siln

JRPGs are all over the place and it's hard to pin any one of them down as a singularly seminal example. Especially since PC hasn't been the platform of choice for most of their existence.

That said, I too came her to suggest Trails in the Sky as an example of a very story-heavy JRPG that does most things right, IF that's the sort of game you're interested in. The follow-up series, Trails of Cold Steel has also started hitting Steam if you want to check out something with more of a modern, more anime-inspired take on the same world and genre.

Final Fantasy is a mainstay too, but like JRPGs in general, they're all over the place in terms of mechanics, as they have changed along with tastes and time. IV and VI are great primers but the PC ports are generally not the ideal way to experience them. IX and X are pretty good to check out on Steam, though.

Steam doesn't quite have the treasure trove the way that PSN does. Honestly, my Vita became (and still sort of is) my home for great re-releases of old classics like Chrono Trigger and older Final Fantasy games, and Playstation JRPGs. But we seem to be entering a period where PC ports, especially in the West, are becoming more common.

Can we talk for a second about what a terrific character Morganna turned out to be by the end? As the replacement voice-in-your-head while walking around, he sort of integrates with the interface, and becomes a kind of anthropomorphization of the game itself. In the early game, he's haughty and demanding, and infamously puts limits on your time and options. At the same time, you're getting hit with a dour and unpleasant school life in contrast to P3/P4, getting the runaround from a nastier Igor than you might remember, and generally getting the impression that everything is out to antagonize you.

As the game goes on you get allies, and things start to seem less hopeless. All the while Morganna is becoming more sympathetic. We get glimpses of him actively worrying for his friends, and about his true nature. Ryuji calling him useless cuts him deeply, and by the time he temporarily bails, you actually kind of miss his nagging. Interacting with the world feels oddly perfunctory without his commentary.

Once you start hitting the bottom of Mementos, Morganna's demeanor heavily seems to suggest that his own existence might be tied to it, and that stealing the treasure will likely mean the end for him, and by extension, the game that he represents. No one explicitly says this, but I still found myself with him in my party for most of Mementos Depths and beyond, because it felt like my last chance to run with him. Finally, Igor's late reveal that Morganna's nature is unambiguously benevolent casts not only him but the whole game in a more affirming, less grim light.

The moments in the cutscene before he disappeared were probably the closest I came to actual sadness because it was so obvious that it would happen, and I was just waiting for it. With him went all of the game systems that I would no longer need to experience the rest of the finale. The game had made use of all 100 hours to turn this obnoxious mascot task-master into a character whose absence I sincerely felt, perhaps more than any of the other characters. And then of course the little shit waddles back in, because Persona 5 is nothing if not a game where -- if you can just hold out for long enough -- apparent sadness is nearly always dispelled by unexpected levity.

Futaba first playthrough, partly because Aoi Yuki and partly because she's hilarious and sincere.

Makoto for sure in NG+. Ann always felt more like a kickass friend, and from a western perspective her hāfu appeal holds less sway. Haru and Hifumi are up there, but don't get enough time.

I really love the older woman options in theory, and I hope they continue to give you non-standard romantic choices, but it never felt true to the way I'd played the MC to romance them.

Tokyo Grift seemed like a good idea at the time.

Trails of Cold Steel for sure.

Trails in the Sky is older but also still great, though the perspective is isometric, and it doesn't take place in a school or have a Persona-ish relationship levels element, unlike Cold Steel which does.

Persona 3 Portable, naturally, if you haven't already played it.

If you're wiling to go back into the back catalogue of PSP games, you can probably find a fair number of cheaper JRPGs that'll play on the Vita.

FES is visually superior, though for my money P3P actually improves on some of the mechanics, especially if you want to control your party members in battle. In addition, the female MC version of the story has great new music, lets you social link with your whole party (ala Persona 4) and interject more during story conversations. Basically they improved some of the social stuff making it a bit more like P4. Obviously if you're set on playing male protagonist, and don't care about controlling your party directly, none of that matters, and you might as well go FES for the better overall visual presentation.

As most will tell you, you can't really go wrong either way.

I'm 60 hours in and it really is one of the better JRPGs I've played. If you liked Trails in the Sky at all, it really does feel like a proper follow-up to it, with some of its gameplay systems translated nicely into a more 3D world. The PS3 version looks slightly better and loads slightly faster, but both versions have some story scenes where the framerate drops. I went with Vita version; suspend can be a godsend during long story sections.

If you haven't played Trails in the Sky and Trails in the Sky Second Chapter, and you aren't turned off by the older, more isometric presentation, it wouldn't hurt to play them first. Both are pretty reasonably priced on Steam/PSN for such huge games.

Even though The New Day is the only reason I watch Raw anymore, I'm still satisfied that it is an excellent reason.

This affects me personally since every time I play PT for 10 minutes I end up closing it down, deleting it and throwing the PS4 out my front door while I run, screaming out the back.

I don't feel bad for Bryan at all. He seems very happy to be back in the ring and being showcased in great matches. I feel bad for ME because now I won't get to see him and Brock. That's one of the few interesting match-ups left, because they could take it so many directions. It's not that I don't want to see Reigns. It's that what I really want is to see is Bryan vs Lesnar.