Nowadays, defining what qualifies a game as anRPGis tough, especially considering the plethora of subgenres.
Some argue that RPGs are games derived from tabletop rules featuring levels, number crunching, character creation, and a range of player-driven narrative choices.
Others suggest that any game where you roleplay as a character qualifies as an RPG, but that undermines this fantastic genre since we roleplay virtually any named character with an ink of personality in every genre out there.
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There are plenty of fantastic JRPGs out there, but here’s our cultivated list of some of the best party members in the indie sphere.
However, one point of near-universal agreement in the player base is that good RPGs are often paired with great exploration. The freedom to roam, uncover hidden treasures, discover secret dungeons, or recruit optional characters is synonymous with satisfaction.
Here, I’ll list theJRPGswith the most rewarding exploration. Those games neverwaste the player’s timeand always offer extra incentives to go the extra mile, delaying the main story for a couple more hours before we go face God.
8Tales of Vesperia
Grabbing All The Titles
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Tales ofisn’t a series famously known for exploration. Some games featured an overworld with a few hidden chests or collectibles, likeTales of Symphonia, but nothing to write home about. What sets theTales ofapart from its JRPG peers is its title system.
Most modernTales ofgames feature a title system that grants bonuses to characters, either by equipping them or leveling up.
To earn these titles, players must complete various activities such as using skills, walking a ton, cooking a lot, defeating enemies, opening chests, and other tasks. These are things a player would do naturally while playing.
InTales of Vesperia, titles aren’t as useful but serve as a pointer of which side quests or secondary objectives you’re able to pursue.
Some titles offer cosmetics, while others unlock new Artes or weapons. Vesperia features a sub-event system that is criminally missable but adds a sense of a living world as we learn more about the engaging cast.
Sometimes, after a major event, such as defeating a boss or recruiting a new character, the player can backtrack and explore old areas to trigger new sub-events. They could be simple things like nurturing a tree or becoming the Dice Master. Unfortunately, it’s necessary to use a walkthrough to find all of them, but once you do, you’ll have a blast.
7Final Fantasy VI
The World of Ruin
Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster
Final Fantasy VIexploration is already great, but it’s fleshed out after the World of Ruin, where all the characters you’ve recruited are scattered, and recruiting them is almost entirely optional. It’s in this re-recruitment that lies the reward ofFinal Fantasy VI’sexploration.
OlderFinal Fantasygames always rewarded curious players by hiding a summon in a nearby but challenging cave or an advanced Job in the depths of a ruin.
ButFinal Fantasy VIelevated it, making nearly all its fourteen party members optional. If you want to head straight to the ending dungeon, you only need to recruit three required characters.
Considering you’ve recruited mostFinal Fantasy VIcharactersin the World of Balance, it’s incredibly entertaining to search for your former allies in the World of Ruin. There are also extra story scenes, weapons, and Espers to uncover, further enriching the exploration.
6Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Classics Never Get Old
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
MostDragon Questgames generally feature sprawling open worlds that allow players to explore freely, hunting for secrets, new items, and challenges. But if one game did this in a contemporary way without losing the essence of the classics, it wasDragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.
From the beginning,Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remakerewards players who explore every corner, whether in villages, dungeons, or the overworld map. CollectingallDragon Quest III HD-2D Remakemini medalsorrecruiting all the monstersare challenging endeavors but ones that pay off in the long run.
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The Nintendo 64’s JRPG catalog might be small, but it packs a lot of heart.
Additionally, after acquiring the ship, the JRPG world expands immensely, leaving it up to the player to decide what to tackle next.
This kind of unbridled exploration is rare in modern JRPGs unless they’re remakes of the classic pioneering series of this subgenre.
5Xenoblade Chronicles X
A Whole Planet to Explore
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles X’s main goal and story revolve around the player’s exploration. Earth has been destroyed, and you’re part of a group of emigrants sent into space.
Upon arriving on the planet Mira, your mission is to explore it thoroughly to ensure it’s habitable for humanity while locating other humans in stasis who were separated during the forced landing of the ark.
A game with exploration at its core design must, at the very least, be rewarding—and luckily,Xenoblade Chronicles Xdelivers. From the get-go, as soon as you leave New Los Angeles, the planet is yours for the taking, and I mean it. If you want to swim your way to the next region filled with level 80 enemies, so be it.
