what in your opinion are the worst jrpgs

[Soldier Blue]

EDIT: Chrono Cross, Earthbound, Golden Sun, Ni No Kuni, etc. are also fine games. You people really need to play something bad like Lunar: Dragon Song. That game is the worst.

Shining Force EXA?

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time?

Arc the Lad: End of Darkness?

Last Rebellion?

Eh..not sure I get that one. Star Ocean Till the End is one of my favorite RPGS on the system. It had one of the best OSTS ever in my opinion, a really fun battle system and great characters.

[Cronozilla]

You guys ever play Ephemeral Fantasia on PS2?
I wouldn't recommend it.

I honestly have no argument for if the plot or characters are done well ... I just can't get past how terrible the experience of playing it is.

This was the first ps2 game I ever played, and I almost listed it, but I didn't get far enough to give it a fair shake. No memory card!

Well I'm actually a ghost, because I died waiting around for areas to load when the screen scrolled.

[Ack]

Eh..not sure I get that one. Star Ocean Till the End is one of my favorite RPGS on the system. It had one of the best OSTS ever in my opinion, a really fun battle system and great characters.

See, I completely disagree. There was only one character I liked in the game, the voice acting was atrocious, I found the plot entirely lacking, and the combat system felt like the worst parts of Star Ocean combat. Nothing about the game worked for me. Nothing at all.

That said, I'm glad you found it enjoyable. Just because it didn't click for me doesn't mean it wouldn't resonate deeply with someone else, so I'm glad to hear it has its fans.

As for Final Fantasy X, I didn't think it was so bad...at least, I appreciated some parts of it. The plot isn't one of those parts. But if you want some good old fashioned nightmare fuel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj-brCekxSE

That is for you, Exhuminator.

[alienjesus]

These threads always just make me roll my eyes and wish that gamers weren't so damn negative all the time.

The vast majority of the games on here are fine games, and even if you don't like them youself, don't deserve to be anywhere near a 'worst JRPG list'. The fact that Final Fantasy, Tales, Golden Sun and others are being bought up is a joke.

People need to learn the difference between something being bad and something not being to their tastes.

[Exhuminator]

People need to learn the difference between something being bad and something not being to their tastes.

Or you could accept some people just really don't like the things you do.

[Sarge]

Like Metal Dungeon! Seriously, look it up if you haven't played it.

[alienjesus]

People need to learn the difference between something being bad and something not being to their tastes.

Or you could accept some people just really don't like the things you do.

Disliking something and considering it one of the 'worst' in it's genre are two very different things.

I don't like Final Fantasy IV. I don't like Final Fantasy VII. I found Super Mario RPG to massively overrated and incredibly tedious. I actually hated that game.

Do I consider any of those to be the 'worst' jrpgs? Not at all. They have a lot to recommend them for. Even if I absolutely believe that some of the design decisions were fucking stupid and flawed, I also acknowledge that they all have plenty to recommend them to people.

There is much worse than the games people are mentioning here.

[prfsnl_gmr]

These threads always just make me roll my eyes and wish that gamers weren't so damn negative all the time.

The vast majority of the games on here are fine games, and even if you don't like them youself, don't deserve to be anywhere near a 'worst JRPG list'. The fact that Final Fantasy, Tales, Golden Sun and others are being bought up is a joke.

People need to learn the difference between something being bad and something not being to their tastes.

I agree completely. The way people are writing you would think that great games - like FFX, Golden Sun, etc. - deserve to be compared to something like this:

"Falling Stars is one of the most poorly paced, ugly, boring and obnoxious pieces of software that I've ever inserted into a PlayStation system[!]" -- Ryan Clements, IGN

"But you can’t believe how boring this gets, especially with the absolutely absurd loading times[!] . . . [W]e just can’t locate any reason whatsoever for anyone, young or old, to give Falling Stars a try. The story is clichéd and contrived, the characters aren’t well defined at all, the battle mechanic is clunky and repetitive, the sound is terrible, the atmosphere isn’t engaging, the loading is looooong, and in the end, it’s really a waste of time[!]" -- Ben Dutka, PSXextreme

[Exhuminator]

There is much worse than the games people are mentioning here.

It's all based on relative experience and subjective takeaway.

If you want an "official" list, this is about the best we can get:

http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html ... r=&search=

[Ack]

These threads always just make me roll my eyes and wish that gamers weren't so damn negative all the time.

The vast majority of the games on here are fine games, and even if you don't like them youself, don't deserve to be anywhere near a 'worst JRPG list'. The fact that Final Fantasy, Tales, Golden Sun and others are being bought up is a joke.

People need to learn the difference between something being bad and something not being to their tastes.

Considering this came after my post, I feel like it's aimed at me.

It should be noted that, in the four games I mentioned in my last post, Star Ocean Till the End of Time was the highest rated by critics with a Metacritic score of 80%. I based my inclusion on personal experience and the experiences of people around me, none of whom enjoyed it. That said, is it really the "worst" JRPG? No, probably not, despite my inability to find anyone who enjoyed it outside of this forum...but that's where the other titles I picked out do start coming in.

Shining Force EXA has a Metacritic score of 64. Arc the Lad: End of Darkness has a Metacritic score of 59. Last Rebellion has a Metacritic score of 44. Considering the debates we have on how critics skew towards higher ratings, it should be telling that these games are quite lacking. There are others mentioned in this thread that also have lower scores, even if I've personally enjoyed them. Case in point, I actually like Ephemeral Fantasia, but the Metacritic score is 48.

Yes, some of what we have nominated is subjective, and a lot is based on personal experience and its limitations(heck, some of the guys here might only have played Golden Sun and FF7, so the "worst" they have played is limited between those two choices). What ultimately matters is our explanations for why we consider one game the "worst" over another. What does 'X' game do that grates on our nerves or makes it considerably weaker when compared to 'Y' game? And since none of us have played every JRPG in existence, what we consider to be bad might be highly restricted in comparison to the rest of what we have played.

A list of worst JRPGs is not the same as a list of poorly designed JRPGs. Worst can be the worst we have played, but the worst we have played might still be considered excellent overall.