I'm a bit behind the ball, here, but congrats to KozmoOches, who's finished Dragon's Dogma!
This quarter, for our victory fanfares, we're going back to "Normal" Battle music. There's a lot of ground still to be plumbed, there! And we'll begin with Final Fantasy VIII - Don't Be Afraid!
Noting for the record that I don't think I ever got credited for completing Final Fantasy IX last quarter.
Whoops! I apologize for that; I do not always do the best job tracking, but I want everyone to get credit and appreciate the reminders! I've updated the front-page post accordingly.
The "victory fanfare" theme for Final Fantasy IX was overworld music. And I give you: Sunshine Coastline!
I'm still confused. Do we report game completion in this thread or in each game's specific JRPG Club thread? Anyway, I posted over there but will do so here too.
Finished Final Fantasy IX last night!
Either, but if I'm slow and/or forget to level you, don't hesitate to remind me!
And with that said, congratulations to kstress71 and TheMostRad for finishing Final Fantasy IX, and to hbi2k for finishing Cosmic Star Heroine!
Our victory fanfares for FFIX were, as I noted above, overworld music. Kstress71, in honor of recent discussions on the board about our journeys through the Final Fantasy games, I give you the overworld music from my starting point: Final Fantasy IV!
TheMostRad, here's the world map theme from Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch! We played this one about a year ago, and I loved it.
And hbi2k, for Dragon's Dogma / Cosmic Star Heroine, we're doing more normal battle music. Enjoy this great track from Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.
Honestly, this makes me want to propose that we all pay Lufia II a visit. What a game.
Many thanks, boss! I've owned Ni No Kuni on both PS3 & Switch, though I don't think I've ever gotten much further than the Desert city. My last attempt on Switch from maybe a year ago was interrupted by, funnily enough, DDog going on sale. Still, Joe Hisaishi & the Tokyo Philharmonic know how to strum my heartstrings with gusto, so the pick is appreciated~
Is there a "Retirement Club" option in this JRPG Club like in similar threads where you can get leveling credit for past games in the list? I just recently started participating and missed many of the previously-covered titles.
Is there a "Retirement Club" option in this JRPG Club like in similar threads where you can get leveling credit for past games in the list? I just recently started participating and missed many of the previously-covered titles.
Yeah I wondered that too. Definitely finished 4 or 5 games on the list but not with the club. Level me! 
Kstress71, in honor of recent discussions on the board about our journeys through the Final Fantasy games, I give you the overworld music from my starting point: Final Fantasy IV!
Thanks, LastSurprise! We appreciate your attention to detail and your efforts to personalize these little accomplishments.
Is there a "Retirement Club" option in this JRPG Club like in similar threads where you can get leveling credit for past games in the list? I just recently started participating and missed many of the previously-covered titles.
We haven't done that in the past, and I've been a little reluctant for two reasons. First, our membership tends to be small, our games long, and I don't want to add too many options that detract from having our members play the games. Second, as the JRPG Club's been going on for a while, and plenty of people weren't around for some of the earlier games, we recently added an option to allow replays of that were already chosen by the club (3+ years ago). That second option, in particular, is similar to the Retirement Club, and I don't think I'd want to do both of those things.
But that said, if there's heavy demand for a retirement club, I'm happy to consider it. The whole point of this is for people to play games together and talk about them, after all, and I'm all for any option that helps encourage us to do that.
And I've finished Cosmic Star Heroine! What better "normal" battle music to celebrate with than my namesake? This is one of my favorite covers of it. I'm not sure whether it's intentional, or not, but the cover reminds me a lot of the version that's played in Persona 5 Strikers:
And congratulations to Sundown for finishing Cosmic Star Heroine! Your battle music comes to us from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door!
Congrats to brokenclavicle, as well, for finishing Cosmic Star Heroine! Your battle music comes from Shadow Hearts: Covenant!
Congrats to brokenclavicle, as well, for finishing Cosmic Star Heroine! Your battle music comes from Shadow Hearts: Covenant!
Woohoo! This reminds me that I never did beat Shadow Hearts II, or play the third game which title I recall having to do with the "New World" but can't recall exactly and am too lazy this early to look it up hehehe.
