RPG that hooks you right away?

[Exhuminator]

Speaking of JRPGs that weren't too popular... I really enjoyed Brainlord back in 90s. I didn't know until the 2010s that I was supposed to hate it, and that's it's a terrible game. (Not that I agree.) Maybe we can all agree it's got an outstanding OST:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heZFRvB ... Rp&index=7

[Sarge]

Is it really terrible, though? I remember it getting a pretty good spread in Nintendo Power. I thought it was pretty solid, and it's on my list of games to eventually beat.

[Xeogred]

Brainlord is bad. Maybe not Y's 5 bad. Both looked awesome to me at a glance since I seem to love this stuff, but... then I tried to play them.

I think Bone was onto something earlier. I'd actually say it was perhaps Zelda 1 that defined my love for the kind of ARPG's that I prefer. Really precise hit detection usually, big swords and range, slow methodical combat, etc.

Even Chrono Trigger has some annoying segments for me, but that's true of everything, so... yeah, back to 10/10.

The part when you're jailed and separated from your crew on a ship is super annoying. This is the annoying thing about Chrono to me in comparison to Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3, Chrono has dozens of scripted events where control is taken away from you, the wallet gets stolen, weird fetch quests in a town, lose your items, forced party of specific members, etc. So that to me is what I'd describe as pacing. SoM/SD3 let you go from start to finish and have full control for the whole ride basically (a big key thing I love about Souls for something newer, which to me feels like the perfect answer to my preference in style of older ARPG's hehe).

Opa Opa isn't around anymore so I'm all alone on the Mana defense.

Lavos is freaking cool though. One of the best final boss themes ever created. If Chrono was more like 99% sci-fi then it would probably be the best thing ever in my book, but that's kind of where Xenogears comes in!

[Exhuminator]

I think Lavos looks cool, but I just didn't get into it as an interesting boss.

This can be considered though; I have not beaten Chrono Trigger since 1998. It may be that replaying the DS version of the game all these years later might leave me feeling differently about it. Who knows, I may walk away a believer. Or I may ravage it with almighty criticism and piss on its corpse (doubt it).

1998 was a banner year for me and SNES JRPGs. I had a friend who let me borrow a bunch of his games at that time. I beat Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Soul Blazer, Brain Lord, Breath of Fire, Demon's Crest, Illusion of Gaia, Robotrek and who knows what else in '98. I was very glad to have the sanctuary of escapism they all offered, as that was a very stressful year.

[Xeogred]

As long as Illusion of Gaia is at the bottom of that list, we're all good...

Pretty sure I was knee deep into DBZ when I was exposed to Chrono Trigger. Lavos = Cell was a cool factor for me. But yeah, there's admittedly no character whatsoever. I would say my interest levels maximized during all the Zeal, Schala, Black Omen stuff... when it went omega sci-fi and mystical so go figure haha. I never wanted to leave. It is a shame it's probably the shortest area you're in though, you spend way more time in the other timelines of the game.

I can't even remember the last time I replayed CT myself, I'm probably due for a replay too. But I've gone back to all my early SNES RPG's a lot over the years and still love them. I would say I've probably replayed in full CT or FF6 the most, but I seem to keep going back to FF4 more as years go by and have hit up all the versions of that one (except the DS one which doesn't interest me much). Probably a tie breaker between those three.

As a big Quintet fan, I do need to beat EVO and Robotrek sometime.

I guess a little back on topic, Super Mario RPG was my first RPG and I definitely think it's a good starter. It's simpler than most in a lot of ways, but everything about it is insanely unique and different. I wish there was more games like its art style. Incredible music too. There is nothing else quite like it and I don't think the Mario & Luigi games are even half as good as this one... ie Square Soft developed it so you know it's amazing.

[Exhuminator]

As a big Quintet fan, I do need to beat EVO and Robotrek sometime.

I beat EVO back in 2005. I enjoyed it very much until the final boss. Depending on what form you end up evolving into, the boss is either hard or impossible.

As much as you love mechs, sci-fi, and SNES, if you haven't beaten Front Mission: Gun Hazard yet, you really owe it to yourself.

[BoneSnapDeez]

EVO is solid. Not a Quintet game though, it's by Almanic who also made Wonder Project J.