Top 10 Best Jrpg Openings EVER! (Part 1)

Hello everyone! Rpg Soul here back with another gaming list :D. It's no surprise that Jrpg shares alot in common with Anime. From character archetypes to plot twists and villains, Jrpg is essentially an Anime you can play. 



Along with all the similarities are the Openings, you know? Cool visuals accompanied by upbeat J-pop music or a full blown song with vocals! (essentially an animated music video meant to introduce you to the characters and setting). Unlike Anime openings that plays at the start of every episode, you tend to see Jrpg openings after you've booted up the system and before the main menu (with some exceptions) So let's get to it! 


Number 10: Suikoden 3

The opening for Suikoden 3 is by far the best in the series with beautiful music and visuals that make the game look a lot more exciting than it actually was. It does its job in introducing the characters and to a small extent their background, with some characters running through a dessert while others stand in a forest or city. 

Number 9: Valkyrie Profile

The very underrated Valkyrie Profile takes the 9th spot with ethereal music that quickly turns into a quick tempo electronic track, the start of it matches the Norse Mythology lore of the game. It shows bits and pieces of the game without giving too much away and introduces us to a few of the many many characters in Valkyrie Profile. 

Number 8: Tales of Destiny

I love the visual and the music in this opening for another underrated game from the Playstation 1. I would've placed it higher had the music fit with the rest of the themes of the game, but on it's own it looks and sound amazing.

Number 7: Final Fantasy 8

Unfortunately, the only Final Fantasy that makes the list. Final Fantasy 8's opening sets the tone for the rest of the game perfectly, with foreshadowing and a kick-ass fight with Seifer. Also the chanting is amazing! So much love.


Number 6: Tales of Vesperia

It's no surprise to find another Tales game in this list as the Tales games are known for their amazing animation. Vesperia also has the amazing advantage of having Bonnie Pink record an English version of 'Ring a Bell'. The visuals in this opening looks amazing! I still rewatch this from time to time.

More of the list in the next post!

Anime for the Soul (Charlotte)

Charlotte starts off with an interesting premise then gets confusing and ends the anime in an inconceivable plot hole. It steals heavily from the far superior Puella Magi Madoka Magica in terms of plot in the second half. Without further ado lets begin!

Plot: Yuu is a normal teenager with a twist, he's able to take command of someone's mind for a few seconds. He uses this power to cheat in school exams and try to look up girl's skirts (basically things any teenager would do if they had his power). His life gets turned upside down when he runs across a girl name Nao who blackmails him and his sister into joining a school for people with supernatural abilities. Together with Teen Idol, Yusa and comic relief Jojiro, they form an after school club to try and find other supernatural users abusing their powers in the city.

Opinion: The premise sounds interesting enough until you realize their superpowers are not very interesting. And what starts off as a lighthearted slice of life fantasy anime turns into something much more complicated and darker later on. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the storyline all the way through and found it hard to finish the anime. 2/5 Soul



Setting: The anime is set in modern day Japan and while the animation looks beautiful, a lot of the time the anime plays out in the dull looking high school. Not that an anime mostly set in a high school is bad it's just I would've liked to see the world they live in in more detail. There are scenes in the final episode that go far and beyond the high school. 3/5 Soul




Characters: Many consider the characters in Charlotte to be the weakest link in the show and I have to agree. I'll list them one by one and give my general thought on each.

Yuu: While I found certain problems with the character's writing, I do appreciate the writer trying to show character development with him. He starts as a generally unlikeable character and tries to go through a transformation towards the end.

Nao: The main heroine and the biggest flaw of the series. A weird mix between cheeky and a tsundere, outside of the first few episodes she contributes nothing. Her power is to be able to turn invisible to a single person and she's bullied for it because...(?) 

Yusa: Yusa is a teen Idol and unfortunately her personality doesn't stray too far from what you would expect. Instead character growth is given to her sister who resides in her. I'll explain, she has the ability to play host for the dead, but the dead has to be her sister. When her sister takes over, she has the ability to wield fire. She along with the next character contributes nothing to the story outside of comic relief and a little character drama.

Jojiro: Contributes absolutely nothing to the show outside of a few failed jokes. 

Character wise this anime lacks a lot. You don't care what happens to these characters at all because while there is a semblance of character development, they're not interesting characters to begin with. 1/5 Soul



Overall: It's hard to talk about why I disliked this series as a whole without talking about (and spoiling) the second half of the anime. I decided I would not spoil animes that came out recently (2015,1016) so I just need you to take my word for it, the second half of this anime (especially the final episode) kinda sucked. That does not mean this anime is without merits, the music and the animation is beautiful. 2/5 Soul

A not so Soulful Tale! (Tales of Xillia Review)

Alright! Let's do tales of Xillia. Now if you've read my last post, I think you'd already know the general distaste I have for Xillia. I started playing it immediately after Tales of Graces f (which I completely adore!) and had high hopes for it because of the reviews and the aesthetics. Of course everything stated in this post is my own opinion and I'm well aware that a huge chunk of Tales fans love this game. So without further ado, let's rip into this one.

