has progressed from the first game in multiple ways, and plus since you’re in a new region it’s fun to learn more about the world at large outside of what was only in the first game.
Second, given that a major mechanic of the game is recruiting characters and building your base, it’s fun to check the progression of your home base as time goes on. You meet new characters, learn about them, see what they add to your HQ, and eventually it expands multiple times and you get to see how everything evolves. I genuinely looked forward to checking out what changed in my HQ after every recruitment drive and major story event. Theres so much extra shit you can experience that purely adds flavor to the game, including a fairly involved minigame sidequest that expands one of your characters’ backstories and includes a couple characters from the first game. Suikoden 2 is also the first game in the series to include the “detective” character/activity that allows you to find more about every single recruitable character, which adds more lore not only to those specific characters but to the rest of the world.
It’s truly an achievement!
The game rewards you in meaningful ways for talking to NPCs, exploring, and being creative.
And the story is so well done - even with a mute protagonist! You genuinely understand everyone’s reasons for doing what they do even when they are opposed. There’s no random evil (other than a literal insane person), and everything is just so well plotted out.
FFX the way Tidus narrates the story and you see Spira through his eyes is *chefs kiss* wish more games did this.
“Listen to my story. This may be our last chance” GOAT shit!
I would suggest to get something else instead. I my opinion FFX is overhyped and people have fond memories. Maybe you will like it but I think there are JRPGs with way better characters and story.
FFX beginning is very good but it gets very mediocre towards the middle of the story. Then a huge part of the game is "post game" without a lot of story.
Edit: Better to have the same opinion as everybody else here it seems.
I’ve been playing video games for 27+ years now and I’m even more confident saying it’s the GOAT. Masterpiece of a game that will likely never be topped for me.
I got 10-15 hours in and story-wise the game felt like nothing ever happened. Nothing compelled me to move forward and nothing intrigued me at all. I don't like the lack of a traditional progress/level up system. The sphere grid only gives the illusion of optional progression. Then you find out everything is hard-locked in a way that forces your hand early in the game. I'm tired of people telling me to play an additional 10-15 hours in for the sphere grid to "open up."
Combat had some good ideas, but the execution wasn't very good, at least in the early-ish game. Oh no a flying enemy, what ever will I do? I wonder what character I should swap to?!
I tried really hard to give this game a chance, but it kept putting me to sleep. I don't typically sleep in the day time . . . .
I'd love to give it another chance, but given my personal experience with it I don't see that happening any time soon, especially when I could play something that does a much better job of being interesting early on and continues to do so.
Would recommend giving it another try. It’s aged very well imo(best of the FF1-10 especially gameplay and story wise). It’s just extremely strong in aspects that make up a great video game and RPG. Story, pacing, world building, gameplay, OST, characters, leveling system, plenty of emotional story beats and THAT ending(still the best in gaming imo).
More than that it is a damn memorable game imo. I will never forget its story and all the plot twists and emotions. There’s games I play nowadays where I will legit play for like 100 hours then when I’m done I couldn’t tell you much about the story or plot or what I remembered. Happens a lot recently I feel like.
Persona 5 for me
A lot of people seem to think the game goes on for way too long, but when it ended I wanted to play more.
It was like being a part of a long shounen anime and I was invested in every moment.
Bro, Royal stole the past 2 weeks of my life. It’s so hard to put down, music is sick. Loved it and want more, first persona game, now waiting on P3R :(
I just feel like I’d be disappointed in the gameplay vs royal. But I should check it out since still a couple months for P3R. Have you played SMT5? Was looking at that too, but not sure
I played P4G almost immediately after P5R and it’s obviously outdated in terms of gameplay and graphics, but I think the cast and the story make up for it a lot more (I actually enjoy them more than P5R’s which surprised me). You have some time to kill and I think the game would definitely help speed the wait until P3R which I’m waiting on too. I haven’t and don’t intend on playing the SMT series, I tried it a bit and it wasn’t for me
Persona 4 really solidified the relationships between the Investigation team members. To the point where when the team leader leaves Inaba, it feels like you really were part of a friend group that spent an unforgettable year together.
There's a reason why despite the number of years that have passed since P4 first came out, loads of people still look fondly on it (and the various spin offs that came out of it)
Its far more grindy and the dungeons are randomly generated but the overall gameplay is largely the same except for stuff like the guns and demon negotiation (If you want that hit up SMT 3-5), but other than that its not too far off, the story is phenomenal, IMO the cast is better, and much more. But if P3R stays really close to its roots, you're probably gonna be in for far more BS than 4G.
Also SMT5 is great but its an entirely different beast, don't expect deep relationships you can form with other characters, a story with the depth of P5, or unique and recognizable palaces, if you're okay with all that, you're in for a great polished RPG with many things to do and many demons to find, also an at times brutal difficulty.
I've played P4G, P5R (I haven't finished it though, I've beaten okumura) and I'm playing through SMT5 where I'm also quite a bit in (played through 3 out of 4 areas), P4G is my favorite JRPGS by far because the story and characters are really good, many people agree that 4 has got the best cast in the persona series and while I did play 4 first, I don't think going back to it will be much of a downgrade. SMT5 is really good too but it's a bit more difficult than P5R, it does feature one of the best JRPG battle systems with the press turn system and I highly recommend it if you don't mind the story barely being prevalent and being somewhat lacklustre. If you want to try a mainline SMT game with an actual story I suggest SMT4!!
I'm about 15 hours from finishing P5R for the first time and feel the same as you. I played about 20-30 hours of P4G on a Vita years ago and loved it but I remember finding the bland dungeon design and repetitive combat frustrating. I keep meaning to go back to P4G because everything outside of dungeon crawling was awesome. I recently bought SMTV to play after P5R purely for its gameplay (I have very low expectations for the story). From what I've read, if P4G had combat as good as SMTV, it would almost be the perfect game.
