Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
If Final Fantasy is the king of JRPGs, then Dragon Quest is the duke. It doesn’t innovate as much as Square Enix’s flagship title, but it remains popular thanks to memorable characters, engrossing stories, and the art of Akira Toriyama. Arguably the franchise’s most popular entry is Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. It introduced many gamers in the west to Dragon Quest, and it sold more copies than most other Dragon Quest games.
Dragon Quest is one of the few ongoing Square Enix franchises that has yet to be ported to computers, spin-offs notwithstanding. While not every Dragon Quest game is created equal, nobody can doubt Dragon Quest VIII’s lasting impression. Even if we don’t receive every Dragon Quest game for PC, a port of Dragon Quest VIII will satisfy most JRPG fans.
Persona 5 (and 3 and 4)
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
Persona started as a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise but has overshadowed it in popularity. Persona’s success can be attributed to its combination of paranormal events and a mundane world, blending of fantastical turn-based battles with slice-of-life social management, and unique sense of style. Any one of these aspects is enough to elevate a JRPG, but Persona uses them all to create a franchise that gets more popular with each entry.
The Persona franchise has performed reasonably well, but its PlayStation exclusivity holds it back. While Atlus was impressed it sold 2 million copies of Persona 5 worldwide, imagine how many copies the game would sell if were available on PC. But why stop with one game? Persona 3 introduced many gamers to the Persona franchise, and Persona 4 is easily the most popular entry in the series. The three latest Persona games each deserve a PC port for different reasons.
NieR Gestalt and NieR RepliCant
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
NieR: Automata absolutely killed it last year with flashy combat and philosophical overtones. The game received an underwhelming PC port that is easily fixed by a fan patch, but its prequel, NieR, never received a PC release, which is a shame since it hits most of the same notes as NieR: Automata, especially when it asks philosophical questions. And, since the game is published by Square Enix, it’s a surprise NieR hasn’t already released on PC.
Now, you might wonder why I’m discussing NieR and not NieR Gestalt or NieR RepliCant. Well, that’s because what we call NieR the Japanese call NieR Gestalt. Its sister game, NieR RepliCant, is exclusive to the Japanese PlayStation 3. Since RepliCant never released outside of Japan, it would make for a good bonus in a PC port of NieR. Buy one game, get a slightly different version for free.
Chrono Trigger
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
Lately, publishers have tried to sell products on the fame of Chrono Trigger. I Am Setsuna was billed as a JRPG with Chrono Trigger’s combat system. One of the SNES Classic’s selling points was Chrono Trigger. Gamers clearly love Chrono Trigger, and many companies will take advantage of that love, yet none have done the obvious: port the game over to the PC.
The internet is brimming with articles that explain the hows and whys of Chrono Trigger’s popularity and success. The atmosphere. The characters. The multiple endings, one of which can only be reached in New Game+. It all makes for a fantastic experience that absolutely needs to come to PC.
*Edit* Chrono Trigger received a Steam release February 27th. Everything is right with the world.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
A lot of JRPGs aim for an epic tale of heroes trying to overthrow an evil empire, and their visuals reflect this plot; even games with anime aesthetics have serious-looking characters. But, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch combines that epic premise with the children’s storybook appeal of Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli. In fact, the game was touted as a Studio Ghibli film in video game form, albeit exclusive to the PlayStation 4.
Rumors of a port for the game have flooded the Internet ever since its sequel, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom was announced for PC; plus, the CEO of the studio behind the game, Level-5, admitted he wants Wrath of the White Witch on PC. While publisher Bandai Namco adamantly maintains the game’s PlayStation exclusivity, the company could change its mind. Sure, the game is available on PlayStation Now, but streaming isn’t an option for everyone.