(Disclaimer: I only played Milla's version of the game as after my 1st play through, I had such a bad taste in my mouth I couldn't play through the game again with Jude)

Plot (spoiler free): The game starts with the player (you!) getting to pick between Jude, or the first ever female main character of the Tales series, Milla. The game starts with Milla (a God) trying to break into a high tech facility with the staple summons of the Tales series, Efreet, Undine, Sylph and Gnome. She comes across the worst character ever created, Jude and for no reason other than 'Plot?' he joins her. They try to destroy a weapon created by an evil king to capture spirits to use their energy as pawns of war (yawn) only to have her 4 spirits stolen from her. Without said spirits, she becomes a normal human being and goes on a quest with Jude (why?) to save them and the world. Also they meet a buncha dull paper thin characters I guess.

Opinion: Okay so the plot is very typical Tales. As usual there was a checklist and they ticked every box for this one. I couldn't shake the feeling of, oh it's just another Tales game with this one. I won't go too deep but like the others, there are twist and turns I just wished I was more invested in the characters to care. While not the worst aspect of the game, it did leave a lot to be desired. 3/5 Soul.

Setting: Alright, I have to admit the setting for Tales of Xillia is good. It's a fantasy setting as usual with Tales but it's mixed in with massive urban cities and areas with technological prowesses. Which makes sense because there's a constant war going on and like in the real world, a lot of money goes into building better machines and weapons. Some areas like the 'dungeons' and the fields end up looking the same though. It felt like a chore having to walk through the same 3 areas (I don't know why but they got rid of the constant puzzle filled dungeons that is a staple to Tales for an obligatory 3 fields/maps and done areas) to get to the next town and I feel it bogged the game down. 2/5 Soul.

From the left, Alvin, Rowen, Jude, Milla, Elize and Leia.

Character(s): Seeing as how this game has been out for a while and I want to bitch and moan. I will be talking about all the characters. They are all Tales/ manga anime archetypes and go no further outside of their designated stereotype (warning: possible spoilers)

Alvin: Probably the only character I liked but was bogged down by shotty/lazy writing that ruined any likability he had as a character.He was cool and he fights with a sword and gun but he betrays the cast like 3 times? by the third I was over him and everything about him. Next. 

Rowen: The voice of reason for the cast ( cos hes old I guess) an ex-militant, he sees the error of his ways and the war and changes to become a paper thin old wise sensei character. He used throwing knifes as a weapon and was the primary mage of the team.

Elize: Omg Elize...okay so she's the designated Loli and dear god was she boring. Normally the youngest character in a Tales game is the one you build the most attachment to (e.g Sophie from Graces and Karol from Vesperia) but not here. Her voice actor was not good and neither was the writing for her character. She was the secondary healer. Also she had a talking doll or whatever and it was super annoying and participated in skits.

Leia: Leia was a sad case of missed opportunity, she had the most character development only for it to amount to nothing in the end. Her stereotype was the god awful childhood friend and boy, do I hate that stereotype! Of course she would be madly in love with her childhood friend, Jude. And outside of a scene where they TELL us they had fun that one time during a birhday party a whole decade ago, Jude treats her very badly which makes me wonder why are they still friends. She was the primary healer of the group which also angered me. Jude is a doctor to be, while she was an inn keeper's daughter who worked at a clinic and mentions many times about her martial art prowess!

Milla: The first ever female main character of a Tales series, she gives off a 'Lightning from Final Fantasy 13' vibe. She had no personality outside of one or two predetermined traits, one of which was being hungry all the time (yawn). Her stereotype was the childlike innocence of never experiencing the outside world and it's as boring as it sounds. She was a God who had to live as a human, where did this go wrong? She fought with a sword but instead of inheriting the swordman's skills from the previous games, she wound up with Pascal from Graces' short range magic....why...

Jude: And we made it to the shit of the shits, Jude. My god where do I start with him. He joins the adventure without a single motivation outside of his love at first sight with Milla and has 0 character development throughout. He's a total wuss and needs to be slapped in his Milla obsessed face. His stereotype is the puppy you can't get rid of. His character is the most shallow of the cast and this is including Elize, it has no depth outside of 'Must Love Milla!!' I might've been able to enjoy this game more had this character not existed. Why was he created? You can have a solo female main character Bandai Namco!

1/5 Soul

Gameplay: In the previous post I had a battle section instead of gameplay, but I'll be using gameplay going forwardto describe and rate the general way the game plays.

Okay so the battle system while not the worst, is a far cry from Tales of Graces f which I considered the funnest system until Zestiria. Xillia is clunky and filled with frame rate issues. You wanna do a cool finishing move? here's a buncha lag. Also back to the clunky comment, in Graces I was hitting 100+ hit combos towards the end of the game while in Xillia I'd maybe do 20 if I'm lucky before it breaks. Maybe I sucked at the combat but that just proves the point I'm trying to make, it's not fun.

