How does this compare to Hyperdimension Neptunia because I did not care for that game?

The first Death end re;Quest plays a fair bit similar to the pre=SVS Neptunia games, with a couple of differences. For one, it is one of the very few JRPGs that uses physics as a gameplay mechanic. Specifically, you can use a knockback attack to "bounce" enemies off of walls, other enemies, and to your other party members (your party members won't take damage from this). In terms of difficulty, it's not "SMT" hard, but definitely more difficult than at least Megadimension VIIR or Sisters Vs Sisters. Hopefully that helps answer your question. You can always also look at a Let's Play of the game.

Mysterious visual novel story, with pretty standard JRPG action passages in between, usually terminated with boss fight. That's it. The advertised "physics based combat" is just a gimmick you'll get down within few fights. It IS satisfying to see your chars knock enemies between themselves and arena edges several times, racking up huge damage numbers. But in the end it's just a slightly innovative way to do enough damage to make enemy die.

The story carries it. It was nice enough to 100% it (which required NG+ replay). That doesn't happen all that often to me.

Second one is more of the same, but leans more towards gore-and-disgusting instead of mysterious. And jarring disconnect from the DRQ1 lore I already mentioned in another post.

Guess I'll be skipping it then. I play RPGs for the gameplay, surprisingly enough for some people, not the story.

To me, good gameplay can carry a bad story (as long as the bad story isn't invasive), but a story isn't enough of a reason to play a game if the gameplay isn't that good.

Death end re;Quest doesn't have "bad" gameplay. It's just typical/standard JRPG gameplay. The gameplay is still very good though.

Having said that, I still think you are right that it isn't a game for you, since it's a story-based game and the most important thing about the game is the story and the storytelling development of the characters.

I didn't say it has bad gameplay, just pretty standard Neptunia/Trails/<insert your favourite jrpg> type - you grind XP, level up, game decides what stats increase. In each new town you get to buy new tier of equipment for the few equipment slots you have and have some freedom in how you mix and match various accessories (at least I think, it's been some time).

Finally got around to taking a look at this sale and man, what's up with it? Don't call it a JRPG sale if 80% of the games are all trashy porn games made in RPGMaker.

I'm fine with stretching the genre definitions a bit to encompass all RPGs made by Japanese studios as well as RPGs made by western studios that play like classic JRPGs, but come on. I had to trudge through pages of "adult game" tripe just to find the titles that I might actually be interested in buying...

RPGMaker, a tool specifically designed to make the sort of game traditionally considered JRPGs. Mostly by Japanese developers, no less. But your main gripe is that they're porn, so just filter them out of your search. I consider these games to be more JRPG than Dragon's Dogma, since they have all the tropes associated with such games (but JRPG isn't a term with any concrete meaning, so I'd prefer a better term based on combat style, art/story style, out-of-combat mechanics, etc.).

I guess this does bring up my usual question of what a JRPG really is. Some of the comments above claim there's some sort of "typical" JRPG gameplay, even though all of the games mentioned use tactical arena-style combat, and I at least used to associate line combat with JRPG (even though it's really just a presentation style, and many early games had no arena-style tactical combat, and some western games, like Phantasie, had line combat presentation). Probably the most concrete definition I've come across is "like Final Fantasy", but Final Fantasy itself has changed significantly over the years.

Since I mentioned the above discussion, I may as well give my view: I prefer derq 1 over derq 2, mainly because it has a wider variety of characters. You're pretty much stuck with the 3 main characters in 2. The carried over characters from 1 are useless in combat and on the field. It's been a while since I played, but I think I also preferred 1's combat arena crystals (or whatever they're called).

Eh, while I'm rambling, I may as well also recommend the base Neptunia games (esp. 1 & 3, but 2 & VIIR aren't bad, plus DLC so you can go to lev. 999), since someone else essentially recommended against it. I don't really care about the story in any game (it's all pretty much the same to me, with few nuances), but I do like character building (esp. amusing characters and inter-character dialog). The games make me laugh, while also providing decent tactical arena style combat. Unlike the Trails games, you don't have to wander around towns talking to every NPC in the world (multiple times); in fact, there are no towns, just fast-forwardable cutscenes and a dungeon selection map, and of course dungeons. Also, unlike Trails, there are no annoying 3-part final battles where the enemy gets stronger after every defeat (while you get weaker).