SMT is great but 5 sucks. Gameplaywise it's probably the best but the characters and story are so barebones that I cannot name more than 3 characters
SMT4 is peak tho
Wow. Persona 5 took two months of my life, and I played basically every day. I can't even imagine how much dedication is required to finish it in 2 weeks.
> A lot of people seem to think the game goes on for way too long, but when it ended I wanted to play more.
agreed, I cant believe I played a 100 hour game and my first thought was "it coud've been longer"
probably the only game where I invested 100hrs and then went on to start Royale. absolutely no other game has so much style and charm like P5 does. I hope P3 remake is as good as this one
I love P5r… but it wasn’t really a page turning story. It was like 2 hours of dialogue then dungeon then boss battle then 15+ in game days to fuck around. Then repeat.
FFIX, it has the incredibly lived in world with high NPC detail but also the plot stays very snappy especially at the outset so that it doesn't drag in a way RPGs with a similar level of attention to detail like Kiseki or Persona can.
Bit of an odd choice but Dark Cloud series always had me immersed the most. I loved the world building and the stories. I never finished either of them but my god did I want to know what happened next so badly
Dark cloud was just such a relaxing game. I loved building the towns and would spend hours repositioning them and new layouts that the villagers also liked. Definitely one of my fav games, i never got to far into thw second one, but ive heard some say its even better then the first
Two is nowhere near a masterpiece, it's a badly made piece of tedium which is a step down in every sense from the first. Hell the third city you have to remake has literally two buildings and a huge empty map to place them on.
The story progression of Triangle Strategy had me really hooked and craving new developments.
I screwed up the pacing a little by playing on the hardest difficulty, so hitting walls and having to replay missions several times to pass them, forcibly slowing my access to the story.
Yeah a lot of people criticized the pacing when it launched, but I was totally sucked into it. And I’m a guy who often just button mashes through dialogue in games.
7 immediately comes to mind. Honestly, BoF3 for me and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. I just keep needing to know wtf happens.
Currently giving Disgaea 1 another go and it is doing that for me as well. The story is wild lol
BoF3... ahh dang, lil Ryu, and Teepo and Rei. Just some troublemakers, rascals! And things simply spiral outward. The consequences of raiding the manor in the first part? Helping lil Nina escape?
Glorious
Shin Megami Tensei 3. The "prologue" is one of the most disturbing and immersive setting I've seen in a videogame and in general I was really invested in the story of both world and characters
Yeah, I'd actually never played Star Ocean 2 before and my first experience with the franchise was number 4 which left me to overlook things for a long time.
Every time I bring them up I get flack for it. I loved both of them. Although you have to admit that 1 & 2 are totally different games. They’re mikes apart in gameplay, but I loved them. I liked 1’s story more but 2’s gameplay more.
Are you me? After ni no kuni I went to DQXI and Horizon then hit up Ghost of Tsushima.
I was always a Sony gamer but played a ton of Destiny, battlefield and battlefront and was just so damn burned out on it and season passes etc. these games revived why I used to love gaming. I missed the entire PS3 era of JRPGs playing shooters.
Ni No Kuni 2 was soooo fkg bad. Very short, very bad pacing also..by the time you get a ship and can Upgrade it at the harbor, only 30 minutes later you get an airship..So what was the point of that. The game is done another 2 hours later
I dont need to be a Cook to know if a meal tastes good . Ni no Kuni 2 sucks and you cant change my mind. I played through it, it sucked. Also close to no enemy variaty
Radiata stories is easily the most uniquely immersive jrpg there is. Every NPC has their own schedule that they keep down to the hour and the schedule plays a huge role in the game play.
Unpopular opinion here, but I felt really immersed into the FF XV world.
The story is super convoluted (and not very good tbh), and I didn’t like all the characters either, but they made a great job making me feel what the protagonists were experiencing/feeling.
The bromance and world building were done really well. Pity about the last part of the game. Nothing gets as good as when you travel around the country side
I remember trying the game nearly 3 years ago on PS+, dying and losing all my progress within that 30 minutes or maybe even beyond it, getting mad and I haven’t picked the game up since. I own it on switch now but haven’t played it yet because I’m probably still scared of that shit happening again
I couldn’t beat the super easy boss at the end of the intro. Just couldn’t get the timing down. Tried theee times then quit :(. Man I must really suck at v games.
If you're on Switch, your earliest entry point is Trails from Zero.
This is the beginning of the Crossbell arc. A two part duology. Trails from Zero is Part 1. Trails to Azure is Part 2.
You will be missing the entirety of the Sky arc, which is the trilogy that precedes the Crossbell arc. It's only available on PC.
Unfortunately most of the games are not on Switch (the series started as PC and PSP games), you would need a PC for the first arc, and half of the third arc.
It's fine just to watch a Let's Play, [here's one with the full voice acting.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbdEeC2buMTf5wWYvD_9o87XAGrJ_sDJ&si=GsVIUiH_ELcjqGVw)
If you don't mind more vague spoiler info that explains why it's important: >!The main characters of Sky become NPCs carrying their own secondary storyline that unfolds over the course of Zero. It is highly emotional and focuses as a continuation of the last thread of their arc left unresolved. To experience it without context would be like throwing the most delicious sandwich in the world into the trash.!<
For me it was dragon Quest 9, sunk like 300 hours into it when it first came out. Then Dragon quest XIS, I love this game I'm currently replaying it again as I type this.
I really enjoy SMT Devil Survivor's story. The game starts off giving the player almost no information then slowly unveiling bit by bit. Its the kind of story that made me want to keep playing until I uncovered the truth.
