author: Sebastian Kasparek
10 Best Games to Introduce You to the jRPG Genre in 2022
Want to start an adventure with jRPGs, but you're not familiar with the genre? Here is our list of 10 Japanese RPGs that are perfect to play as your first games in this adventure.
Tales of Arise
- Key features: Effective, yet very intuitive combat system; balanced level of difficulty and mechanics, which do not overwhelm the user in terms of quantity and complexity
- Year of release: 2021
- Developer: Bandai Namco Entertainment
The latest installment of the Tales series is a relatively fresh game, and the world of gamers considers it one of the best jRPGs in recent years. A bold statement, but it's hard to disagree. This series has always been quite respectable, but lately, it finally received the recognition it deserves, and hit the mainstream. It's also an excellent example of a game that will introduce you to the whole genre.
Tales of Arise boasts an incredibly compelling combat system – the fights here are spectacular, and they're one of the elements that will keep you engaged in the game. It's perfect for those who are into the genre, but are not convinced about the turn-based systems. If you want exciting battles in fantasy worlds, then you can hardly find anything better than this title.
What else? There's a great story again, this time exploring the issue of slavery and showing how surprisingly easy it is to come to terms with a terrible fate. The most important feature that can convince you to play Tales of Arise is, above all, the way the game approaches the rules of the jRPG genre. It's full of peculiar quirks, and the whole thing was presented in a very approachable way – also for the Western recipient. The authors avoided caricatures, and have created a credible world. And then it's also simply a great game – not only in the context of Japanese titles and specifically jRPGs. In addition, it looks phenomenal and stands out with a unique style. Beautiful views at every step are a given here.
