Bravely Default 2 is occasionally weighed down by its poor pacing and sometimes sluggish gameplay, but it still offers a sprawling and expansive JRPG that sticks closely to the roots of the genre while offering up a few unique twists.

Suikoden isn’t coming back anytime soon, but the people behind several of its games are putting together a super-band in Velvet Revolver style, to create a spiritual successor in the form of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

I guess it pays to not have an incredibly popular game rotting away on the carcass of the PS Vita.

With one of the most addictive turn-based battle systems you’ll find today in a JRPG, Tokyo Mirage Sessions was a blast to play. It’s just unfortunate that the story and characters were about as bland as flavourless rice cakes.

According to the developers, the episodic remake of the iconic JRPG will have far more content than the original version of the game.

Currently, Octopath Traveler is a Nintendo Switch exclusive, but come June 7 you can finally get your grubby keyboard and mouse mitts on it.

Tales of Vesperia stands as one of the best entries in the long-running franchise. Any issues I may have are minor compared to everything this game gets right. The Definitive Edition will be a treat for both returning players and newcomers alike.

In 2018, we wanted to find the best from Japan and beyond, the games where we swapped spreadsheets and printer jams for swords and sorcery. It was a journey that took us across the world (but mostly to Japan go figure), as we delved deep into dungeons and explored tombs of another era. Here’s a look at the treasures that we unearthed, as well as the best RPG that we could lay our hands on this year.