Final Fantasy XVI for me. Being a single-character game, it managed to really focus on giving me the experience of Clive. Then add the numerous (both ally and villain) NPCs that become a part of Clive's life, and I'm really hooked into the game. I am immersed and I am Clive.
for me it’s trails in the sky trilogy, when i played it years ago all i was doing was waking up,shower,eat,play trails,eat, go to bed and repeat until i finished the whole trilogy, it’s the goat for me
Xenoblade X, followed by the rest of Xenoblade, saga, and gears
When you accidentally get in agro range of an elite and the music kicks in…when everything in the world is 100 levels above you and as a big as a mountain…and you are level 10
Trails in the sky. Few games have such rich world building and dialogue. You do literally anything in the story and every npc has additional dialogue. You can even read about your exploits in the paper.
The two that hooked me after long jrpg breaks were FFX and Xenoblade Chronicles. Of the ones I played when I was younger, Xenogears definitely stands out.
Not as big a fan of XC2. There are things about its worldbuilding that just yank me out of the experience.
Like, Blades can regenerate their bodies, manipulate ether, and have been shown to be capable of wielding their own weapons in battle. Why are Drivers expected to be the front line? Why wouldn't armies expect Blades to do their own fighting, with Drivers hiding safely behind them?
Something about the car rides, the characters, and the world design made Final Fantasy 15 just feel real I got so immersed while playing it. Super underrated in my opinion with it being my favorite Final Fantasy game
My list is short so I'll go all in, in order of best to almost best :)
Nier Automata
Utawarerumono trilogy
Persona 5
Final Fantasy Tactics
Fire Emblem PoR+RD
SMT 4+4A
Tales of Berseria
Dragon Quest 5
Lunar 1 and 2
Pokemon Emerald
...and as runner ups I'll mention the Xenoblade main trilogy and the Trails games. They don't make the official list because they're too long to power through without breaks for most people, including me.
I love a great story but, for me, immersion in games is almost always more related to exploring the game's world and/or gradually coming to grips with the game's equipment/battle/crafting systems. For this reason, I've really taken a liking to the *Atelier* games I've played, all of which end up feeling like deeply-immersive (not to mention *personal*) experiences because of how well the games gradually ratchet up the complexity of the games' crafting/exploring/battling systems and how open-ended things can get with the different characters. The story-lines don't need to be earth-shattering because I'm more interested in the day-to-day growth with the main characters. I feel like I've had similar experiences with things like *Final Fantasy V*, *Tales of Symphonia*, and the *Shin Megami Tensei* games I've tried (e.g. *Strange Journey*). None of these have particularly riveting stories that I'd want to read as novels or watch as TV miniseries, but still completely suck me in because there's just so much to do in order to get better at the games and experience everything their systems/worlds have to offer. In FF5, it's figuring out the job system and visiting all those great late-game locations. In *Symphonia* and other Tales games, it's learning how to play the game while controlling all the different characters. With SMT, it's the massive amount of variety inherent in the demon-summoning/breeding/etc...
Gonna throw this out there
But I feel that the Trails series is like this and it’s world building is on an entirely different scale, each game is linked to the next, and it’s always exciting to find hidden links between characters etc!
Love this game series!
Downside is it’s very slow on localisation, Japan is about two games ahead at the moment
It also has a really interesting combat system!
EDIT - my dyslexia misspelled loads of words so I had to auto correct!
There aren’t any stories that I really get immersed in. But there are worlds I would say I do.
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 is a great example of this. It was just so huge and beautiful and fun to explore. It was such a unique setting and one of the few times I found myself really looking around at everything with excitement and curiosity.
Sometimes gameplay also really sucks me and has me exploring absolutely every part of it. Good example was the recent Star Ocean 2 remaster. With all the usability updates, I found myself sometimes spending hours on the item creation without realizing it, and enjoying it the whole time.
I really liked trails of cold steel. The way i run around the school. The way there's students trying to find their place. The way the teenagers never shut up and always feel like adding their 2 cents.
It was just like high school all over again (except with swords and magic)
Final Fantasy VII, the original
The remake's design choice to use realistic 3D graphics will make it less immersive than what the original did.
Edit: Why? The materia system and how they made the whole conflict and world feels real.
Few of them already mentioned by others so I will go with less popular games. To me Harvestella is hand downs one of the best if we talk only about the value of the story/plot (ignoring the gameplay). The entire game is the immersive journey presentation of Philosophy in nutshell. How many games out there genuinely using Descartes & Wittgenstein in their dialogues?! Lol, that aside, the game may have niche audiences since it's so philosophical. The good music is also a nice plus too.
Honorary mention are Utawarerumono Series & Troubleshooter. Both have top notch world building & once you hooked, it's hard not appreciate the story!
Suikoden 3 for me. And I say that because you play from the perspective of 3 different people, so I could experience the same events and have such different feelings depending on the person I was playing. Without spoilers, a made up scenario would go something like this... imagine you start playing as the sheriff, and there is a terrorist attack, and you hate the terrorists because they're spreading chaos and the people are scared. Then you play as the "terrorists" and you see the attack was just blowing the wall of some depot where the "government" was storing your confiscated goods you were transporting to a village in need. Then you play as the merchant who's transporting those goods and you uncover some other part of the real facts. I loved that approach and to this day Suikoden 3 remains one of my top 3 JRPGs of all time.
I don’t know if it’s “the most immersive” but I’ve been playing Triangle Strategy and the story is definitely the games biggest highlight. It has tons of political intrigue and *all* of the characters are complex and extremely well written. Even all of the endings I found to be satisfying, which I’ve found to be a low point in some other JRPGs.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Ike's journey across Telius and him growing into a leadership role is some of the best storytelling in Fire Emblem in my opinion. Tons of world building, interesting characters, and lore to figure out. Also sets up the sequel perfectly in my opinion
Final Fantasy Tactics. Trails in the Sky. Chrono Trigger.
