The JRPG genre is full of some of my favorite stories of all time, game, movie, book, or otherwise. The reason is that they encapsulate the feeling of being on a journey unlike any other genre out there. They can start so modestly, and then end in a conflict beyond our wildest dreams.
It’s become a bit of a cliché in the genre at this point where a bunch of kids kill god with the power of friendship, but it’s not entirely off a lot of the time. That’s kind of just where these stories tend to go.
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As much as these JRPGs were highly regarded back in their time, not every old is gold.
We’re going to check out some games that start off pretty straightforward, but by the final act, become incredibly disturbing and dark.
10
Drakengard
The Broken World
Drakengard starts off as what appears to be a simple kind of fantasy story, with an evil empire and a war, and you’re drawn into it. We’ve seen it before, but as the story continues, it becomes clear: there are no heroes here. It’s just countless characters, but enemy and ally alike that commit unforgiveable crimes. By the time you hit the ending parts of the game here, all the darkness comes crashing down in one distinct segment.
For one, you’re more or less forced to just be okay with things like suicide, forcing children into performing horrific acts of violence, and generally just becoming a monster yourself. Its ending sequence is just you needing to accept that you’re too far gone, and that Caim’s only care in this world was about violence. It’s a sobering and tragic ending sequence, but one that makes total sense within the story itself.
9
Resonance of Fate
Mercs of Destiny
Resonance of Fate starts out as a rather aimless adventure. You know little about the world you’re in, the people who inhabit it, and what your place in it all really means. For the opening hours, you’re just a couple of people trying to get by, doing jobs for various people and defeating some low-level enemies along the way.
It all feels very cookie-cutter, but slowly, the intrigue ramps up, and the plot goes completely off the rails by the end of the game, which has you discovering a system that governs the fate of every living being and has some dark and disturbing revelations within that framework as well. It’s one of the more mature JRPGs out there, and it still manages to take a relatively simple journey and twist it into something quite terrifying by game’s end.
8
Eternal Sonata
The Dream Dies
Eternal Sonata seems like just a very cheerful, bright, and colorful journey at the game’s start, at least from the look of it. The backdrop, of course, is that this is all in the mind of a dying musical composer. That specter lurks throughout everything you do in the game. There may be an outside thought that somehow the dream might end up curing him in the real world, but the doubt is heavy and then finally hits home in the finale.
The final segment of the game is so dark and tragic, as the characters come to learn their world’s fate just as Chopin accepts his own. Their world will disappear, and nothing they’ve done matters. They convince themselves otherwise, of course, but the reality is the reality, and it all hits and ends in one of the more melancholic sequences I can remember. Darkness, depression, despair – all the Ds. They each take their turn punching you in the face in the final moments.
7
NieR: Automata
Not Just Another War vs Aliens
NieR: Automata starts in such a typical, simple way; a war versus aliens. We’ve seen that countless times, right? It’s as classic a sci-fi trope as there is. But not when that sci-fi is written by one, Yoko Taro. What starts simply feeling like a military operation quickly turns into something else, as you discover more and more about the conflict and start to realize there is much more to the story than meets the eye.
By the final act of the game, you’re facing off against former allies who have been driven into a psychotic state due to grief and the realization of their entire existence becoming a lie. It’s a dark, tragic, and incredibly disturbing sequence that has you considering what it means to be human and what matters in life when your given purpose is thrown to the wayside. It’s one of the more affecting pieces of fiction ever made and a must-play for any fan of the genre.
6
Legend of Dragoon
The Eternal War
Legend of Dragoon starts off pretty simply, with Dart having run away from home after his village was tragically destroyed. It picks up fast though, with an evil empire and all the traditional trappings of the genre, right down to a mysterious, antagonistic, silver-haired swordsman. Despite that, by the game’s end, we go to some incredibly strange and dark places.
The final act has some truly shocking moments, like the return of Lavitz, except he’s completely possessed by a demon. Even upon its defeat, Lavitz dies again, which, if it didn’t suck enough the first time, the game makes sure you feel it this time. The fate of Dart’s father being revealed is a disturbing moment too, basically being a shell for Melbu Frahma since Dart was born. There are creepy overtones everywhere you look.
