JRPG Jungle's 5 Favourite JRPGs of 2016

My favourite games this year were surprisingly easy to choose. While there were a lot of good games I played in 2016, after many months have passed there are five games that stand out as truly great JRPGs to me. There are games I would've loved to include on this list that were supposed to come out  in 2016 (Hi Persona 5!), but there were some major delays in 2016 that mean certain games will hopefully make the list next year. Regardless, I had a lot of fun gaming experiences in 2016 and this list represents the best parts of my JRPG year.

In order to keep things fair and to show why I included certain games, here are some rules I gave myself when making this list:

• The game must be a full game or at least a full experience (no demos or DLC, but finished mobile games that get updated are okay)
• Since this list is based on what I've played, JRPGs from any year can be included as long as I played it in 2016
• Games from previous year's lists cannot be included unless they were remade or remastered.

So without further ado, here are my top 5 favourite games I played (in order) in 2016!

5. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (iOS, Android)

Last year in a move that was a little odd to me, I made Final Fantasy Record Keeper my favourite game of 2015. I thought it would be something I would play for a really long time, until I played Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius features a similar character collection system like Record Keeper, but also adds its own story and mechanics that are much closer to the ones on console Final Fantasy games. The main thing I thought Record Keeper was missing was a decent story and playing purpose, and Brave Exvius fixes that for me with gameplay that is genuinely better, incorporating the Espers, spells and classes that Final Fantasy is known for. While I don't have so much smartphone gaming time these days, I still enjoy opening up Brave Exvius when I can and hanging out with the charming characters and exploring my way through the fascinating pocket-sized world.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available for free on iOS and Android.

4. X-Tactics (iOS, Android)

X-Tactics is my favourite smartphone JRPG of 2016, which is kind of amazing to me since two of my favourite series released multiple mobile games this year. Since being heavily updated and improved throughout the year, X-Tactics has become my go-to tactical JRPG experience for on the go because of its smooth, quick battles and unique characters that are free from many common tropes seen in Japanese games. There are extra missions to find based on your location, regular updates and an incredibly fun touch mechanism that make executing attacks kind of addictive. With its quick and quirky story and gameplay style, everything about X-Tactics works perfectly for a light mobile experience and for a quick tactical fix. It's the first thing I open up if I have time to play a mobile game and with my trusty Kuu by my side, I'm sure I'll be having mobile tactical fun well into the New Year!

X-Tactics is available for free on iOS and Android.

3. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS Vita, PS4)

I played this back in March and I still regularly think about picking up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth to catch and digivolve more Digimon because it was so much fun. There are so many reasons to love Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth - the dialogue is hilarious, the evolution mechanics were really smart and all the characters are highly entertaining, along with the Digimon collection itch leftover from my childhood Digimon World days finally being attended to. I became heavily invested in its digital world throughout my 50+ hours game and I look forward to platinuming this one day because it’s a world I don’t want to leave alone.

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth at Play-Asia.com!*

2. Final Fantasy XV (PS4, Xbox One)

Ever since Final Fantasy XV was announced for this year, I truly hoped it would be good enough to be one of my favourite games of this year and I’m so glad it was. The best way I can describe my love of Final Fantasy XV at this point is that its the open-world Final Fantasy x Skyrim I always dreamed of. It’s the big wide world I love from Final Fantasy XIV combined with the usual Final Fantasy story I like, complete with more side quests than I ever expected and a group of four guys that I feel surprisingly connected to all packaged in a fun road trip. I’m having so much fun exploring the wide world of Eos and I hope it keeps giving me great surprises as I continue playing.

You can pick up Final Fantasy XV for PS4 and Xbox One from Play-Asia.com!*

1. World of Final Fantasy (PS Vita, PS4)

What a great surprise World of Final Fantasy was to me. Originally described as an experience for a younger audience, World of Final Fantasy brings back the charming characters from old Final Fantasy games and the tried and true turn-based battle system Final Fantasy does best with a monster hunting twist that can appeal to fans of old and new. And somehow World of Final Fantasy feels like the best monster hunting game I played all year, taking advantage of all the wonderful creatures in the Final Fantasy universe by making them capturable. On top of being the best monster hunter I've played this year, it's also my favourite JRPG of this year. I’m in love with the skill tree upgrading and transfiguration systems for upgrading my mirages, I've had new favourite moments with some of my favourite Final Fantasy characters such as Tidus, Yuna and Vivi, and I found myself moved to laughter and tears thanks to the well-written story on multiple occasions. It’s an absolutely wonderful game that I hope Square Enix turns into a series of its own, with Lann and Reynn being my new favourite twin protagonist duo and the world of Grimoire being one filled with magic that I wished would never finish.