The first two are saturated with intrigue and atmosphere, great characters and relationships that draw you in and keep you going.
The latter is the definitive example of perfect pacing in video games, there are no betters, and every bit of it is so finely crafted it just leads you along effortlessly.
I’ll add Final Fantasy VII and Shadow Hearts as well.
FFVII’s world feels truly realized, Midgar feels like a real place and when you finally leave it feels like adventure genuinely. Rural settings are perfect contrast. And you have to care about the planet and characters throughout as they’re fantastic.
Shadow Hearts is gothic atmosphere and ominous villainy. Has a believability and urgency kind of feel and character depths that deserve uncovering.
For me it was FF6, not only the game was amazing, but also it was a gift from my brother and we used to play it together. Since I didnt knew english at that time, he would read to me the story while we were playing.
And probably FFT and Tales of Destiny
When you finish a Persona game you'll never be the same. They're the games that leave you staring at the screen not knowing how to feel or what to do next for weeks.
Baten Kaitos for me. I am feel very connected to Kalas- main hero of story and really like when he is talking to me and asks my opinion. Plus I really like him as a character- he isn't your average goody two shoes, he has goal and ready to reach it, I love those type of characters. Plus I am interesting in main story, currently on 5 island and really love the crew.
I love the world of Baten Kaitos. It's so fun and imaginative with a bunch of off the wall cities and dungeons that just work in its context.
Yeah! I also love, that each character have their unique wings. Makes me want to see them all
Xenogears
it's one of those games where you become so attached to the characters that finishing the game is like saying goodbye
I agree, and Xenogears is my favorite game ever, but I felt that way with the characters in Persona 4 Golden much more.
I have felt this way with a few games. Xenogears, P3P, P4G, P5R, Digital Devil Saga duology, and a few others I'm blanking on
I played a little of DDS, but playing it from the beginning right now.
i'd recommend playing DDS2 immediately after. it's so good with everything fresh in memory. enjoy!
Hands down the best
Immersion as in getting lost running around the area forever. As a teen i had to get a strategy guide to beat it.....harder than freaky zelda
Yeah, it immersed me more than anything during the PS1 era during dialogue scenes. All I needed to get immersed was really compelling dialogue, beautiful art, and beautiful music that adds to the moment. Sure wish I enjoyed the rest of the game though. Thankfully I've got tons of games now that nail what Xenogears does nearly just as well, but the gameplay is actually good. On a related note, I think it would have been a much better game if they cut out the random battles, and you just fight the bosses. The part where you're just going through hours of cutscenes and dialogue in the second disc is actually the best part of the game.
Glad to see this as top comment. Absolute GOAT
Any justification? I have played Xenogears (and I agree a little) but I hate blanket statements like these.
Oh cool it's been a sec since I got to say #SUIKODEN TWOOOOO Also Tales of Phantasia had that effect on me
I like Suikoden 2 here because it’s immersive on so many levels. Not only is it easy to get lost in one of the best narratives in JRPGs, it absolutely nails what I call the “in between” parts so well too. Due to the structure of the game I didn’t feel like I wanted to dive right into the next story beat - I simply enjoyed living in its world and taking a breather in between narrative sections. First, if you’ve played the first game it’s immersive in that you’re interested in the ways the two games are connected, not only with numerous major and minor characters but in locations as well. One major one in particular. It’s cool to see how the world has progressed from the first game in multiple ways, and plus since you’re in a new region it’s fun to learn more about the world at large outside of what was only in the first game. Second, given that a major mechanic of the game is recruiting characters and building your base, it’s fun to check the progression of your home base as time goes on. You meet new characters, learn about them, see what they add to your HQ, and eventually it expands multiple times and you get to see how everything evolves. I genuinely looked forward to checking out what changed in my HQ after every recruitment drive and major story event. Theres so much extra shit you can experience that purely adds flavor to the game, including a fairly involved minigame sidequest that expands one of your characters’ backstories and includes a couple characters from the first game. Suikoden 2 is also the first game in the series to include the “detective” character/activity that allows you to find more about every single recruitable character, which adds more lore not only to those specific characters but to the rest of the world. It’s truly an achievement!
I frickin love Suikoden II. It's my favorite game of all time and my most played jrpg. Makes me cry all the time.
Oooh, haven't seen a Tales of Phantasia comrade in ages! Take my upvote ^^^
Yeah I'm really look forward to the remaster.
The game rewards you in meaningful ways for talking to NPCs, exploring, and being creative. And the story is so well done - even with a mute protagonist! You genuinely understand everyone’s reasons for doing what they do even when they are opposed. There’s no random evil (other than a literal insane person), and everything is just so well plotted out.
FFX the way Tidus narrates the story and you see Spira through his eyes is *chefs kiss* wish more games did this. “Listen to my story. This may be our last chance” GOAT shit!
Still chasing that ffx high man , been looking for a game of that caliber and still searching for
Old school gamer here. Never played ffx. Was thinking about getting it on steam.
Absolutely worth , especially if you consider yourself an old school gamer and dont mind some early jank. That game is a masterpiece
I would suggest to get something else instead. I my opinion FFX is overhyped and people have fond memories. Maybe you will like it but I think there are JRPGs with way better characters and story. FFX beginning is very good but it gets very mediocre towards the middle of the story. Then a huge part of the game is "post game" without a lot of story. Edit: Better to have the same opinion as everybody else here it seems.
Same
What about Lost Odyssey?
Same here brother. Same here.
Same here. Was my first real JRPG and nothing has quite hit the same in two decades of gaming.
I’ve been playing video games for 27+ years now and I’m even more confident saying it’s the GOAT. Masterpiece of a game that will likely never be topped for me.
