The Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series are probably what you're looking for. Golden age Square JRPGS, especially Xenogears, are also generally great Jrpgs.
this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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I've played all the old school Square and Enix stuff. FF6 is my goat.
So, you're looking for something like Tales, but not at all like Tales?
The only Tales-like that comes to mind is Summon Night Swordcraft Story, it's a successor to the classic 2D Tales games, but I'm not actually sure if that's what you're looking for.
I've never heard of this, so it is perfect as a recommendation! Because now I have something to look into :)
Summon Night Swordcraft Story has active combat (that's what makes it Tales-like), so probably not what you're looking for here.
Have you played the Trails series?
No! I've heard it is quite the investment if you want to start at the beginning. Is there a later jumping in point that works well, in your opinion?
You can play Cold Steel 1&2 as your first if you want a more modern introduction to the world and like the persona style school setting stuff, but CS3 is when the stories of all the previous games start merging together, so it's very highly recommended to have played Sky, Zero and Azure before that or you will miss a lot of it.
Also there is a 3D remake of the Sky trilogy coming, starting sometime next year with the first game. Though so far it seems to be Switch exclusive.
I’ve only played the two first entries so far (Trails in the Sky FC & SC) and I’ve found them be fun JRPGs. I’d recommend starting by the beginning.
Not op, but I've been playing the series (just finished the sixth game, Cold Steel), and I'd suggest not starting from a later point in the series, as every game references the previous ones in some way. Although even if they didn't, I'd still suggest starting from Sky, then playing Zero and Azure, as they are really good (and imo much better games than CS).
Tales-like
I've been kind of out of the RPG loop for a while, probably not the best person to suggest, and haven't played the series, but I'm thinking that if you could expand a bit on that, it might help provide suggestions...I mean, not clear to me what you're looking for that's specific to that relative to other RPGs. Similar setting? A long-running RPG series with many entries? The combat system (absent the real-time aspect)?
You mention "depth of story", so maybe something with a similar level of storytelling?
Sure. Tales games tend to be high fantasy settings where each game is its own setting (much like Final Fantasy in that sense). They tend to have a lot of "war against heaven corrupted" kind of vibes. But largely there's a lot of places to explore, NPCs to talk to, and a bunch of great little skits that trigger between your team. They tend to be lighter on graphics in exchange for length and depth of story. But it's also somewhat linear, and carefully crafted and you can sort of lose yourself in finding the next story beat.
But they also typically have active combat systems where it's about button mashing and combos. This is the part I don't like :)
I second the Trails suggestion in this thread. Only played the Sky, but these games probably fit your preferences. Long story, large party of characters, short entertaining skits just like in Tales + turn-based combat.
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has crazy depth of story, can be turn based or active combat, and you can adjust a ton of difficulty options to suit your taste. Lots and lots of exploring.
And the predecessor, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is amazing too.
Pathfinder Kingmaker & WotR are such strong titles in most aspects, but in both instances the mini-game they tacked on top of a perfectly fine RPG got on my nerves. Kingmaker’s management sim and WotR’s Heroes-of-Might&Magic-like army battles felt to me pretty rough around the edges (and ultimately tedious), especially compared to how engaging the rest of the games are. Ugh, I love-hate them sooo much.
I play with a controller on PC, and while I'm fine with the campaign battles in WotR, it irritates me to no end how they change the controls for them. It doesn't make any sense at all to do it, but they did. No matter what I will eventually accidentally skip turns because of that dumb decision.
One example, for those that don't play with a controller: In regular party fights pressing the shoulder buttons will select an enemy, which can be a huge help instead of using the pointer.
But in the campaign army battles the shoulder buttons skip your turn. Why??
Yep. And the worst part is the Fear-of-Missing-Out when disabling them.
Like, there is nothing stopping you from just not doing the kingdom management mini-game, except that nagging feeling that you might actually miss out on some content...
I'll say DA2 and Dragon Age Inquisition both have story modes, where combat definitely takes a backseat - way more so than Origins. The story only gets better too, and with DA4 coming out next month...
Yeah, that's a good option perhaps. I grabbed em recent because of a steam sale, but never played them before. Appreciate the rec :)