This game is not the first to not feature an open world, instead it's list based and that's fine. I liked Graces despite not having an open world but where it fails is they've mostly gotten rid of the multi level dungeons in favor of just having you walk from one place to another in maps filled with monsters. And they ALWAYS come in 3s, everytime you want to get to point A to point B, you always know to expect the same map reused 3 times and it destroys the immersion. Also wheres my cute flying ship??!!

Ba'Ul From Tales of Vesperia

0/5 Soul

Overall: I was very disappointed in Tales of Xillia and if not for my disdain for the game, I would've forgotten every single part of it. The plot was nothing new, the characters were horrible (and forgettable or in Jude's case, unforgettably bad) and the gameplay was not fun. Overall I give it 1/5 Soul. The only redeemable thing about it is the graphics which the ps3 couldn't handle anyway.

Stay in touch as we delve into my 1st nostalgic review with Vanguard Bandits! (1998)

Tales for the Soul! (Tales of Zestiria Review)

Hello everyone, my name is Rpg Soul and this is my new blog discussing games I've loved and hated over the years. I'm mainly an rpg player while sometimes playing the occasional 'every other genre'. Here's how the posts on this blog will work, I will discuss setting, character and plot (if there is any) and finally my over all view of the game along with a rating ranging from 0 to 5 souls (based heavily on my opinion). So let's get started!

For my first post, I will be discussing a game that I have been excited about since, well it was first announced. Tales of Zestiria! This game came out to mixed reviews from fans and praise from critics. In fact my brother warned me against buying it because of some of the things talked about in forums by longtime fans of the series.I will start with the plot segment which will remain vague and spoiler free.

Plot: So Tales games have never been very adventurous with their plot, they stick to an almost formulaic way of telling a story with each installment having a pre-determined checklist almost(and characters for that matter). So without giving everything away, the game starts with our protagonist living in seclusion (ala Milla from Tales of Xillia) He loves exploring ruins and learning more about the world before it was taken over by demons called 'Hellions'. After meeting the presumed Heroine of the game, him along with a buncha angels no one but him can see are taken upon a typical boy saves the world adventure.

Opinion: I like the plot of Zestiria, it's cheesy as hell but fun. Tales has always been this amazing story-telling vehicle and this one is no different. The twists and turns are fun to uncover and the characters (more about that in detail later) keep you invested in what they're doing. All in all i give it 3/5 Soul.

Setting: Not much to say about the setting, as with all Tales games, it's set in a fantasy world with monsters roaming everywhere. The graphics are beautiful and the world feels big with tons of npc roaming even the smallest towns. 3/5 Soul.



Character(s): The characters in Zesteria while still playing to the usual archetype set by the tales of old, played them at their best. I will mostly be talking about the main character as I feel a good or bad main character makes or breaks a game. Here, we have the horribly named Sorey. His Tales archetype is the same one Milla had in Tales of Xillia but done a lot better. He's sheltered but not boring, he also has elements  of the usual shounen manga/anime main character feel. Honestly, in the first few scenes I wanted to hate him as I do most typical Shounen main characters but it shocked me that I didn't. The biggest reason for me is that he doesn't just rush into dangerous situations. He's careful and smart and unlike Milla (who's personality outside of being clueless about the 'modern' world and eating was as interesting as a wall painted white) he felt more fleshed out and real.

Next I'll be talking about two other characters (So I can leave the characters that appear later for you to discover on your own) Mikleo and Alisha. So Mikleo is your standard male Tsundere you'd find in any dollar store yaoi manga shop. He's cold to everyone but Sorey but later warms up to everyone. Honestly, aside from the fact that he provides us the ability to wield a bow (not a spoiler, it's in every trailer for this game ever!) he's the blandest character in the game. Maybe it's just cos I'm just not a huge fan of tsunderes?

And finally Alisha, the most controversial character in the game. The reason so many fans were disappointed in the game. She was in every promotional poster and trailer for the game and was gone for the majority of the game and honestly, I don't see what all the hoopla is about. She's nothing special and her contribution to the narrative and her interaction with the rest of the party during her short stay were pretty meh.

Despite slamming two of the three characters I've reviewed I am giving the characters 4/5 Soul because honestly, the characters that come later and the interaction they all have is incredible!

Next up....


Battle: Okay so what can I say about the battle system in Tales of Zestiria other than it's amazing.
It has a learning curve of sorts, as with all Tales games. It's like meeting a friend you saw a few years ago and finding out they had a nose job but loving them anyway. Also this is the first game where the transition into battle from the field is practically seamless. Gone are the days where the screen would go black and the field would disintegrate into the battle. This time around you get to DNA digivolve with your Angelic party members! 

Digimon World 2

Over-all this is the best a Tales battle system has been since Tales of Graces f and the best part about it is how epic the battle looks and feels. I hope to see more of this battle system in future Tales games. 5/5 Soul.

Overall: I enjoy Zestiria a lot more than I thought I would. I like the characters overall, the plot and the setting. I came into this mindful of all the mixed reviews and some clear hatred for the game and came out feeling happy and content. After the shitfest that was Xillia, I'm happy to come out of a tales game feeling like I accomplished something. A mega amazing 4/5 Soul overall! 

Stay tuned as I review Tales of Xillia next and it's not going to be pretty!