With the JRPG genre slowly but surely working its way back to the monumental success of the 1990s, it’s no wonder Sony has capitalized on the trend by having many of the classic JRPGs available on PS Plus.
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There are a lot of them on there, so we’re trying to narrow down the best ones so you may prioritize the cream of the crop and get the most out of your subscription.
So, without further delay, here are some of the best classic JRPGs on PS Plus.
An Old Gem
Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad: Twlight of the Spiritsis one of the more interesting JRPGs of the early 2000s, and it was overlooked due to its inability to keep up with the graphics that the games at the time were featuring.
It’s too bad because there is a great, mature story here that involves two warring races who have blind hatred toward each other, and there are themes like racism and prejudice everywhere you look.
It revolves around a tactics style battle system that has some solid depth to it, and it revolves around the weapon types you choose, which each have a distance that limits how far you may attack.
Unlike most tactics games, you have the freedom to move around in real-time on the battlefield here, which works surprisingly well. There are team-based attacks, opportunities to flank your opponents and other uses of the field that leave the creativity of how to handle a situation up to you.
There is also magic, special powers, and all that JRPG goodness you can expect, but it’s wrapped up in quite a bit of strategy here.
You will play as multiple characters throughout the game, giving you a unique look at each side of the story, and it’s something that few games in the genre do, but Arc the Lad succeeds greatly here.
9Secret of Mana
Discover the Magic
Secret of Mana
Secret of Manais one of the most important games in JRPG history. It was released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo, sowe’re going way backhere for this one.
It’s one of the first JRPGs to hit success outside of Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, and it’s a fun look back at the roots of the genre.
Graphically, it’s definitely on the rougher side today, but still features some nice sprites and pretty environmental artwork.
We start off with a boy taking a cursed sword from its resting place, and from there, we play as Randi as we are exiled from a village and forced to huff it in the cruel world on our own.
The story is cookie-cutter, but it gets more complex as you go on, with evil empires, armies, and destiny coming into play, and for its time, it was quite the ambitious tale.
Combat here is completely real-time, which in 1993 was a massive feat, and even today, it’s still fun to play.
Timing is required, resource management is important, and you can even power up your attacks to do more damage than normal. There are multiple weapons to wind, which include their own swing speed and other unique effects as well.
It’s a fairly complex combat system for a game that came out before the Playstation was even a thing, and it’s fascinating to see just how good game design could be even back then.
It’s a valuable piece of video game history, and you can play it whenever you want on PS Plus.
8Kingdom Hearts 1.5 & 2.5 Remix
An Unmissable Package
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX
Despite being a game that never should have worked at all,Kingdom Heartshas become a mega-hit that has spawned countless spinoffs and sequels, and luckily for you, just about all of them are inKingdom Hearts 1.5 & 2.5 Remix.
That’s six games in one and if you’ve never taken the journey before, it’s well worth taking it now.
The games star Sora as a child whisked away to a world of Disney characters and Final Fantasy characters alike, and despite that bizarre combo, there is an incredibly complex and dark story at play here as well.
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The series deals has multiple enigmatic villains, with the best being Birth By Sleep’s Xehanort, and there are so many challenging and iconic battles that it’s hard to count.
Part of what makes the story so convoluted sometimes is that a lot of it gets told in the spin-off games, which people often miss.
Here, you don’t have to worry about that, as those games are fully included with plenty of updates to make them more palatable than they initially were on the PSP.
Everything you could want in a JRPG is here. Massive bosses, explosive combat, secret bosses, optional areas, super weapons, side quests, magic, and special attacks: it’s all here, and it’s done by the masters of the JRPG world, Square Enix, when they were in their prime.
Overall, you’ve got 100+ hours of fantastic action RPG gameplay here over a variety of games, and it’s an amazing look back at one of the best franchises to be born at the beginning of the new millennium.
7Jeanne D’arc
History in JRPG Form
Jeanne d’Arc
Jeanne d’Arcis a unique kind of JRPG that takes a real-life person and creates afictionalized fantasy story around her life.
That person in question is Joan of Arc, and for those looking for a playable version of her story, there is no other game available that does that besides this one.
Of course, in addition to surprisingly accurate retelling of historical figures and battles, there is also stuff like Dark Elves and Dragons and magical girl transformations on top of it.
Along with that flair, though, is a fairly deep tactical game that factors in everything from enemy positioning to the strength of your opponent to determine the damage you’ll do or if your attacks will even connect at all.
you may customize your characters with different abilities, such as making melee characters have the power to cast magic and vice versa, creating some fascinating combinations.
The story, as you might imagine, is very serious as well. Despite the addition of fantasy tropes, there are some pretty heavy themes at play here, and it’s definitely one of the more mature JRPGs of the era.
It’s an easy recommendation for someone looking to explore a JRPG of a different flavor on PS Plus.
6Wild Arms 2
Some Bullets For Your Fantasy
Wild Arms 2
Wild Arms 2is the second entry in the lengthy Wild Arms series and quite possibly the best one, which is good for PS Plus owners.
You follow an eclectic cast as they get pulled into a world-ending conflict against their will.
It’s led by a great main character in Ashley Winchester, and the combat and dungeon exploration is definitely a standout for this late-nineties gem.