As an alternative, try "like Dragon Quest"; that series has remained far more stable over the years in terms of its basic mechanics.

IMO:

1. Huge emphasis on story and/or character dynamics
2. Often have a cast of young characters ranging from physically/magically-gifted 12-25 yos from various backgrounds, who come in and out of your party; maybe some animal party members too
3. Usually have a more linear story with some sidequests that uncover some huge conspiracy
4. Usually contain Japanese/anime aesthetics, tropes, themes, and ideas with layers of convoluted storytelling (eg: final bosses embodying emptiness/void/erasure/nihilism/Messiah complex, religion, world domination/destruction, or enslaving the masses)
5. Battles usually take place in a different arena than the overworld or stage you were just in
6. Many of the major late/endgame skills or limit breaks have elaborate animations 1-2 minutes in length
7. The stat progression system often feels grindy, especially for any post-endgame superboss content
8. Often have good graphics (at the time) and/or timeless aesthetic

Different games will score differently, but should be able if something is JRPG-like after a few minutes of gameplay.

I would actually disagree with many of these being genre-defining criteria.
1. Not all JRPGs do this. In fact, if you look at older JRPGs, particularly NES-era JRPGs, the is typically not the case.
2. That happens to be true (though not entirely; FF4-FF6 each have a party member who is definitely elderly; in FF5 this character is one of the most important characters from a story perspective)
3. Notice the word "usually" here.
4. That's not so noticeable with older games. Also, from what I saw of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, that game definitely doesn't look like anime to me.
5. This is true, but I also see this with some older WRPGs, like the Gold Box games, Ultima 3-5, and of course Wizardry 1-7.
6. This definitely isn't the case pre-PSX, and I'm not sure if it's that common these days because of how annoying that is to the player.
7. That hasn't been my experience, except maybe sometimes post-game. There's plenty of JRPGs you can play without having to stop and take time to level up. Final Fantasy 4 is a good example here, and even Paladin's Quest doesn't have that issue until the final boss (which, admittedly, is probably more difficult than it should be).
8. Many games that are often classified as WRPGs have good graphics for their time. See, for example, Bard's Tale (note that the game could fit a reasonable JRPG definition if we ignore the fact that it predates early JRPGs), and Morrowind (if you count games of that type as RPGs).

Genre classification of games is *hard*. In fact, classification is hard in general; just look at how much biologists have had to revive their classification system over the years.

dtgreene, the presumed scope was about modern JRPGs since that's what's being sold here. But if you wanna get into the details:

1. Yes, because it's hard to tell a story on the technical limitations of the NES. FF1's story back then was revolutionary. Take a look at the Japanese Famitsu reviews back in 1987 when this game came out, at least 2 of the 4 reviewers were praising its story and setting.

- Excerpts - https://web.archive.org/web/20151010113040/http://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&amp;a=page_h_title_review&amp;title_id=8208
- Actual scan - https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/where-can-i-find-the-first-final-fantasy-1-review-at-famitsu-magazine.218424/ OK, but yes mostly youth. I feel most of the JRPGs I've played have this theme. Do you have any examples that go against the grain? To clarify, Japanese OR anime aesthetics, tropes, themes, and ideas. The series has been on my backlog, but I believe Like A Dragon has turn-based mechanics, Paper Mario bonus damage QTEs, HP/MP, spellcasters, etc. Not only that, it's a game based on the Yakuza, a ragtag team set in modern Japan, and made by Japanese developers, so while not a medieval JRPG, it's definitely a modern setting JRPG - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1SGeB24kyA Yes, again due to technical limitations. I'm currently playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 1 and their limit breaks are like 1-2 minutes long and made me recall all the elaborate PS1-3 summons and limit breaks. Sure, maybe for the main game. FF4 is absolutely notorious for having the grindiest postgame content to take on Zeromus EG/Geryon/Proto-Babil. The Flan Princess has a 1/64 chance in appearing and 1/64 chance of dropping the Pink Tail. The specific monster drop rate is 0.4% to obtain the best equipment to fight these bosses. Sure, fair enough. I kinda meant #4 though, I find that many JRPG aesthetics paint the cast having extremely elaborate designs and the monsters look significantly more cartoonish - definitely less sinister/horror/realistic-like than WRPGs. The monsters in Oblivion come to mind with the detailed shadow of their rib-cages, sullen eyes, and fangs. But I can't say I've played enough WRPGs to tell.