Congrats to Merphle, our second finisher of Dragon's Dogma! I present you with Battle For Glory, the battle theme from DQ IV, but as played in DQ XI during the Octagonia portion of the story. Enjoy!
Thank you! An excellent song choice.
Congratulations to Malkroth, who also finished Cosmic Star Heroine! Today, I stumbled upon this excellent Lindsey Stirling cover of Tales of Arise's battle theme (Flames of Hope). Not only is the music great, but her Rinwell and Shionne cosplay is on point (no Kisara, which would have been impressive):
Big congrats to TheMostRad, who is our third finisher of Dragon's Dogma -- and has now strung together back-to-back finishes to advance to level 2! For your normal battle music, I present Battle 1 from Octopath Traveler!
Many thanks, boss! Never got around to Octopath 1 but that's a tasty jam regardless~
Posting here for posterity that I finished Dragon's Dogma!
Congratulations on leveling up! For your battle music, I give you Squad E Fights On from Valkyria Chronicles 4 (a great game, by the way!).
And Dragon’s Dogma is now $5 on Xbox One/Series consoles.
We have a pair of Cosmic Star Heroine finishers: bobbywatson and kstress71! I present you the following "normal" battle themes:
Bobbywatson, it's kind of amazing that I haven't given this one out yet, but I am trying not to go to the well too hard for Final Fantasy games. It's Those Who Fight! (from the Remake)
Kstress71, I give you Conflict's Chime from Bravely Default!
Great reminder that I still haven't played FF7Remake 
Thanks LastSurprise!
Thanks, LastSurprise! That's a reminder to me as well to go finish Bravely Default
You're welcome! Glad you both enjoyed the music.
Thanks, LastSurprise! That's a reminder to me as well to go finish Bravely Default :)
Finish it? Or, you know ... finish it?
It's Showtime!
That is, time to vote on a new game!
Nominations: Open NOW; close Friday, Sept. 22, 9 a.m. U.S. EDT (GMT -4)
Ranked Choice: Open Friday, Sept. 22, 9 a.m. U.S. EDT; close Monday, Sept. 25, 9 p.m. U.S. EDT (GMT -4)
Winner announced: Shortly thereafter, Monday night
For anyone new to the club, or anyone needing a reminder, here's our process:
The game must be at least 1 year old. Remasters (but not remakes) that are less than a year old are fine. The test is basically "could I play the old game, alongside someone playing the new game, and share a common experience?" A reminder: Repeat club games are also fine, so long as the club played the game more than 3 years ago. (So, all games from Trails of Cold Steel II through the beginning of the club are eligible)
Anyone can nominate one game, and second any number of games. Any game that's nominated and seconded moves on to the next round.
From there, we'll go straight to ranked-choice voting. Rank all the games you'd like to play, in the order that you're most interested in playing them. We strike the game with the least interest (tiebreaker: 2nd place votes; second tiebreaker: total votes) until we arrive at one with a majority!
"Looks like my summer vacation is...
...over."
As summer wanes into Autumn, I nominate Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix for your consideration.
Continuing on my kick of Action-RPGs, I bring to y'all what I (& many others) consider to be The Best Kingdom Hearts Game. Here are my selling points:
- Tight action-RPG gameplay that can be played button-mashy on lower difficulties or w/ finesse & skill on higher difficulties (with 4 difficulty options ranging from Beginner to "Critical")
- Anime as hell (melodrama! secretive societies! retcons & mistaken identities! delicious Final Fantasy fanfiction!)
- Affordable on PlayStation/Available on everything else via the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX Collection(not recommended on Switch given those are "Cloud Versions", but they're there.)
-
Cons:
- Billy Zane does not reprise his role from Kingdom Hearts 1.
- HLTB estimates range from about 30-40 hours between Main & Main+Extra. Roughly JRPG-sized, but could be shorter.
Thank you for your consideration, party on~
Good timing, I'm close to finishing Final Fantasy X as my long-running stream game and am looking for a new JRPG to pick up.
I'll nominate Breath of Fire 3, which got some traction a couple quarters ago but not quite enough to cross the finish line. I missed out on the Breath of Fire series back in the day, and enough people whose tastes in retro JRPGs broadly align with mine cite this as one of their favorites that I'm curious.
Nominating NEO: The World Ends with You.
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