JRPGswere created to be more streamlined compared to the WesternRPGsof yesteryear, likeUltimaorWizardry. At least, that was Yuji Horii’s intention when developing the first-everDragon Quest.
Over the years, the genre evolved, gaining distinct traits such as consistently introducing creative progression, unusual battle systems, and a focus on developing each character’s inner conflicts.
Now and then, however, some JRPGs throw any notion of simplicity out the window, introducing systems that could leave even the most seasoned D&D masters baffled, or narratives that would make Oscar Wilde himself scratch his head.
In this list, I’ll show some of those dense JRPGs that give beginners no chance, whether due to extremely complex gameplay or stories more convoluted than the different editions of the Bible.
I’m considering “dense” both in gameplay and narrative terms, so entries may vary accordingly.
10Kingdom Hearts
Every Game Is Canon
Kingdom Hearts
I’m starting withKingdom Heartsto get this out of the way, because I know some will sayKingdom Heartsisn’t dense, that it’s abutton-mashing Action RPGyadda yadda. Yeah, I know, and I agree, but as I stated above, I’m also including dense storylines where players practically need to study abroad just to start grasping what’s going on.
That’s precisely where my density argument stands withKingdom Hearts. If you’re like me, you’ll dive into this game imagining it’s going to be a walk in the park, with a light, easy-to-follow story — after all, Mickey’s in it. How hard can it be to follow a Disney narrative?
If you bought theKingdom Hearts All-In-Onepackage and are playing each title in the featured order, you will soon learn how tough the narrative is. What starts as a story of friendship and light versus darkness quickly blends in time travel, the power of the heart, self-discovery, and many more themes that probably even Nomura himself hasn’t fully settled on.
The craziest part is that, no matter how convoluted the storyline becomes,Kingdom Heartsis still a delight to play and enjoy. Its gameplay isperfectly suited for beginners, but tread carefully if you want to dive deep into the lore. It’s a bottomless pit.
9Valkyrie Profile
To Send or Not To Send Warriors to Asgard
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Every time a JRPG gets a modern remaster, there are numerous quality-of-life additions like fast travel, autosave, quest markers, and whatnot. Usually, these are welcome features that enhance the gameplay.
However, now and then, there are games that are obtuse by design, and changing that would, in my opinion, hurt the experience — such asValkyrie Profile.
The gist ofValkyrie Profileis exploring the world as Lenneth, witnessing the demise of certain humans, and recruiting them as Einherjar to face the upcoming Ragnarök. The game does offer some guidance on the world map, but the player chooses which dungeon to tackle, which characters to recruit, and which to send to Asgard.
It’s in these gameplay elements thatValkyrie Profile’s complexities lie, making it ill-suited for beginners. The game has three endings, and it’s way too easy to end up with the worst one or make poor decisions that hinder your progress.
I know, because I was sending warriors to Asgard at every possible turn, thinking I was being rewarded. How wrong I was.
8The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Densest Storyline Ever
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Throughout my career as a prolific JRPG player, my friends always told me to start theTrailsseries because I’d surely fall in love with it. And as much as I wanted to just strap in and start playing, I knew all thegames were part of an overarching narrative, and I’d need to dedicate hours and hours to each entry.
With the imminent release ofTrails in the Sky1stChapter’sremake, the perfect opportunity came to mix work with pleasure, and so, to prepare for it, I dove into the first two entries of Estelle and Joshua’s journey. What a blast I had. I now understand why the fanbase says this franchise’s worldbuilding is top-notch.
However, that initial hesitation I had to start the series also shows how it’s one of the densest in the JRPG realm, even for fans.Trails in the Skyis wonderful, but its script is insanely long, and the narrative moves at a snail’s pace.
It takes a while to reach the story’s climax — but when it happens, it’s pure glory and reward. I don’t blame anyone who starts and drops the game after a few hours. Gameplay-wise, it’s quite straightforward, but the sheer amount of informationTrails in the Skythrows at the player at any given moment can get overwhelming pretty fast.
7Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
The Translator’s Fault
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
It’s widely known among many JRPG aficionados thatFire Emblemfeatures the hardcore permadeath mechanic, where once a character dies in battle, they’re gone for good. That alone should be enough to add anyFire Emblementry to the “no chance for beginners” list.
However, most contemporaryFire Emblemgames offer casual difficulty levels and the option to disable permadeath, which is why I haven’t picked any of those and instead went with the Wii-exclusiveFire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Not only does this game feature permadeath, but it’s also one of the hardest titles in the franchise.
Also, hear me out: due to a mistranslation,Radiant Dawncame to the West with the difficulties labeled as Easy, Normal, and Hard, but in reality, there was no Easy mode. It was Normal, Hard, and Maniac, meaning anyone who started playing on Normal was actually playing on Hard.
All this to say: if you want to dive into theFire Emblemseries, start with something more modern and tailor the challenge to your liking.Tactical JRPGsare usually already more merciless to beginners than other gameplay styles, even without the brutal permadeath feature.
6Resonance of Fate
Where Veterans Also Struggle
Resonance Of Fate
If you came here thinking “dense” as in gameplay-related mechanics, then let me introduce you toResonance of Fate. Any video, article, or any other piece mentioning a complex battle system will most definitely highlightResonance of Fate’s combat, because holy cow, what was Tri-Ace cooking here?
The battle system is amix between turn-based and real-time, which sounds good in theory. However, once you engage in one and just keep watching your character run around while some inputs pop up now and then on the screen, you’ll be asking yourself what’s going on and how to turn on auto mode.