5
Xenoblade Chronicles
Shattering the Veil
Xenoblade Chronicles starts rather innocuously, with Shulk, Reyn, and Fiora living a relatively quiet life in a colony on a world that is both mysterious and seemingly peaceful. In typical fashion, that peace is shattered by the appearance of the Mechons, who quickly end that innocence in a gory display.
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From there, it only gets darker until we get to the thrilling conclusion where we discover the very nature of our reality and who is behind it, putting the fate of literally all existence at stake and culminating with one of the more wild and strange endings in the JRPG universe. From humble colony dwellers to those deciding the fate of existence itself against all odds, it goes from 0 to 100 awfully quick.
4
Star Ocean: Till The End of Time
Just a Beach Vacation
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time has a unique beginning for the JRPG world. You’re on a beach vacation of sorts and generally just exploring a fancy resort with your friend. It feels so innocent, almost dull at points, and you kind of wonder what if anything is going to happen. And then the attack comes, and soon, you’re thrown into a space-faring adventure that cultiminates in one of the more shocking twists in the JRPG genre.
You go from an innocent kid on vacation with your parents to the final act, where you find out that this has all been part of a simulation, and that in a way, nothing you’ve ever done in your life is real or matters. It’s a sobering moment in a story that slowly gets darker and darker as you go on.
3
Kingdom Hearts
The Innocence of Youth Washed Away
Kingdom Hearts is one of the longest running franchises out there, and while it’s gone to some absolutely bizarre places, it all started on a little island with a little kid named Sora, just hanging out with his friends talking about the future. Your first few minutes in the game seem like not a care in the world is to be had. Sora is just being a kid, and while the locale seems a bit odd, there is nothing sinister happening. That changes when the storm hits and Sora is swept into an entire other world.
In this other world, he’s forced to fight for his life and brought into a whirlwind of strange plot developments and increasingly darker themes. By the final act, Sora literally sacrifices himself to save Kairi, losing his heart in the process and becoming a heartless himself, which is a disturbing image to say the least. While he eventually regains his true form, he’s still dealing with his friend Riku essentially turning to the dark side, and that innocent beginning feels a long time ago when you’re facing down Ansem’s world ending forms in that final battle.
2
Final Fantasy 10
Sports Star to Existential Crisis
Final Fantasy 10 is one of the most impactful journeys in all of gaming, but it starts very modestly. Well, modestly in context. See, you’re in the boots of Titus, a Blitzball sports star, and life is good. You’ve got fans, you’ve got fame, you live in a fantastic-looking, technologically advanced city, and there’s barely a care in the world. Then Sin comes, and that all changes. What started as a pretty interesting, but relatively modest, story quickly takes a turn into the dark and mystical.
You go from sports star to a key part of a pilgrimage that more or less decides the fate of the world. By the time you find yourself in the final act, you’re facing off against a gargantuan version of your thought to be dead father, battling against Sin, who threatens to devour all creation. And oh yeah, you’re also discovering you were never real in the first place. It’s incredibly dark and tragic, and it has one of the more emotional endings in the history of gaming.
1
Xenogears
The Burden of Fate
Xenogears is one of the best JRPGs ever made, and it starts in a way that is as normal as it gets for JRPGs. A young man living in an idyllic village until, of course, it’s all blown to hell. But the twist is that here, you are the one responsible for the carnage. It’s a big time switch up that feeds into just how dark the game is going to get. There’s also a huge change of tone after the opening hour or so, which feels as generic JRPG as it gets.
By the game’s end? You’ve seen the majority of the population turned into monsters, you’ve seen a factory serving human meat to the populace as food, you’ve committed war crimes, you’ve discovered the lie that is humanity, and the solution to cure the world’s pain. It’s deep, it’s psychologically challenging, and incredibly dark. By the time you face off against Deus in the ultimate battle for the fate of the planet, you know just how far you’ve come from that little village in Lahan.
