Sony Playstation (PS1, PSX) JRPGs

ARC Entertainment
Working Designs
2002
PSOne Classic on PSN
Sequels on PS2

Arc the Lad playable (7 story, 6 summons story, 1 summons sidquest): Arc, Poko, Kukuru, Gogen, Tosh, Chongara (Kelack, Mofly, Hemo-Ji, Fu-Jin, Rai-Jin, Odon, Choko), Iga

Arc the Lad II playable (21 story, 1 sidequest, 198 monsters): Elc, Lieza, Paundit, Shu, Shante, Gruga, Sania, Diekbeck, all characters from Arc the Lad return and Chongara's summons are separate characters now

Arc the Lad III playable (6 story, 1 sidquest, 3 temporary): Alec, Lutz, Theo, Cheryl, Marsia, Velhart, Anrietta; and Elc, Shu, and Tosh as temporary characters

#compilation #grid #savelink #turn #traditional

Konami. Konami. 1998.
Alternate version on GBC.
Spiritual sequel on DS.

Azure Dreams is a monster battler, roguelike dungeon crawl, dating sim, world builder in one! Believe it or not, coming from someone who's not a fan of those genres, this is actually kinda fun! I guess the "being everywhere" genre approach works for it. Your monster retains levels, but the main character (Koh) does not. You find items and such in the dungeons and rebuild houses and impress girls. You also want to work your way to the top to figure out what happened to your papa (Guy). It's a unique little game with a whimsical art style and a sense of humor. This game has a bit of a spiritual sequel in a little known DS game entitled Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal. Unlike this game, it's not very good unfortunately.

Hero's name: Koh (mute)

Tropes: affection levels, level reset, monsters battle, world building

Camelot. Sony. 1996.

Beyond the Beyond is an odd game. It was released after such mega hits as FF3 and Chrono Trigger, but it's still feels like it's about a decade behind them. The first RPG on PS1 in NA isn't much, but it's the precursor to Golden Sun. It's not a bad game, it just suffers from abounding nothing. There's nothing happening in the game. You're Finn and you left to be a knight and met a cursed knight and are helping him. Suddenly there's a....zzzzzzzzzz.

Capcom. Capcom. 1998.
Ported to PSP in Europe.
Sequel on PS1.

BoF3 is when Capcom really stepped the story up a notch. You have death, betrayal, and a little romance after 2 (pretty good) cliche adventures. Little Ryu's voice is adorable "EE DEE WOO!". The random battles get on your nerves a bit, but it's par for the course when it comes to older RPGs. I love games where the characters age, so this one has a special place in my heart.

Capcom. Capcom. 2000.
Sequel on PS2.

What a pretty game BoF4 is! I love the muted colors, the stunning art, and the wonderful sprite work. It really is a marvel to look at. The game isn't to shabby as a game either! It's nothing new if you've played BoF3, except battles seem a bit less frequent. There was a big deal over censorship in this game, but whatever. It's still a wonderful title.