The Romancing SaGa series (and, to a lesser extent, SaGa Frontier) are non-linear, to the point where they sometimes feel like WRPGs. (Battle system is very JRPG-esque, aside from technique sparking which is tied with the non-traditional growth systems common in the series.)

Final Fantasy 6 gets non-linear once you get the second airship. Something similar happens with Chrono Trigger once you get the final vehicle, and Final Fantasy 5 has a bit of this happening.

There's also some non-linear sections of many other JRPGs, like Dragon Quest 3 (orbs obtainiable in any order, except the one in the new town which, IIRC, is always obtained last, and there's also the late game), Dragon Quest 2 and 6, Lennus 2, and probably others. Often, there's a bunch of tasks you need to do, but the specific order isn't prescribed.

Also, some WRPGs fallow the "linear with side-quests" approach. Some Spiderweb Software games are like this, particularly the Avadon series. (Not Queen's Wish, by the way; that series is non-linear, and certainly not Avernum 1.

* None of those bosses appeared in pre-GBA versions. (Well, excluding Zeromus EG in FF4 EasyType, but I somehow doubt that version would require what you call "grinding" (though apparently the AI is different from that of Zeromus in other versions.) The Pink Tail is entirely optional, and I've played through the game multiple times without even knowing it exists (and the other tails, aside from the Rat Tail, are exclusive to 3D versions).

Also, the Flan Princess's Pink Tail drop is actually rarer than that. On the other hand, unless you're looking at FF2US or FF4ET, there's a consumable that will force an encounter with them.

(There is *one* playthrough back in the day where I got an Imp summon.)

All very fair points and I guess I was wrong about needing the best equipment to tackle the superbosses in FF4.

I forgot to mention that a JRPG to look at that isn't included in this sale is The Alliance Alive HD. It plays a lot like SaGa and I'd recommend it if you haven't played it yet.

I've played through part of it.

One drawback is that the game is on the easy side, with the exception of one particular mid-game boss. That game honestly could have used a hard mode similar to the one in SaGa 3 DS, except that it should be available on the first playthrough. (SaGa 3 DS also has the drawback of being too easy on Normal; Hard is around the difficulty that you'd expect for the series (though not that bad except for the one boss that regenerates), but you need to beat the game to unlock it.)

Also, it's worth noting that, for The Alliance Alive (HD):
* The game is more typically JRPG in structure. Linear, though it does have a traversable world map with vehicles, something that's been missing from most RPGs for ages.
* One of my favorite mechanics from some SaGa games, that of different races with fundamentally different growth rules, is unfortunately absent here. While there are demon party members, and even one non-human party member, they still follow the usual rules, except that the demons and non-humans are the only ones able to use one of the game's 2 types of magic. (Note that the Romancing SaGa games don't have this mechanic, either; it's exclusive to the Game Boy SaGas and SaGa Frontier. With that said, I like the mechanic enough that I'm planning to include it in the CRPG I'm making, even though that means having to design and implement 4 separate growth systems; I'd say it's worth it.)

You may need it for the superbosses added in the 3D remake, but they're entirely optional, and they don't appear on a first playthrough, anyway. Those bosses are not present at all in 2D versions, and are not present in the original design.