Contrary to what you might think, Xbox is home to a lot of Japanese role-playing games (“JRPGs”), many multiplats and some even exclusive. Not that I’m a big fan of many in the the latter, mind (some of those titles I have mixed feeling on), but there’s still a great trove of JRPG titles on the platform—some well-known, has-beens, and even some that have flown under the radar. This list will have ’em all, even those with caveats! And some of these games are available on PC too, with crossbuy and cross-saving supported as part of the Play Anywhere programme—of which, you can read more about here.
Without further ado, let’s get into the fray of things! Starting with a filter:
Final Fantasy XIII
Yep, not even kidding! Shoo fly to the Final Fantasy nerds that’ll be upset over this choice—they’re just upset that Final Fantasy XIII has some of the best combat in the series. You don’t have to take my word for it either as SQUARE ENIX themselves continue to use the game’s stagger system in all of their future titles including the lauded ‘Final Fantasy VII Remake’ trilogy as do plenty of other developers today. People complained about this game’s linearity so much that we’re still paying the price for it in the form of bloated open-world maps filled to the brim with pointless tasks.
Now it’s not all sunshine and rainbows—for what it’s worth, the linearity does rear its ugly head at some point namely as the game will have you crawl through nothing but long halls and baddies to fight. The story collapses unto itself at some point. But the game’s got gorgeous graphics, features composer Masashi Hamauzu’s best work, and intense combat that will punish you quite harshly for mistakes. Also, Troy Baker makes for a mean Snow. Sazh is also the best character in the game, by the way.
Final Fantasy XIII is available on all Xbox consoles and, on Xbox One/Series systems, features higher quality cinematics than the Xbox 360 release as Microsoft was able to requisition higher quality video files from the publisher for its backwards compatible release. An Xbox PC version is also available.
Rune Factory 4 Special Edition
I love Rune Factory 4. Not as much as Rune Factory 3 (you can’t beat that cast), but Rune Factory 4 is an addicting farming slash dungeon crawling slash simple life sim JRPG you just can’t pass up. Players can choose between a male or female protagonist who conveniently become amnesiac after being tossed off an airship and right on top of a ruling dragon. Ouch! No worries, though, you’ll be able to stay in their spare room and farm your own food while making friends with the residents, find true love, and discover the reason you were chucked off the airship to begin with.
Rune Factory 4 Special Edition is available on Xbox consoles. I myself played the original game 12 years ago. I am now in pain thinking about the passage of time.
Cross Tails
Cross Tails is an indie tactical strategy JRPG that has players take on the role of both warring factions consisting of dogs and cats. The maps are small, but your tactics will be thoroughly tested as you face ruthless enemies across a variety of stage types. The story is “man, war stinks” and that’s as good as it’s going to get, but if you can look past that you’ll have yourself a fun time clearing maps of baddies. Plus, it’s got some lovely art to look at!
Cross Tails is available on Xbox and Windows PCs through Play Anywhere. A demo is available, too. And of course, our review.
Ys Origins
The one and only FALCOM game on the Xbox platform—and it’s a good one! Players are tasked with scaling the Devil’s Tower across three playable characters in this fast-paced action JRPG title. You owe it to yourself to play this one. And who knows? Maybe the entire Ys series will pop up on the platform someday.
Ys Origins is available on Xbox consoles.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
SEGA’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a culmination of every mechanic and minigame meshed into one thoroughly entertaining turn-based JRPG. Unlike the Gaiden subseries of games, players will take on the role of Ichiban Kasuga as he finds himself on the shores of Hawaii butt naked. Just like in his debut game, he’s got to work from rock bottom to get a shirt back on and finds himself intertwined in events no more firmly intertwined than a Turkish, Indian, and Japanese TV drama combined.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is available on Xbox One consoles and PCs through Play Anywhere. Playing the older games is not necessary, but it never hurts. All though, you could arguably play Yakuza 0 and never touch the series again.
