NEWS
13. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the
Cursed King
Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed
King
Why it’s good for beginners: It’s designed
by the same dude who drew the art for Dragon Ball Z, so it’ll feel familiar to
you if you were the sort of nerd who spent a lot of time watching Toonami in
the ‘90s. To be honest, this is one of the entries on this list that’s going to
feel the most traditional, so maybe save it for when you’ve built up some
momentum for JRPGs.
How to play it: OK, so hear me out…the
version for iPhone is pretty good on this one! They’ve adapted the game so you
can play it with one hand, which is really nice for those times when you want
to make it look like you’re reading emails or whatever but you’re actually 30
hours deep into an RPG. If you want the full experience, you’ll need a
PlayStation 2, but there’s supposedly a 3DS remake coming out sometime soon.
14. Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Why it’s good for beginners: It’s really
great science fiction, for starters. The later games get a little full of
themselves, but the first Mass Effect is a lot of good, old-fashioned cowboying
around space with your giant frog friend. You could also seduce your shipmates
and have sex with them, if awkward softcore computer sex with blue
tentacle-headed aliens is the kind of thing that gets you going.
How to play it: It should still be pretty
easy to get your hands on a copy for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. (The two
sequels should also be pretty widely available.)
15. The World Ends With You (and the “Solo
Remix”)
The World Ends With You (and the "Solo
Remix”)
Why it’s good for beginners: The game is
about a bunch of dead Hot Topic teens who YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND AND NEVER
WILL, UGH as they compete in a series of afterlife contests to win back their
mortality. Sounds bananas, I know, but the mechanics and pacing are like no
other JRPG out there. (Which is a good thing.)
How to play it: The truest version of the
game, which lets you control two battles simultaneously, can only be found on
the Nintendo DS cartridge, which is still pretty easy to get ahold of. There is
a stripped-down but still totally fun and satisfying version of the game for
iPhone and iPad.
16. Paper Mario
Paper Mario
Why it’s good for beginners: See the “why
it’s good for beginners” section of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars,
but then add in the fact that this has a neat 2D paper aesthetic that it
occasionally uses in interesting ways. It’s not the most difficult game ever
made, but if you think Mario nostalgia will help the RPG parts go down a little
easier, Paper Mario is a good place to start.
How to play it: It was originally made for
the N64 system, but they’ve made it available for download for the Virtual
Console on both the Wii and the Wii U.