You can pick up World of Final Fantasy for PS4 and PS Vita at Play-Asia.com!*

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What were your 5 favourite JRPGs of 2016? What did you play in 2016?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

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JRPGs I Played in Summer 2016

This Summer was the season of a surprising amount of mobile games for me. I did play a bunch of games on consoles and portable devices, but with the release of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and Mobius Final Fantasy I had my work as a JRPG fan cut out for me. Aside from mobile games, I also finally completed the wonderful Fire Emblem Awakening and I just started Lost Dimension on Vita which I’m happy with so far. Speaking of handhelds, I’d like to give a shout out to portable gaming devices in general this month as they were a total gaming lifesaver while I was moving apartments this month. Without portable consoles, my gaming life would’ve been on hold and that simply wouldn't do! So here’s what I played this season and I hope everyone enjoyed their Summer gaming time! Let me know your favourite JRPGs of this Summer in the comments.

Lost Dimension (PS Vita)

Status: Now playing. Suspicious of everyone.

I've definitely still got a lot of Lost Dimension to get through but I picked it up recently to fill time in between now and Final Fantasy XV (which you know, is delayed now) after it was recommended to me on Twitter (thanks @Sypherica!). I’m already enjoying its tactical battle system a lot and I really like how the Vision system helps you take notes on who the traitor may be. Since I’ve been enjoying the Danganronpa 3 anime recently, Lost Dimension satisfies my JRPG needs and my mystery 'find-the-traitor' visual novel needs all in one game.

You can pick up Lost Dimension at Play-Asia.com

Digimon World DS (DS, Japanese)

Status: Played for about 15 minutes, back on the shelf.

I missed Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth enough to pick up Digimon World DS when I randomly saw it for under $10 secondhand. I didn’t do any research on it, I was just hoping it would bring me fun Digimon collection and the Digimon World experience I remembered from my childhood. I switched it on, found the different animation style and Japanese a little jarring, but I’m not saying it’s bad as it’s way too early to tell. I’ll have to sit down and really give this game a proper try sometime but I still think it was a cool find.

Long Gone Days (Steam demo, full game coming in 2018)

Status: Now playing, played a small amount between packing boxes to move. Hoping to play in full in the next few weekends

Another game suggested by a friend (thanks @DefurInTokyo!), Long Gone Days is probably my second or third indie JRPG. I only played it briefly while taking a break from moving preparations, but already I like its quick character development and simplistic, yet smart battle system that required a little more thought than just hitting attack. Since I really enjoy the JRPG cross Visual Novel genre, I'm looking forward to getting back to this one soon.

You can play the demo of Long Gone Days on Steam now for free!

Mobius Final Fantasy (iOS)

Status: Played for about an hour, not actively playing

I played Mobius for an evening after being super excited for it in the weeks leading up to its launch. After playing it, I found myself a little underwhelmed. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad game, but it didn’t hook me in. I don’t mind games with cards (I play Hearthstone regularly) but when combined with the lack of familiar Final Fantasy mechanics, while the system was interesting, it's not what I overly want from a portable Final Fantasy game. I really wanted to like Mobius so I may check in with it on occasion, but for now it's not nearly as compelling as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is for me.

Mobius Final Fantasy is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4)

Read the full review here!

Status: Slowly platinuming

With my trusty Agumon pillow, I remembered I wanted to platinum Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth eventually and remembered how much fun I had with it. Coming back to a game after such a long time though, I saw how much I needed to do, felt a little overwhelmed and kinda bounced out. I do want to try platinum games I love in Japanese like I’m trying to do (with limited success) with Final Fantasy X so I know if I really want to collect all of those Digimon, I’ll do it.

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth at Play-Asia.com

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing a few times a week on the go

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was another Final Fantasy mobile game I was extremely excited for and to my delight, ended up totally loving. Since I was a long time fan of Record Keeper, I initially wondered if Exvius would be as good as it was and it turned out to be better. It's character collection is like an upgraded version of Record Keeper, its battle system is much smarter for the platform it's on and there are finally some maps to explore making it feel much more like a legitimate RPG. In my opinion, it's the best Final Fantasy game on smartphones so definitely try it if you're a fan of Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing a few times a week on the go

Another one of the great mobile games released by Square Enix recently is Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ. I think Unchained χ is a particularly amazing smartphone game because it manages to somehow turn the active battle mechanics of Kingdom Hearts into a turn-based system while feeling like a really similar system to the Kingdom Hearts games on Playstation consoles. Unchained χ is literally giving away Stamina/AP right now with the current 0 AP Summer promo so if you're looking to try the game without limitations, now is the time.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained X is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

X-Tactics (iOS)

Read the full review here!