The Shadow Hearts Franchise
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
We’ve had a bit of a resurgence in horror games as of late. Survival horror games, horror-themed RPGs, but where are the horror-themed JRPGs? Few have ever been made, but chief among them is the Shadow Hearts franchise. Shadow Hearts sets itself apart from other JRPGs with a historical fantasy setting and a vaguely Lovecraftian atmosphere, as well as a unique combat mechanic, the “Judgement Ring,” which injects a sense of risk vs. reward. The ring determines if abilities and attacks hit, miss, or deal critical damage, which makes the franchise more skill-based than other JRPGs.
One of the reasons why horror games are back in the public eye is PC survival horror games made in RPG Maker, including Ib, Ao Oni, Mad Father, and Yume Nikki. Gamers drool over these games and would likely flock to a bonafide horror JRPG like Shadow Hearts if it were ported to the PC.
Rogue Galaxy
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
Star Wars is one of the biggest movie franchises in history, and it has plenty of video games, the most popular of which is the Knights of the Old Republic RPGs. While several Star Wars games exist, none are JRPGs, but we don’t need any since we have Rogue Galaxy. Everything about the game screams Star Wars, from the main character who lives on a desert planet to the evil galactic empire. Rogue Galaxy even features an overemotional android inspired by C-3PO.
While Rogue Galaxy was well received, it didn’t break half a million sales. The game is a lost gem that deserves a second chance, and many games find that chance on PC. Lately, many classics have found their way onto PC, including Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy and Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Rogue Galaxy would fit right in on PC. Sure, it’s published by Sony, but the PlayStation Now subscription service is available on computers, which means Sony recognizes the appeal of PlayStation exclusive titles on the PC. While providing Rogue Galaxy through PlayStation Now would be a good start, fans would love an actual PC port even more.
Parasite Eve 1 and 2
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
Many gamers these days pine for the good old turn-based JRPGs that made Squaresoft (before it became Square Enix) famous. But, not everyone remembers that quite a few of the company’s older titles broke classic JRPG formulas. Enter Parasite Eve, the glorious love child of Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, and a book about sentient mitochondria that either mutate or kill multi-celled organisms. To call the game a unique experience would be an understatement, as it was Square’s first M-rated game.
Parasite Eve was an experimental title that demonstrates it’s good to be different. If nothing else, we need Parasite Eve on the PC to remind ourselves to play games that don’t just ape other successful JRPGs and are willing to add mechanics that normally wouldn’t belong in the genre.
Lost Odyssey
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
One of the best games by Hironobu Sakeguchi’s studio Mistwalker is Lost Odyssey, a JRPG that adds its own spins on various genre traditions, such as increasing the damage of several attacks with properly timed button presses and giving certain characters the ability to self-revive after a few turns. Unlike Mistwalker’s first game, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey was given the Xbox One backward compatibility treatment, and Microsoft even gave gamers an early Christmas gift in 2016 with free copies of the game.
Since Microsoft owns the rights to Lost Odyssey, it could easily release the game for Windows computers. Plus, the PC houses JRPGs that both follow and break standard genre traditions; since Lost Odyssey walks the fine line between following and breaking JRPG tradition, it would find a home with PC gamers on both sides of the fence.
Demon’s Souls
JRPGs That Still Need to Come to PC
Yes, I know, we’re in the midst of a Dark Souls craze. Every game wants to be the next Dark Souls, but players have seemingly forgotten the game that started it all and served as a blueprint for the franchise: Demon’s Souls. Many of the game’s systems were refined and tweaked for Dark Souls, which leaves Demon’s Souls feeling like Dark Souls on hard mode. As terrifying as that sounds, super-difficult games have a loving home on the PC.
The Souls franchise is popular on PCs thanks to its multiplayer mode; players can either team up with others to take down difficult bosses or grief other players. Demon’s Soul’s’ multiplayer is essentially the same as Dark Souls’, so players would feel right at home playing Demon’s Souls on the PC. The prospect of either aiding or hunting other players in a more difficult version of Dark Souls has probably already piqued the interest of many players, so if Sony is willing, Demon’s Souls would make for an excellent PC game.
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