Why not start with the best one ever made? Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy 3 (6) and Chrono Trigger, in no particular order.

SNES was the golden era, IMO. So many good choices.

Paper Mario is pretty great as an entry point, at least the old ones (possibly also the new ones but i wouldn't know). They're very easy to get into.

I can’t imagine recommending something other than a Dragon Quest. Chrono trigger being an obvious second answer.

Idk how the community feels about it but pokemon is another possible choice if the person is completely new to gaming and wanted to just try turn based.

Usually if someone ask me something like that, i would ask if the person would try rather retro games or newer one. If the person would rather try a turn based game or some action rpg. But i try to recommend something without those informations.

I guess a game for a beginner, i probably biased, but i would just go with one of the older Final Fantasy, i would probably recommend just Final Fantasy X. JRPGs tend to be a bit longer, but Final Fantasy game doesn't take you, with a normal playthrough, 100 hours, but just arround 40 hours. I would say that's still aceptable.

And a jrpg i would recommend...probably A legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (1st Chapter). Don't play this as first, but get addicted into the series and never run out of games...

If you rather like to start with an action game instead of turn based combat, i would probably say Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

I think Dragon Quest XI would be the perfect starting point.

Might be controversial, but I think Sea of Stars has done more for JRPG gameplay, quality of life and accessibility, art and music, and extra features like multiplayer and free DLC than anything in the last two decades. Chrono Trigger is considered the gold standard for good reason, but Sabotage studio has very deliberately built upon everything that came before in a really pleasing way. Without the benefit of nostalgia, I would have a hard time claiming CT is objectively the better game (unless all you care about is many different endings). The main characters are slightly two dimensional, but so was Crono; a JRPG protag is supposed to be a blank slate for your choices.

Hook: Pokémon Red/Blue

Peak: Shin Megami Tensei IV

I'm not into JRPGs so take this with a few grains of salt but I played Persona 5 and it nearly crushed me. It's much longer than any other game I've played (100ish hours? I dunno, I get high and take time) but it was also one of the most unique in that it had me really thinking about the meaning of games etc.

Hylics and Hylics 2

My favourite JRPG of all time is Trails in the Sky 2 (SC/Second Chapter). It requires having played Trails in the Sky 1 (FC/First Chapter), but it's up at the top.

For a first-timer, I might suggest things like...

• Super Mario RPG
• Paper Mario: TTYD
• Pokemon of some sort if you have any nostalgia or sentiment towards the series
• uhh...well, the rest depends. And I haven't played enough modern RPGs to know how much more accessible those are.

I liked Legend of Dragoon on PS1, at least what I played of it. My save got corrupted during my playthrough and it was like 5 hours in. Maybe eventually I will be motivated enough to restart it.

I hate most JRPGs for two reasons:

1. I hate random battles
2. The turn based menu combat is boring because it gets repetitive fast

The random battles can occasionally get a pass, as long as they dont interrupt my exploration too often and when they are not overly repetitive.

Legend of Dragoon addressed these two in different ways.

1. Random battles didn't really interrupt my exploration excessively compared to other games like Final Fantasy. FF almost feels disrespectful of my time in that regard.

2. The combat stayed interesting because of the QTE-style bonus damage on some moves, and the 3D environments of the battles varied often enough that it didn't feel overly repetitive.

Another recommendation is Racing Lagoon. This one tackles both issues as well:

1. Random races happen but not too often. You can see the cars coming since they flash their lights and honk their horn. You can pretty simply avoid them if you dont want to race them by moving out of the way (they follow the direction of the road based on which side they are on).

2. Races aren't really repetitive, there is a multitude of race tracks that are sometimes repeated in reverse for extra variety.

My main issues with Racing Lagoon are the poor visibility due to the PS1 hardware limitations, and the physics unfortunately. Early on, cars feel absolutely horrendous to race with. Once you get good upgrades they get significantly better, but boy does it feel like you get pummeled in races for the first few hours of play. But get past that and the game is pretty good. Unexpected and a very unconventional JRPG.

Mystic Quest for the SNES I'd recommend because it's simple, feeling like an intentional entry point for JRPGs.

Final Fantasy II (PSP), VI, X and XII are generally linear, so you shouldn't get too easily sidetracked. But if you feel adventurous and starts looking to see what the optionals are about, you can easily find the thread that leads to them, and you will soon learn these games get twice as big at least.

Persona 3, 4 and 5 are mostly independent of each other, so you can pick whichever you want, at most missing some discreet references. The spin-offs, however, require playing the games they are directly related to.

Parasite Eve is good and different from your usual JRPG, and you don't need to read the book it is a sequel to as a character explains the basic idea and the ending of the book at some point. But do mind it's an horror game.

Yet to play Sea of Stars, but apparently it's inspired by Chrono Trigger, so maybe worth taking a look?