Status: Playing occasionally on the go.

With so many new mobile games out, my X-Tactics playing did fall a little by the wayside. The times I did play though I was reminded how well the gameplay mechanics work together and would like to catch up on quests for it during Fall. I also really want to continue collecting X-Coin to get the adorable Kuku into my party and finish the quests to get the third special attack for my characters.

X-Tactics is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper (iOS)

Read my first impressions or about my recent experiences with the game!

Status: Hiatus

It’s with many sighs that I consciously jumped off the Final Fantasy Record Keeper train this month because I just couldn't enjoy it the same way after Brave Exvius came out. Record Keeper was a great game when it came out but I got stale with the repetitive mechanics without any story or other incentive to keep playing, especially after I got behind on its content. I really liked Record Keeper for a long time so I’m a little sad it’s out of my mobile game roster but I’m also excited to keep finding more games that will keep me committed for over a year like Record Keeper did.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper is available in both the App Store and the Google Play store.

Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)

Status: Finished the main story. May play again one day in other difficulty modes

I really wish I hadn’t put off playing this for so long because it was fantastic. Fire Emblem Awakening is hands down one of the best tactical JRPGs I’ve ever played. The way its Support system affected the battles had me really motivated and excited to pair off characters and just the way the game was so personable with its characters was nice too. I already miss Tharja as well, my new favourite experimenting mage that’s high on my best girl list and many of the other fun characters that enriched the experience. As a new Fire Emblem fan, I’ll definitely be picking up Fire Emblem Fates soon as I’m sure it will be even better than Awakening. Feel free to comment with any other Fire Emblem suggestions!

You can pick up Fire Emblem Awakening at Play-Asia.com

Honourable Mention (Non-JRPG): Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Technically not a JRPG, but it’s one of the funnest third-person shooter adventure games I’ve ever played and hooked me in the usual Danganronpa way of interrupting any after work activities I needed to do all week because I needed to finish that story. Not a good idea while I was preparing to move, but goddamn it was a fun 30 hours. I wanted to add it in this list because Danganronpa always manages to give me that hook I'm always looking for in games and its mechanics are a little similar to JRPGs, so I think some people will enjoy it and its messed up story about kids killing adults.

You can pick up Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls at Play-Asia.com

Fall Game Plan

Once this heat has subsided and fall has arrived, it brings with it a really big JRPG title - Persona 5. However this will only be out in Japanese and I definitely won't understand it on a native level. I was completely ready to give Final Fantasy XV the rest of my year, but since it’s been delayed I have no excuse not to try and understand Persona 5 in Japanese now. I’ll give it a shot, but it won’t be my top priority gaming wise. I’ll probably finish Lost Dimension and after that I’m not really sure. Like I said, Final Fantasy XV really had the rest of the foreseeable year for me and I have such a surprising amount of free gaming time now that I'm not sure what to do with it.

To fill this free time, since I’ve finished moving apartments it would be nice to get back in touch with my home consoles. I may finally try the Atelier series or give Final Fantasy VII - one of my biggest unplayed JRPG sins - a try on PS4. I'm also pretty excited for World of Final Fantasy after the E3 footage shown and the new trailers, so at least I can get my Final Fantasy fix somehow!

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What did you play in Summer? Do you have any gaming plans for fall or did Final Fantasy XV's delay also leave a hole in your life?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up Facebook or Instagram and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and Instagram and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Review: X-Tactics (Reviewed on iOS, also available on Android)

X-Tactics is a unique game from the moment you read it's description. By a Japanese indie studio founded by veterans from Square Enix, Sega and Capcom, GAMKIN, Inc's X-Tactics combines fighting game and tactical RPG mechanics in an location-based world full of government spies and secret agents. As someone who plays a lot of JRPGs but hasn't quite ventured much into the tactical side of the genre, I was worried this kind of gameplay initially may be too complicated for my turn-based RPG mind at first, but X-Tactics' use of original and innovative game mechanics made the gameplay intuitive and most importantly, fun. Using a variety of gameplay mechanics, everything blends together into a seamless experience full of challenging levels and humourous characters in X-Tactics' entertaining tactical experience for players on the go.