Of course, this isn’t progression-wise adequate, but the point is that the game lets you do it. If you prefer to follow the beaten path, know there’s plenty to uncover, like installing probes, defeating new enemies, collecting resources, or completing side quests. All of this contributes to a percentage of content completed in the game.
When you think you’ve reached the limit, the game offers the possibility of unlocking Skells. These giant robots exponentially expand exploration by allowing free flight and showing just how insignificant the player is compared to the world of Mira.
4Suikoden II
108 Characters to Recruit
Suikoden II
One of the staples of theSuikodenseries is the 108 recruitable characters, each with their unique design, weapons, and possibly functionality in and out of battle.
Naturally, this is also required to achieve the game’s true ending. While everySuikodengame offers this,Suikoden IIstands out as the franchise’s fan-favorite.
Released in 1998,Suikoden IIcame out when many JRPGs featured mechanics now considered old-fashioned, such as random encounters, backtracking, and inventory limits.Suikodentackled this by introducing recruitable characters that counter these inconveniences.
For instance, recruiting Viki unlocks teleportation, essentially a fast-travel system. Another character reduces random encounters or lets you instantly win battles against weaker enemies, while another increases storage capacity - the spiritual successor,Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, had a couple of characters with this ability.
Without a guide, recruiting all characters inSuikodenis incredibly challenging, especially since many are missable.
However, it’s gratifying to explore every corner of the world, meet different individuals, and expand your base as your family of revolutionaries grows accordingly.
3Final Fantasy XII
Open World Ivalice
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy Xintroduced initially linear exploration in Spira, which likely motivatedFinal Fantasy XIIto take the opposite approach and offer a dazzling, unrestrained Ivalice years before the vast, albeit empty, open world ofFinal Fantasy XV.
Once you get over the shock of encountering a dinosaur in the desert and suffering a premature death, you’ll begin to understand how exploration works inFinal Fantasy XII.
Grinding enemies may seem dull, but every so often, a rare loot drop rewards you with a powerful weapon, motivating you to hunt down every enemy.
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While JRPGs are plentiful, it can be difficult to find grid-based ones. Here’s our list of some of the best grid-based JRPGs on the market.
Discovering optional summons, hunting Rare Game, completing side quests, or opening scattered treasure chests ensures players who want to scour every corner of Ivalice never feel their time is wasted.
It’s even better if you adjust the Gambits for a failproof strategy or use the fast-forward feature inFinal Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.
2Chained Echoes
The Rewarding Reward Board
Chained Echoes
Chained Echoesis an indie game that pays homage to classic JRPGs, automatically earning its place in the genre—even if it’s aJRPG not made in Japan.
What setsChained Echoesapart is its exploration system, centered around a feature called the Reward Board.
As soon as you leave the starting town, the game introduces the Reward Board. This feature outlines various activities players can complete in each region, such as defeating enemies, finishing side quests, opening chests, and fully exploring the area.
As you complete these activities, you earn rewards. Completing adjacent tiles on the Reward Board forms chains, granting increasingly valuable items, some of which are required for unlocking new classes or evolving the skill tree.
The Reward Board inChained Echoesgreatly enhances exploration, subtly guiding players on what side activities they can pursue in any given area without outright handholding.
Expect rare enemies, hidden chests, side quests, and plenty of other ventures to enrich an already fantastic indie JRPG.
1Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed
Progression and Exploration Intertwined
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
It’s wild that an expansion makes this list, but it only highlights Monolith Soft’s sheer dedication to creatingXenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.
IfXenoblade Chronicles 3perfected everything technically seen in its predecessors, the DLCFuture Redeemedwas the cherry on top, maxing out its focus on exploration.
EveryXenobladegame is a marvel in terms of exploration scope. Despite the massive areas to uncover, earlier entries weren’t as rewarding in terms of character progression. Meanwhile, inFuture Redeemed, all character development depends on exploration.
Everything you do in the game—opening chests, discovering landmarks, defeating specific numbers of enemies, or gathering collectibles—contributes to earning AP, which feeds into the Affinity Growth system. This unlocks or enhances new Arts and Skills for all party members.
This gameplay loop created one of thebest progression systems in JRPGand kept me hooked on exploring more and more, facing enemies I’d typically avoid, because it felt meaningful.
The more I explored and engaged with the game, the more it rewarded me. This design madeXenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemedone of the most rewarding explorations among JRPGs.
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One of the greatest marvels of JRPGs was exploring the overworld with an airship.
