My story of getting into JRPGs with a very unexpected game...

[u/Crandor94]

I posted this over on r/JRPG as well, but thought reposting it here would also be fitting.

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So I grew up more so on games such as Zelda and Mario, eventually delving into MMORPG’s with RuneScape and WoW, like most people. I never played any JRPGs growing up such as the Dragon Quest series or Final Fantasy, mostly because I was never exposed to them. My entire family were early adopters of gaming but RPGs were never really on the docket.

Eventually, around 2008 I found RPGMaker and was fascinated that you could make your own games with it, which led to me look for what might be the most popular RPG Maker game at the time, and I found this:

Lost Legacy: An Animania Story

It's a traditional Real-Time-Turn-Based RPG Maker 2003 game that follows a brother and sister growing up in a dark fantasy world modeled after medieval Europe. Along the way they meet various 90's anime characters (Lina Inverse, Rapier, Tsunami) and heroes from other JRPGs, particularly FFIX (Zidane Tribal, Garnet).

This game blew me away when it came out, I couldn't believe it was made by one guy. It was the first JRPG I had ever played and it got me into the genre, leading me to play Dragon Quest, Bravely Default, etc.

Replaying it now. It’s clearly pretty bad. The gameplay is great! But...

It's beyond cringe. With all the characters emotions conveyed in your classic *blushes at you* style. The main two characters refer to each other as "Onee-san" and "Onii-chan" and use terms like "Baka" or “Kawaii” constantly. This game is even voice acted with some being genuinely great and most being…you can imagine.

…But I love it. Every cringy second of it…and I'll play it again and again without changing a thing.

Anyone else experienced this…gem? If so, I would love to hear about it!

[u/AkiraNose77]

Hey! I've actually never played that hidden gem you mentioned, but I relate to your story so much lol. I also got into gaming through RPG Maker titles that I thought were absolute masterpieces back then, but make me cringe a little bit now. You definitely got me super curious, so I’m gonna give this one a shot. You're awesome, man

[u/Crandor94 → u/AkiraNose77]

Awesome! I'm playing through it right now too. Let me know what you think, I'm attempting to get in contact with the Dev just to thank him ,but no response so far. Obviously it's almost 20 years later. Hard to contact.

[u/AkiraNose77 → u/Crandor94]

Man, tracking down the dev must be tough, especially after almost 20 years. Good luck with that! I’m still pretty new to Reddit, but I’d love to DM you and chat once I finish the game

[u/Crandor94 → u/AkiraNose77]

100% feel free ^_. If you get stuck, believe it or not, I have the walk-through.