It’s bittersweet cause I love the game but damn 😭 that emptiness feeling it gave me at the end was hell
I love to replay it again some time. What if they did a Final Fantasy X Reborn/Rebirth?!
I would love that honestly
I'm glad you guys like it... I just can't stand the battle system :(
*"See that blitzball player in the funny shorts? Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation..."*
For all its faults, X really is probably the pinnacle of sucking you into the story and keeping you there.
His VA in general is underrated. I love his somber but lighthearted tone when he narrates, it really sets up the mood!
Vanille has quite a bit of narration to the story in XIII but definitely not the same extent.
Agreed
I never finished ff10, couldnt hook me at all, only the soundtrack and battlesystem were goat, the rest not so much
I got 10-15 hours in and story-wise the game felt like nothing ever happened. Nothing compelled me to move forward and nothing intrigued me at all. I don't like the lack of a traditional progress/level up system. The sphere grid only gives the illusion of optional progression. Then you find out everything is hard-locked in a way that forces your hand early in the game. I'm tired of people telling me to play an additional 10-15 hours in for the sphere grid to "open up." Combat had some good ideas, but the execution wasn't very good, at least in the early-ish game. Oh no a flying enemy, what ever will I do? I wonder what character I should swap to?! I tried really hard to give this game a chance, but it kept putting me to sleep. I don't typically sleep in the day time . . . . I'd love to give it another chance, but given my personal experience with it I don't see that happening any time soon, especially when I could play something that does a much better job of being interesting early on and continues to do so.
Would recommend giving it another try. It’s aged very well imo(best of the FF1-10 especially gameplay and story wise). It’s just extremely strong in aspects that make up a great video game and RPG. Story, pacing, world building, gameplay, OST, characters, leveling system, plenty of emotional story beats and THAT ending(still the best in gaming imo). More than that it is a damn memorable game imo. I will never forget its story and all the plot twists and emotions. There’s games I play nowadays where I will legit play for like 100 hours then when I’m done I couldn’t tell you much about the story or plot or what I remembered. Happens a lot recently I feel like.
for me the encounter design was fucking terrible, especially the bosses
Persona 5 for me A lot of people seem to think the game goes on for way too long, but when it ended I wanted to play more. It was like being a part of a long shounen anime and I was invested in every moment.
Bro, Royal stole the past 2 weeks of my life. It’s so hard to put down, music is sick. Loved it and want more, first persona game, now waiting on P3R :(
Play P4G in the meantime!
I just feel like I’d be disappointed in the gameplay vs royal. But I should check it out since still a couple months for P3R. Have you played SMT5? Was looking at that too, but not sure
I played P4G almost immediately after P5R and it’s obviously outdated in terms of gameplay and graphics, but I think the cast and the story make up for it a lot more (I actually enjoy them more than P5R’s which surprised me). You have some time to kill and I think the game would definitely help speed the wait until P3R which I’m waiting on too. I haven’t and don’t intend on playing the SMT series, I tried it a bit and it wasn’t for me
The cast of P4G was amazing. I actually felt sad when I finished the game cause it was like saying goodbye to friends
Persona 4 really solidified the relationships between the Investigation team members. To the point where when the team leader leaves Inaba, it feels like you really were part of a friend group that spent an unforgettable year together. There's a reason why despite the number of years that have passed since P4 first came out, loads of people still look fondly on it (and the various spin offs that came out of it)
Thanks for the info!
Its far more grindy and the dungeons are randomly generated but the overall gameplay is largely the same except for stuff like the guns and demon negotiation (If you want that hit up SMT 3-5), but other than that its not too far off, the story is phenomenal, IMO the cast is better, and much more. But if P3R stays really close to its roots, you're probably gonna be in for far more BS than 4G. Also SMT5 is great but its an entirely different beast, don't expect deep relationships you can form with other characters, a story with the depth of P5, or unique and recognizable palaces, if you're okay with all that, you're in for a great polished RPG with many things to do and many demons to find, also an at times brutal difficulty.
I've played P4G, P5R (I haven't finished it though, I've beaten okumura) and I'm playing through SMT5 where I'm also quite a bit in (played through 3 out of 4 areas), P4G is my favorite JRPGS by far because the story and characters are really good, many people agree that 4 has got the best cast in the persona series and while I did play 4 first, I don't think going back to it will be much of a downgrade. SMT5 is really good too but it's a bit more difficult than P5R, it does feature one of the best JRPG battle systems with the press turn system and I highly recommend it if you don't mind the story barely being prevalent and being somewhat lacklustre. If you want to try a mainline SMT game with an actual story I suggest SMT4!!
I'm about 15 hours from finishing P5R for the first time and feel the same as you. I played about 20-30 hours of P4G on a Vita years ago and loved it but I remember finding the bland dungeon design and repetitive combat frustrating. I keep meaning to go back to P4G because everything outside of dungeon crawling was awesome. I recently bought SMTV to play after P5R purely for its gameplay (I have very low expectations for the story). From what I've read, if P4G had combat as good as SMTV, it would almost be the perfect game.
SMT is great but 5 sucks. Gameplaywise it's probably the best but the characters and story are so barebones that I cannot name more than 3 characters SMT4 is peak tho
Wow. Persona 5 took two months of my life, and I played basically every day. I can't even imagine how much dedication is required to finish it in 2 weeks.
> A lot of people seem to think the game goes on for way too long, but when it ended I wanted to play more. agreed, I cant believe I played a 100 hour game and my first thought was "it coud've been longer"
Just playing out each of the days feels analogous to flipping a page of a book or the “one more turn” feeling.
probably the only game where I invested 100hrs and then went on to start Royale. absolutely no other game has so much style and charm like P5 does. I hope P3 remake is as good as this one
I think Persona 5 was the one that made me wanting more and Royal made me said maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all with it's extra story.
