Best JRPGs With High Replayability Based On Story Branches

Key Takeaways

• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together offers multiple story paths with impactful decisions
• Star Ocean: The Second Story changes drastically based on early character choice
• Front Mission 3 has two distinct narrative paths determined by an early decision

Unlike a lot of western RPGs, JRPGs are not generally known for having branching story paths. They do not tend to encourage replays for the sake of seeing how the story plays out, depending on the decisions that the player makes. The games below, however, are exceptions.

These titles have great stories that play out in sometimes wildly different ways based on key decisions or even more subtle gameplay changes that some players might not even be aware of. RPGs are long, and it is a big ask to make gamers go through them multiple times to see all the content there is to see, but it just goes to show how great these titles are.

6 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

Making Hard Decisions That Might Cost Lives

This turn-based strategy game is considered the precursor to Final Fantasy Tactics. It is easy to see a lot of the same DNA in both games. They both include a dark, politically charged story line. However, Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together distinguishes itself from the Final Fantasy spin-off by offering players a choice to influence the narrative.

Several key decisions influence the way the story plays out. Some major characters can die early on in the story, depending on what players do during the game. Most of the decisions revolve around moral choices, but some of them fall into a grayer area. Sometimes, players do not even know how a dialogue choice might influence the future.

In the PSP version and the 2022 re-release, players are able to go back after beating the game and see how those other decisions play out without starting over.

5 Star Ocean: The Second Story

It Is Impossible To Recruit Everyone In One Playthrough

On the surface, Star Ocean: The Second Story looks more primitive than other PS1 JRPGs of the era. The graphics still utilize sprites instead of polygonal models that other series like Final Fantasy were already using. However, the game has more running under the hood that makes it more advanced than its graphics suggest.

To start off, it is impossible to recruit every party member in a single playthrough. To get even grander, the game changes significantly based on an early decision on whether to play as one of two characters. Afterward, choices during the story still affect the ending. Players will want to beat it twice to get most of what the game has to offer, but even more playthroughs allow gamers to see more of what the ending has in store.

4 Front Mission 3

Two Scenarios That Branch Depending On One Decision

Front Mission 3 takes an interesting approach to the narrative for its time, making the game feel twice as long. Early on, players choose between one of two scenarios and from then on the game’s story veers into two drastic directions. There is some overlap in the battles and gameplay segments, but they are two distinct stories.

They also play differently enough so that it does not feel like deja vu. Front Mission 3 is not the only game on the PS1 to let players choose between scenarios and lead characters, but it was rare for RPGs. Resident Evil 1 and its sequel also let players choose between two protagonists with whom to go through the game.

3 Riviera: The Promised Land

Part JRPG, Part Dating Sim

• Release Date: July 12, 2002
• Developer: Sting Entertainment
• Publisher: Atlas, Sting Entertainment, 505 Games
• Platforms: Wonderswan Color, Game Boy Advance, PSP, iOS, PC, Android, Nintendo Switch

Riviera: The Promised Land mixes JRPG elements with the dating sim genre. Given this fact, players can expect a ton of dialogue choices during the narrative beats. The adventure is a unique spin on both styles of gameplay, with quirky twists on mechanics like exploration not actually giving players free movement.

The main character, Ein, has conversations with the other party members, and the favor players show for any one of them affects how the game plays out as well as the ending. Riviera has had an interesting release history, inititally coming out on the Wonderswan Color exclusively in Japan before making its way to the states on the Game Boy Advanced. A remaster came out on the PSP a few years later, and it is now available on Windows as well.

2 Triangle Strategy

Decision-Making Is A Core Mechanic

Triangle Strategy will feel familiar to those who played Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together. It features turn-based strategy combat in a medieval fantasy setting with rival kingdoms at each other’s throats.

Decision-making is a key feature of the adventure, with the game essentially stopping to make players discuss the decision with the key members of the party before moving forward. This mechanic, called the Scales of Conviction, sets Triangle Strategy apart from the other games on this list. The game also lets players know when the decision’s effect is over and the main, unchangeable part of the story continues.

1 Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Play The Game Three Times For Three Different Houses

Like the name implies, Fire Emblem: Three Houses features three distinct paths players can take after a short prologue. Even after making this choice, the first half of the game for each of the houses does not differ a lot. Once players make it to that halfway point, though, the changes are impossible to miss.

Three Houses’ gameplay offers a lot of choice in progression and build customization, so playing through even the similar paths again offers a chance to experiement with the classes and how the party will fight in combat. Even if one half of the game is the same, it is worth it to go through it three times to see everything the game includes in the package.