Each character has their own variety of guns, and all the attacks being based around them are definitely a departure from most JRPGs.
While it lacked the big budget of Final Fantasy, it had a great heart to it that harkens back to the early nineties JRPGs, where the characters and story took precedence over everything else.
It is also on the more difficult side, so for those looking for a solid challenge out of their JRPGs, Wild Arms 2 has a good number of battles that will challenge you sufficiently.
A Grand Adventure Awaits
Grandiais one of thoseJRPG series that helped define the golden era of JRPGs, and it all starts with a boy going out on his own to go on a big adventure.
It’s the simplest, by the numbers, JRPG beginning possible, but it’s done incredibly well here, and the theme of adventure keeps up throughout the game.
The art is a standout to this day, as it is one of the most gorgeous-looking 2D JRPGs out there.
The combat is a highlight here, as is the calling card of the series. It’s far more strategic than your typical golden-era JRPG.
There are options for multi-hit attacks vs single-hit attacks, ways to manipulate the attack turn order, and stats that determine how fast your characters get their turns to attack.
It’s a much more involved system than the usual “Attack, Magic, Item” turn-based systems that defined the era.
There is also voice acting, which was a unique thing at the time, and although it’s not too impressive by today’s standards, it’s an interesting piece of video game history to experience.
If you’re looking for a light-hearted adventure that focuses on the whimsy that comes with the genre, Grandia is still a great time.
4Dark Cloud
A JRPG City-Builder?
Dark Cloud
Dark Cloudis anincredibly innovative gamethat was supposed to be the title that would give Zelda a run for its money. It makes sense, as so much of Zelda’s DNA flows through this game.
They weren’t exactly subtle, with the main character, Toan, looking almost exactly like an anime version of Link, complete with a green hat, not to mention all of the great dungeon exploration and world-building are here as well.
Except, you’re able to actually build the world in Dark Cloud. Building is a big mechanic in this game, and you can build entire towns.
It’s not the only thing that makes this unique from Zelda either, as you have multiple player characters, each with their on unique abilities to boot.
It suffers from some early PS2-era ugliness, but overall, it’s an outstanding title and the beginning of a franchise that deserved more games.
3Rogue Galaxy
A Galactic Anime Come To Life
Rogue Galaxy
Rogue Galaxyisone of the better JRPGs from the PS2 era, and it unfortunately came along at a time when the genre was beginning to die down a bit.
It’s incredibly unique, with a space-centric story and atmosphere that is far removed from most of the classic JRPG tropes of the time.
The cast is also fantastic, following the lead, Jaster, who gets caught up in a war beyond his pay grade and finds out that the fate of the galaxy is suddenly relying on him to get the job done.
At the time, this game was saddled with big expectations to take down the giants of the genre, and while it never achieved those lofty goals, it was still a great time.
You’ve got some awesome, real-time combat here with a great party of characters to play around with, and the story, while a bit typical at times, does enough to keep you pushing forward to the next parts of the game.
The graphics are also a standout, with some of the best visuals of its time that manage to stand up quite well today.
2Tales of Symphonia
The Best Tales Game
Tales Of Symphonia Remastered
Certain games just have a way of bringing youback to a place and time, andTales of Symphoniais one of those games. At the time, Final Fantasy was the grand champion of the JRPG world, and few companies could match its might.
Then Tales of Symphonia came along and introduced another big time JRPG contender into the mainstream. The series had been going for a few years at this point, but no game hit quite like Tales of Symphonia.
The real-time combat was a huge departure from the turn-based affairs most JRPG fans were used to at that point, and the graphics had a charming, old-school appeal that had been lost as the games started to look more and more realistic.
The story is a standout as well, with main character Lloyd being among the best in the franchise and the journey he goes on is over 80 hours and has some of the best writing the Tales series has as well.
The discovery of multiple worlds, the slow but steady progression into world-ending stakes, and the ever-evolving battle system make this one a very easy choice when browsing PS Plus for a great JRPG.
1Legend of Dragoon
Enter the Dragon
Legend of Dragoon
Legend of Dragooncame along at a time when the JRPG was at its highest powers, andwhile it was a success, it didn’t hit the heights of its contemporaries.
That’s a real shame because the series had as much potential as any game out there, but luckily, we can still enjoy it to this day.
You are put in the boots of Dart, a young man whose village is destroyed at the onset of the game, and from there, you go on a mind-bending journey.
You’ll be exploring entire other worlds, grappling with mature themes like betrayal, death, and rebirth and, overall, it’s one of the most complex and best storylines in the genre.
The selling point is the combat. Here, you’ll be performing timing-based combos in a turn-based system that’s incredibly innovative, and it gets all the more fun once you unlock the Dragoon transformations for each of the characters.
The cast of characters is wonderful, too, with standouts like Kongol and Rose and Lavitz making for a memorable group that you won’t mind spending 80 hours with.
The cherry on top is a great villain in Lloyd, who, despite the trademark silver hair that all post-Sephiroth JRPG villains seemed to don, is incredibly complex and becomes a bit of a sympathetic figure despite the horror he inflicts on the world.
Don’t miss this one; it’s an all-time great.
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