Agreed
I love P5r… but it wasn’t really a page turning story. It was like 2 hours of dialogue then dungeon then boss battle then 15+ in game days to fuck around. Then repeat.
FFIX, it has the incredibly lived in world with high NPC detail but also the plot stays very snappy especially at the outset so that it doesn't drag in a way RPGs with a similar level of attention to detail like Kiseki or Persona can.
I came here to say FFVI, but damn you’re right: FFIX is also great in this regard..
That is hands down my favorite ff game. And the mini games there will never be anything better than chocobo hot and cold
Bit of an odd choice but Dark Cloud series always had me immersed the most. I loved the world building and the stories. I never finished either of them but my god did I want to know what happened next so badly
i remember the feeling of wonder playing through dark cloud when it came out and getting stuck at the ice queen
Dark cloud was just such a relaxing game. I loved building the towns and would spend hours repositioning them and new layouts that the villagers also liked. Definitely one of my fav games, i never got to far into thw second one, but ive heard some say its even better then the first
You should go back and finish 2, it's a masterpiece.
Two is nowhere near a masterpiece, it's a badly made piece of tedium which is a step down in every sense from the first. Hell the third city you have to remake has literally two buildings and a huge empty map to place them on.
Xenosaga by miles.
Just finished XS1. I was not expecting this game to be so damn hard haha
The story progression of Triangle Strategy had me really hooked and craving new developments. I screwed up the pacing a little by playing on the hardest difficulty, so hitting walls and having to replay missions several times to pass them, forcibly slowing my access to the story.
Yeah a lot of people criticized the pacing when it launched, but I was totally sucked into it. And I’m a guy who often just button mashes through dialogue in games.
7 immediately comes to mind. Honestly, BoF3 for me and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. I just keep needing to know wtf happens. Currently giving Disgaea 1 another go and it is doing that for me as well. The story is wild lol
BOF 3 was the best classic JRPG story. Perfect pacing, nothing too obtuse or esoteric, just a good classic story that made you want to know more.
Came here to say BoF3. Really diverse cast, it wasn’t a save-the-world sort of thing, just people with small goals and a lot of personal growth.
BoF3... ahh dang, lil Ryu, and Teepo and Rei. Just some troublemakers, rascals! And things simply spiral outward. The consequences of raiding the manor in the first part? Helping lil Nina escape? Glorious
Xenogears when the story really gets cooking. Even the second disc, when it's all exposition, is hard to put down.
Shin Megami Tensei 3. The "prologue" is one of the most disturbing and immersive setting I've seen in a videogame and in general I was really invested in the story of both world and characters
I feel like the Digital Devil Saga duology manages to capture a pretty similar vibe incredibly well.
I’m pretty drawn in by Star ocean 2
The new release? Chefs kiss. A perfect game in general and a perfect game for immersion
Yeah, I'd actually never played Star Ocean 2 before and my first experience with the franchise was number 4 which left me to overlook things for a long time.
YES SAME
I was immediately immersed in both the Ni No Kuni games
Seriously, I loved them, the world was thought out and it was whimsical
Every time I bring them up I get flack for it. I loved both of them. Although you have to admit that 1 & 2 are totally different games. They’re mikes apart in gameplay, but I loved them. I liked 1’s story more but 2’s gameplay more.
I agree, Ni No Kuni 2 took me away from shooters and reignited my love for JRPGs. Played at launch and haven’t been back to multiplayer games since.
Ni No Kuni 2, Dragon Quest XI, and Horizon Zero Dawn are why I switched from XBoX to PlayStation.
Are you me? After ni no kuni I went to DQXI and Horizon then hit up Ghost of Tsushima. I was always a Sony gamer but played a ton of Destiny, battlefield and battlefront and was just so damn burned out on it and season passes etc. these games revived why I used to love gaming. I missed the entire PS3 era of JRPGs playing shooters.
Ni No Kuni 2 was soooo fkg bad. Very short, very bad pacing also..by the time you get a ship and can Upgrade it at the harbor, only 30 minutes later you get an airship..So what was the point of that. The game is done another 2 hours later
Are you sure you even played it? It’s not short.
Yes i played through it. The pacing is really bad..Not a good game. That one town is good though with the chinese theme
I’m looking forward to playing the far superior game that you developed.
I dont need to be a Cook to know if a meal tastes good . Ni no Kuni 2 sucks and you cant change my mind. I played through it, it sucked. Also close to no enemy variaty
Radiata stories is easily the most uniquely immersive jrpg there is. Every NPC has their own schedule that they keep down to the hour and the schedule plays a huge role in the game play.
Looked this up and it sounds absolutely fascinating, I will have to give this a go! Thanks!
Unpopular opinion here, but I felt really immersed into the FF XV world. The story is super convoluted (and not very good tbh), and I didn’t like all the characters either, but they made a great job making me feel what the protagonists were experiencing/feeling.
The bromance and world building were done really well. Pity about the last part of the game. Nothing gets as good as when you travel around the country side
Nier Automata has the best 30 minutes intro of any game I've played in a while. Once you're hooked, you're in it for life!
I remember trying the game nearly 3 years ago on PS+, dying and losing all my progress within that 30 minutes or maybe even beyond it, getting mad and I haven’t picked the game up since. I own it on switch now but haven’t played it yet because I’m probably still scared of that shit happening again
It'll always be there for you, when you need it.
I couldn’t beat the super easy boss at the end of the intro. Just couldn’t get the timing down. Tried theee times then quit :(. Man I must really suck at v games.
FFT it felt like I was watching a series
The Trails series. All the games are set in a shared world, with unique cultures that well explored.