When I first booted up X-Tactics, seeing the somewhat intricate mechanics in X-Tactics initially had me worried this game was quite complicated. For RPG players, X-Tactics adds a layer of complexity to the usual choose an ability and cast fare, but in a smart and surprisingly intuitive way. Battling with a team of up to four characters, your party works towards various goals, such as clearing a field of enemies or staying alive for a specified amount of enemy waves. When targeting an enemy, a fun timed mini-game begins where you use the touch screen to link together combinations in order to attack or use abilities while dodging any moving blocks from the enemy that could cancel your attack. After this, you need to hit a target at the right time in order to determine how much you'll pierce the enemy's defenses. The rush to get the right combo in the small amount of time was much like the thrilling experience of frantically trying to execute a combo in a fighting game. Thinking about which ability would be easiest to cast for each random boost layout within the time limit was a fresh and exciting approach that felt really unique and I loved how well this kind of system took full advantage of the smartphone's touch screen.

Another unique aspect of X-Tactics is the way it incorporates time and weather. When playing during the daytime on a sunny day, enemies like zombies have Sunburn and are much easier to tackle than if you play at night or on a rainy day when they're stronger. I thought this was another unique and interesting gameplay feature, although it wasn't something that really effected how I played the game. I didn't feel compelled to play at a certain time of day, but I did consider the effect either a welcomed boost or challenging handicap depending on if the effect was in my favour or not.

Missions in X-Tactics are divided into two parts - Story Missions or GPS Missions. Story missions explore the fun adventures of X-Tactics' cast of agents in short conversations between the characters that give context to the missions they're used in. Because of the small length of these pre-mission conversations, the story is fairly light in depth but what's lacking in depth is made up for with lots of quick and amusing humourous banter from the eccentric cast of characters. Every character is a little quirky in their own way, such as Goicci the alien who randomly sprouts Italian phrases like 'Mamma mia!' or the ever so feisty opera singer-turned-agent Astrid and her pet panda KuKu who just so happens to be assassin trained. All characters are complemented by really nice visual character designs that perfectly suit the game's aesthetic and their individual personalities. I usually prefer a deeper story for my RPGs, however I found the shorter scenes charming and better suited to a handheld device since I was usually playing the game on the go.

There's a full party of characters to unlock and enough Story Missions in X-Tactics to amuse those playing the game, especially when you count the extra story missions included in the regularly updated Event Missions. GPS Missions can also be played, which utilize the smartphone's location to generate missions, sometimes including special event missions. Some of Event Missions cost in-game Cash, which can usually be earned from missions, signing in regularly or as a reward for watching small video clips (usually ads for other games). Event Missions give you a chance to try extra characters that can be purchased with X-Coin, the far rarer in-game currency. X-Tactics is playable without paying any money since the app is free, but characters featured in events tended to be Premium Agents, which required spending X-Coin. As of recently, X-Coin can be obtained from GPS Missions or bought with real money. Since X-Coin is uncommon enough that I didn't find any in my time playing, purchasing some of these extra agents may be challenging for those who want to play the game entirely free. However, I do like that it's an option rather than a necessity to pay money for in-game extras, but I hope that more free agents (or ways to win them) are added in future.

My time playing X-Tactics was 90% bug free, which was great since most of the time I played I could enjoy the game without issue. In fact I only encountered my first bug a few days ago after a recent update, specifically a bug that caused a description box to stay on the screen longer than it should have. I'm not too worried about this bug sticking around though, as the game noticed and reported the problem itself. Since X-Tactics is being actively supported with updates and extra missions, I'm confident this shouldn't be an issue for too long and as it was my first error within 6 or more versions of the game (I played between version 3.8 to 4.4), I would still say it's a mostly bug-free experience.

X-Tactics' unique spin on RPG mechanics and it's quirky characters make it a standout mini-RPG for mobile devices. The addicting thrill of putting boosts on my attacks and the fun humour made it an enjoyable experience that had me excited to play it every time. Since the game is regularly updated, I'm excited to see what other eccentric characters and challenging levels will be added in the future. X-Tactics is a great, innovative experience for anyone looking for deeper style of gameplay on smartphones and fun, tactical RPG missions on the go.

Score: 8/10
With it's unique gameplay and colourful character banter, I really liked the way X-Tactics gameplay blends genres into something original. I can't wait to see what's added in the future (and to get KuKu into my party)!

X-Tactics is available on iOS and Android for free!
Click here to find it on iOS and here to find it on Android.

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Will you try X-Tactics? And if you have, what did you think?

Leave a comment below, send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle, hit me up on the JRPG Jungle Facebook page and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow the blog here, follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter and like JRPG Jungle on Facebook for updates on content and random musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

Notes: In the interest of transparency, information about this game was sent to me for review consideration, but I can promise this review 100% honest and written without bias.
Also, smartphone games are regularly updated and changed. My opinions about this game are based on the condition of the game at the time this review was released and may not cover any future important changes to the app.