Forgotten CD-ROM JRPGs

[Note]

Awesome thread ... Illusion City, Linda Cube, and Terra Phantastica seem like games that I'd really be into. Definitely gonna look into playing these down the line with an English translation patch.

Also, had no idea there was a Dragon Force 2! And I was a big fan of the first game. Never owned it, but good memories of playing it at my friend's place back in the day on weekends.

[SpaceBooger]

Linkle Liver Story (Saturn), 1996
Surprised this isn't more popular. It's a super-kawaii Zelda-ish game with cat girls. The graphics are pure 2D bliss, even rivaling Magic Knight Rayearth in parts. Still pretty affordable and a Saturn exclusive.

This has now been translated into English. I patched yesterday and tested it, not a long gameplay, but everything looked good.
http://aishsha.blogspot.com/2019/01/linkle-liver-story-released.html

[mobiusclimber]

Here's some of my favorites that haven't been mentioned:



Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World is a PC Engine port/remake of a Famicom RPG. It is a wacky sex comedy RPG about a group of women a "God" has taken for his wives. They all hate men now and you have to convince them to join your team and fight against the evil ruler/deity/whatever. (I only barely understood the plot, sorry.) Pretty fun and a lot of goofy situations and townspeople. It's also got a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements.



Dragon Knight 4 was mentioned, but DK II is an entirely different game with different gameplay and one which I like a whole lot better. The story and gameplay are a bit on the simple side, but it makes for a quick breezy adventure. The game is a first-person dungeon crawler with a strong ecchi theme. The townswomen have all been abducted and turned into monsters. You have to brave the dungeon, battle the creatures in order to turn them back into (half-naked) women, and stop the evil sorceress (?). It's very easy to play this game without knowing a lick of Japanese.



Did you know Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure had a sequel? There's... actually TWO sequels and a jigsaw puzzle game. This is the first sequel, for the PS1 (the second sequel is on the PS2), Little Princess: Maru Oukoku no Ningyou Hime 2. It's just as charming and light-hearted as Rhapsody, so if you liked that game, you'll probably like this one too.



Rune Jade is a Diablo-style action-RPG. It features anime cutscenes and a large cast of characters to choose from.



El Dorado Gate 1-7 is a serialized turn-based RPG from Capcom that features character design by famed Squaresoft artist Yoshitaka Amano. If you've ever wanted to play a game with characters that actually look like an Amano character sketch, this is the game.



After Armageddon Gaiden: Majuu Toushouden Eclipse is an RPG where you play as a monster with a party of other monsters. It reminds me a bit of Last Armageddon, but I like the battles in this one a bit more. But if you haven't played Last Armageddon (for the PC Engine CD amongst other platforms), it's also very good.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Dragon Knight II is indeed quite fun. I'll always prefer Knights of Xentar, but as far as first-person dungeon crawlers go, the first two Dragon Knight games are pretty streamlined and user-friendly.

[Forlorn Drifter]

All this talk of Dragon Knight is making me curious of old school ecchi games before they all went VN.

A pair of games I’ve been curious about for a while are Volfoss and Ningyo no Rakuin, both PS1 SRPGs. Volfoss just looks like one of those weirder games story/art wise, and Ningyo no Rakuin is apparently a very dark game, that I’ve often seen described as “Low aren’t trashy Seinen manga-The Game”.

Volfoss is supposedly pretty rough though.

Linda Cube is supposed to get a translation down the line, but I haven’t seen any updates from that guy in about a year. The PC Engine version of Emeral Dragon was also supposed to get a patch, but that seems to be dead. And Illusion City has a partial translation, which is disappointing.

[BoneSnapDeez]

The Super Famicom Emerald Dragon is quite different from other variants, but it is English-translated and I'd highly recommend it. Really intriguing mechanics.

[marurun]

And if the Emerald Dragon PCE translation ever completes, I would advocate passing over it. One of the people involved is highly toxic.

[Forlorn Drifter]

And if the Emerald Dragon PCE translation ever completes, I would advocate passing over it. One of the people involved is highly toxic.

I’m aware. I just have a fascination with PC Engine stuff, so I can’t help but take an interest. Though of course, that person’s toxicity is supposed to be the reason the translator left.