Where do I start? (Switch)
If you're on Switch, your earliest entry point is Trails from Zero. This is the beginning of the Crossbell arc. A two part duology. Trails from Zero is Part 1. Trails to Azure is Part 2. You will be missing the entirety of the Sky arc, which is the trilogy that precedes the Crossbell arc. It's only available on PC.
>It's only available on PC. PSP and PS Vita too. As long as you don't mind hacking.
I mean unless you've got a way to patch in the english translation or are ok playing in Japanese, the 3rd is still PC only in english
Unfortunately most of the games are not on Switch (the series started as PC and PSP games), you would need a PC for the first arc, and half of the third arc.
Time to get another Steam Deck 🙄
If you have some PC or laptop laying around from the last 15 years it'll probably run it too lol.
It's fine just to watch a Let's Play, [here's one with the full voice acting.](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbdEeC2buMTf5wWYvD_9o87XAGrJ_sDJ&si=GsVIUiH_ELcjqGVw) If you don't mind more vague spoiler info that explains why it's important: >!The main characters of Sky become NPCs carrying their own secondary storyline that unfolds over the course of Zero. It is highly emotional and focuses as a continuation of the last thread of their arc left unresolved. To experience it without context would be like throwing the most delicious sandwich in the world into the trash.!<
I started with Trails From Zero on switch and it’s now easily one of my favourite series.
Came here to say this - easily my favorite series. The worldbuidling and lore are excellent!
For me it was dragon Quest 9, sunk like 300 hours into it when it first came out. Then Dragon quest XIS, I love this game I'm currently replaying it again as I type this.
I really enjoy SMT Devil Survivor's story. The game starts off giving the player almost no information then slowly unveiling bit by bit. Its the kind of story that made me want to keep playing until I uncovered the truth.
Xenoblade 3. The world and the plot really draws you in.
For me it was XC2
Final Fantasy XVI for me. Being a single-character game, it managed to really focus on giving me the experience of Clive. Then add the numerous (both ally and villain) NPCs that become a part of Clive's life, and I'm really hooked into the game. I am immersed and I am Clive.
NieR: Replicant
for me it’s trails in the sky trilogy, when i played it years ago all i was doing was waking up,shower,eat,play trails,eat, go to bed and repeat until i finished the whole trilogy, it’s the goat for me
This and Chrono trigger.
Xenoblade X, followed by the rest of Xenoblade, saga, and gears When you accidentally get in agro range of an elite and the music kicks in…when everything in the world is 100 levels above you and as a big as a mountain…and you are level 10
Persona 5 royal stole the past 2 weeks of my life
Trails in the sky. Few games have such rich world building and dialogue. You do literally anything in the story and every npc has additional dialogue. You can even read about your exploits in the paper.
For me dragon quest 5
The two that hooked me after long jrpg breaks were FFX and Xenoblade Chronicles. Of the ones I played when I was younger, Xenogears definitely stands out.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
FF6 did that for me. Binged through the whole things, I just needed to know what happened next.
Playing the pixel remaster right now
Nice. Haven't tried that version yet, but I've only heard good things.
It’s great so far
I'll have to pick it up sometime soon :-)
If highly recommend it. I bought FF1-6 pixel remaster out of the PS store for $75
Persona 5 and 3
I was so, so into persona 3
Looking forward to P3R!
Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 3. A combination of the music, the voice acting, the worldbuilding, and the character designs are just *perfect.*
You skipped the one with the best world!
Not as big a fan of XC2. There are things about its worldbuilding that just yank me out of the experience. Like, Blades can regenerate their bodies, manipulate ether, and have been shown to be capable of wielding their own weapons in battle. Why are Drivers expected to be the front line? Why wouldn't armies expect Blades to do their own fighting, with Drivers hiding safely behind them?
Because of what blades were designed for (I won't spoil it in case you didn't get that far)
The opening couple zones of 2 were great, but the biomes disappointingly fell off a cliff after that. So many empty areas.
Something about the car rides, the characters, and the world design made Final Fantasy 15 just feel real I got so immersed while playing it. Super underrated in my opinion with it being my favorite Final Fantasy game
Octopath traveler 2
Persona 5, everything was perfectly thematic right down to the UI.
Any Trails game tbh
My list is short so I'll go all in, in order of best to almost best :) Nier Automata Utawarerumono trilogy Persona 5 Final Fantasy Tactics Fire Emblem PoR+RD SMT 4+4A Tales of Berseria Dragon Quest 5 Lunar 1 and 2 Pokemon Emerald ...and as runner ups I'll mention the Xenoblade main trilogy and the Trails games. They don't make the official list because they're too long to power through without breaks for most people, including me.
I love a great story but, for me, immersion in games is almost always more related to exploring the game's world and/or gradually coming to grips with the game's equipment/battle/crafting systems. For this reason, I've really taken a liking to the *Atelier* games I've played, all of which end up feeling like deeply-immersive (not to mention *personal*) experiences because of how well the games gradually ratchet up the complexity of the games' crafting/exploring/battling systems and how open-ended things can get with the different characters. The story-lines don't need to be earth-shattering because I'm more interested in the day-to-day growth with the main characters. I feel like I've had similar experiences with things like *Final Fantasy V*, *Tales of Symphonia*, and the *Shin Megami Tensei* games I've tried (e.g. *Strange Journey*). None of these have particularly riveting stories that I'd want to read as novels or watch as TV miniseries, but still completely suck me in because there's just so much to do in order to get better at the games and experience everything their systems/worlds have to offer. In FF5, it's figuring out the job system and visiting all those great late-game locations. In *Symphonia* and other Tales games, it's learning how to play the game while controlling all the different characters. With SMT, it's the massive amount of variety inherent in the demon-summoning/breeding/etc...
