Xenosaga
As any avid JRPG fan will tell you, there’s a lot of great games in the genre but there are a lot more terrible ones out there. For every Suikoden II or Persona 5, you have 10 Mystic Quests or Time and Eternity’s. It’s enough to make a more casual consumer rightfully wary about trying out some unknown games in the hopes of finding a hidden gem or two, so here’s a short list of a few unknown JRPGs worth checking out.
To start things off we have Xenosaga. Before Monolith Soft became known for Xenoblade Chronicles, its bread and butter was the Xenosaga series – JRPGs set in the distant future that had you battling the Gnosis alien race for the sake of the universe. In addition to that classic turn-based combat goodness, the series also featured a swathe of interesting characters, themes, and even the ability to pilot mechs into battle.
Five total games were made for the series with only three of them ever reaching the United States, all of which were exclusive for the Playstation 2. To date there hasn’t been a Western re-release so if you’re interested in checking it out you’ll need to purchase a copy online. Thankfully, used copies of the games run relatively cheap and you can get the first one for at little as $10.