The gist (I think) is to always flank your enemies in a triangle-shaped formation. That way, not only will you unlock combos such as the Tri-Attack, but you’ll also take advantage of either the distance to charge a gauge and deal more damage or to distract the opponent’s attention from which party member it should focus on.
At the end of the day, my advice for an ideal way to enjoyResonance of Fateis to boot it up alongside the most comprehensive GameFAQs guide if you want a proper gameplay experience.
5Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
Way Too Much Freedom
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
One of the things I enjoy most about JRPGs is how streamlined their narrative usually is. For the most part, the story is linear, so it’s easy to know the next objective and where we need to go. Modern games feature quest markers that, when excessive, I know can be discouraging, but it sure beats getting lost every time.
And then we haveSaGa, a franchise that throws any convention of linear narrative and exploration out the window. MostSaGascould be featured here, but I went with the remakeRomancing SaGa: Minstrel Song.
At the start of the game, we choose one of eight protagonists, get a brief introduction to their story, and that’s it; we’re thrown into the world. Some characters have a more traditional narrative arc, but even so, the player is still left to their own devices, tackling events, battles, and sidequests without a predetermined path.
SaGaalso features the Battle Rank system, where enemies scale alongside our growth. Depending on your actions - for instance, too much grinding and too little quest completion - you might hit a massive roadblock in your progression, or even a softlock, reinforcing howSaGagames are not for the faint of heart.
4Metaphor: ReFantazio
Time Management Is Hard
Metaphor: ReFantazio
I choseMetaphor: ReFantazio, but I could have picked anyPersonaor evenShin Megami Tensei, though unfortunately, I haven’t played enough entries in that franchise to talk about them, so I went with a safe bet.
One of the staple mechanics inMetaphorthat would give beginners more of a headache than necessary is the calendar system, which adds a time-management element for the player.
I played an early copy ofMetaphorto write guides for the site, and you may’t imagine how stressful it was trying to manage my time to the max to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
If your goal is to just enjoy the game leisurely, without worrying about grabbing everything or maxing out your Bonds, you may, but it might be worth lowering the difficulty. Atlus doesn’t expect you to engage with everything the game offers, but at least with some side content, be it Bounties or sidequests.
A beginner won’t realize they need to “power up” with extra content or may spend most of their days wasting actions, which can hurt gameplay in the long run. Hence, why, ultimately, I consider these Atlus games with time management way too dense forJRPG beginners.
3Final Fantasy Tactics
No One Loves Softlocking
Final Fantasy Tactics
You know what it’s like to face Wiegraf in Riovanes Castle when your main Job is White Mage and you have no other equipment to change on the spot? For me, it was impossible, and since I only had one save slot, it also resulted in my first-ever softlock.
Final Fantasy Tacticsis one of my favoriteFinal Fantasyentries. However, whenever I recommended it to someone, I’d hear complaints about how hard it was, with a scarce and unhelpful tutorial. I don’t know if teenage me just had grit or if today’s players have gotten used to too much handholding. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that the originalTacticshad dense gameplay.
Back in the day, tactical games were usually harder than other JRPG genres. So while it took me some introspection to understand thatFinal Fantasy Tacticsis indeed harder than most games - especially if we’re considering the difficulty of mainlineFinal Fantasy -it makes sense.
By all means, you should playFinal Fantasy Tactics. Its political plot and intrigue are outstanding even by today’s standards. Luckily, you can do so withFinal Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, a remaster for modern consoles with a more accessible Squire difficulty mode so you can cherish the story without getting owned by Gaffgarion.
2Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Not Enough Tutorials
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Tetsuya Takahashi has always had a penchant for mixing philosophy, religion, psychology, and other dense themes into theXenonarratives. He toned it down withXenoblade Chronicles, and the trilogy’s story is more accessible. Therefore, I don’t want to talk about the narrative of these games, but rather their gameplay.
The first game introduced a battle system that was quite MMO-esque, where characters acted in real time and commands were chosen from a bar. It was simple, but engaging and highly strategic. WithXenoblade Chronicles 2, we got the introduction of Blades and a bunch of new systems that enrich the battle just as much as they make it confusing.
There are so many tutorials, and yet it feels like they barely scratch the surface. You’re happily smacking an enemy and decide to use an Art. Suddenly, a Seal Blowdown pops up in the upper-right corner, your allies prompt Special Attacks on the left, and the party meter keeps filling while you’re trying to move to the enemy’s side to get a bonus from your Art.
When I finally mastered the battle system inXenoblade Chronicles 2, I realized how incredible and spectacular it is. But it was only after investing dozens of hours into the game and actually paying attention to what was happening instead of just mindlessly spamming Art buttons.
1Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
You Will Die. Repeteadly
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarteris infamously known for being drastically different from its predecessors, both in gameplay, story, setting, and, well, everything else, really. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. Quite the contrary! It’s a pretty good JRPG once you understand what’s going on.
The thing is, it’s hard to grasp its game design intention, and you’ll probably quit before figuring out its quirks.Dragon Quarterhas a roguelike-esque gameplay loop, where each death can reset your playthrough while keeping skills, items, party XP, and increasing your D-Ratio.
The goal ofBreath of Fire: Dragon Quarteris to get Ryu, Nina, and Lin to the surface. Along the way, they’ll encounter several locked doors that require a high D-Ratio, which is basically a classification of every person underground.
Ryu starts with the lowest one, D-Ratio 1/8192, but with each New Game+, your ratio increases, unlocking new paths and story events through the SOL feature.
In theory,Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarteroffers countless unusual features that fit its proposal, whether in its challenging gameplay or worldbuilding. But in practice, they were so poorly explained and so different from the rest of the franchise that not many fans gave the JRPG the time of day, unfortunately.