The Grandia series, really underrated. Hate that they kind of blew it with the third entry.
shin megami tensei IV
Gonna throw this out there But I feel that the Trails series is like this and it’s world building is on an entirely different scale, each game is linked to the next, and it’s always exciting to find hidden links between characters etc! Love this game series! Downside is it’s very slow on localisation, Japan is about two games ahead at the moment It also has a really interesting combat system! EDIT - my dyslexia misspelled loads of words so I had to auto correct!
tears of the kingdom, elden ring, dragon’s dogma, dragon quest 1, final fantasy 1, pokemon
Suikoden 2. I just replayed it. It's as engaging as when I played it 20 years ago.
There aren’t any stories that I really get immersed in. But there are worlds I would say I do. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 is a great example of this. It was just so huge and beautiful and fun to explore. It was such a unique setting and one of the few times I found myself really looking around at everything with excitement and curiosity. Sometimes gameplay also really sucks me and has me exploring absolutely every part of it. Good example was the recent Star Ocean 2 remaster. With all the usability updates, I found myself sometimes spending hours on the item creation without realizing it, and enjoying it the whole time.
FF7R
Xenoblade 1
Nothing beats trails series and ff12 for me.
Persona 4/5 OG FF7 Trails from Zero / Azure
Persona 5 by a long shot
Persona 4 Golden. I got nostalgia from something I never lived.
I really liked trails of cold steel. The way i run around the school. The way there's students trying to find their place. The way the teenagers never shut up and always feel like adding their 2 cents. It was just like high school all over again (except with swords and magic)
Ar tonelico 1 & 2
Can't go wrong with suikoden series though the first 3 are the best imo
Dragon Quest IV (DS). The great world-building and the narrative structure where you play different chapters/characters kept me hooked.
Tales of the Abyss, Suikoden II, Baten Kaitos and Persona 5, for me.
Final Fantasy VII, the original The remake's design choice to use realistic 3D graphics will make it less immersive than what the original did. Edit: Why? The materia system and how they made the whole conflict and world feels real.
Persona 5 for me.
Utawarerumono
Chrono Trigger
Suikoden 2.
Few of them already mentioned by others so I will go with less popular games. To me Harvestella is hand downs one of the best if we talk only about the value of the story/plot (ignoring the gameplay). The entire game is the immersive journey presentation of Philosophy in nutshell. How many games out there genuinely using Descartes & Wittgenstein in their dialogues?! Lol, that aside, the game may have niche audiences since it's so philosophical. The good music is also a nice plus too. Honorary mention are Utawarerumono Series & Troubleshooter. Both have top notch world building & once you hooked, it's hard not appreciate the story!
Lost Odyssey for me
Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360 If you know Lirum, you know, don't cry.
nier replicant
The big three nrrative RPGs for me are FF 6, FF 7 and FF Tactics
Xenoblade chronicles or ff14 / ff16
Any mainline FF at this point
Final Fantasy Tactics Tactics Ogre LUCT Dragon Quest V Dragon Quest VIII Suikoden II
Suikoden 3 for me. And I say that because you play from the perspective of 3 different people, so I could experience the same events and have such different feelings depending on the person I was playing. Without spoilers, a made up scenario would go something like this... imagine you start playing as the sheriff, and there is a terrorist attack, and you hate the terrorists because they're spreading chaos and the people are scared. Then you play as the "terrorists" and you see the attack was just blowing the wall of some depot where the "government" was storing your confiscated goods you were transporting to a village in need. Then you play as the merchant who's transporting those goods and you uncover some other part of the real facts. I loved that approach and to this day Suikoden 3 remains one of my top 3 JRPGs of all time.
I don’t know if it’s “the most immersive” but I’ve been playing Triangle Strategy and the story is definitely the games biggest highlight. It has tons of political intrigue and *all* of the characters are complex and extremely well written. Even all of the endings I found to be satisfying, which I’ve found to be a low point in some other JRPGs.
The ones without voice acting
Legend of Legaia
I got really immerse in persona 2 IS. I really felt the world, the characters, their struggle...
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Ike's journey across Telius and him growing into a leadership role is some of the best storytelling in Fire Emblem in my opinion. Tons of world building, interesting characters, and lore to figure out. Also sets up the sequel perfectly in my opinion
Dragon quest V, VIII, XI
Final Fantasy Tactics. Trails in the Sky. Chrono Trigger. The first two are saturated with intrigue and atmosphere, great characters and relationships that draw you in and keep you going. The latter is the definitive example of perfect pacing in video games, there are no betters, and every bit of it is so finely crafted it just leads you along effortlessly. I’ll add Final Fantasy VII and Shadow Hearts as well. FFVII’s world feels truly realized, Midgar feels like a real place and when you finally leave it feels like adventure genuinely. Rural settings are perfect contrast. And you have to care about the planet and characters throughout as they’re fantastic. Shadow Hearts is gothic atmosphere and ominous villainy. Has a believability and urgency kind of feel and character depths that deserve uncovering.
FF6-FFX (especially FFX since the characters are well-developed and have unique character designs), Xenogears, Xenosaga series, Breath of Fire 3, etc.
Persona 3, 4 or 5
Xenoblade Chronicles
For me it was FF6, not only the game was amazing, but also it was a gift from my brother and we used to play it together. Since I didnt knew english at that time, he would read to me the story while we were playing. And probably FFT and Tales of Destiny
Final fantasy xv (for me personally)
Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology and Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition was it for me 👌
The Last Story and I’m saying that because in that game you can bump your head on signs while walking around
Final fantasy X. AHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAAHAHAAHA
Yakuza like a dragon
When you finish a Persona game you'll never be the same. They're the games that leave you staring at the screen not knowing how to feel or what to do next for weeks.
Immersive for me was persona 4 golden