There comes a time when every person must sit back, think about their life’s accomplishments, and wonder, “What JRPGs should I play?”

Every JRPG fan’s pet peeve is this: You go into a weapon shop and start browsing, only to find a list of names with no other information or context. The only way to know whether those new weapons are better than your current ones is to guess. Here, now, is a compelling explanation for that annoyance.

From Tales to Dragon Quest to a brand flippin’ new Persona, this has been a stellar year for Japanese role-playing games. We’ve come a long way from the dark days of, like, 2012.

When I was about ten years old, my brother Mike introduced me to my favorite game, a JRPG for the PS2 called Radiata Stories. It was a fantasy love story about a young man, Jack Russell (yes, you read that right) whose dreams of becoming a knight are shattered after his teammate, Ridley, is nearly killed. Later, Jack…

Gamers in Japan love RPGs. But which ones are their favorites? Weekly Famitsu set out to answer that question in a recent poll.

Over the past few years, there have been many complaints about video game endings—that they’re rushed, that they’re unsatisfying, that it feels like the developers spent more time on other parts of the game (usually true). But no unfinished ending holds a candle to Saga Frontier.

JRPG victory music is one of the best types of video game music. Every time you emerge from battle victorious, a familiar, stirring theme plays. I want that music to play in my everyday life.

The demo for Nier: Automata released last week. Playing as a super fashionable android, players slice and dice their way through waves of robot enemies. But un-equipping one essential item gives an instant game over.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. It is a day of stuffing, gravy, and turkey. A glorious day where we yell at each other about politics before drunkenly apologizing later in the evening. No matter how hard it gets, know that it could away get worse. This banquet in Final Fantasy VI sure did.

All of this freedom to explore in No Man’s Sky is giving me a headache.

Just what makes games like Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger so special? What sort of attributes would a game like I Am Setsuna need in order to live up to JRPG classics? Let’s discuss!

You have probably noticed, being the lovely JRPG connoisseur you are, that September is going to be busy. In just that one month we’re going to see new entries from two RPG titans: the 3DS remake of Dragon Quest VII, on September 16, and the boy band simulator Final Fantasy XV, on September 30.

In the last couple of years, I’ve developed a strange relationship with JRPGs. I found myself tiring of their beautiful exteriors that lacked heart. Since writing that article about my growing frustrations, I took a break—distancing myself from the genre that dragged me into gaming. It was a necessary betrayal.

You’ve heard of Final Fantasy VII. Everyone’s already told you to play Chrono Trigger. But what about the lesser-known JRPGs? What about the gems that don’t get discussed all that much?

While the story and the setting are always different, the main Final Fantasy games have a lot of reoccurring elements. Behemoth is one of them, appearing in almost every game, and its appearances are a super way to track not just the evolution of Final Fantasy, but the progress of the entire medium.

Fire Emblem Fates is out today, and it comes in two different versions: Birthright and Conquest. Which one should you play first?

Two old role-playing games—Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Breath of Fire III—are coming to modern consoles in the very near future, their respective publishers announced this week. It’s a good time for old JRPGs.

On September 11, 2013, the Kickstarter project Project Phoenix successfully ended, raising just over $1 million for a game they estimated would be out in March of 2015. Last night, the people behind the project announced a bit of a delay. They’re now aiming to ship the game in late 2018.