#JRPGJuly 2020 Introduction

Welcome to another #JRPGJuly! Here’s to another year of communities coming together to love, play, and talk JRPGs. For those that are unfamiliar with the event, it was created as a community game-along by Anne Lee of Chic Pixel. What is the goal of #JRPGJuly? To play JRPGs and share the experience with others through blogging, social media, forums, the comments, and on the RPGamer Discord server. As always, if you wish to participate on social media, please use the hashtag #JRPGJuly, and start engaging with your fellow JRPG fans!

As always, the RPGamer crew loves being a part of the event. Let’s see what folks are going to be blogging about in weekly updates this month!

Read on to learn more about our motley crew, or use the links below to follow along week by week:

Week 1 Round-Up

Week 2 Round-Up

Week 3 Round-Up

Week 4 Round-Up

Final Wrap-Up


I’m Sam Wachter (@merrygodown), and I am one half of the hosts that run #JRPGJuly here at RPGamer. Since I’ve been called back to work I don’t think I’ll be able to get through the pile of JRPGs I had originally planned for the month, so my goal is to at least finally complete The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, as voted by you all via Twitter. However, I also have Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town calling my name as well! If I somehow manage to beat both games (I doubt it), I’ll post another poll with the other JRPGs I have started and roll from there. Have a happy #JRPGJuly!

Hi, I’m Joshua Carpenter (@jscarpe) and I’m the other half of the hosts that run #JRPGJuly at RPGamer. It’s been a while since I’ve dug into my personal pile of shame, but this year I’ll be tackling a beloved classic I’ve never tried before: Chrono Trigger. I just hope the DS version of the game manages to live up to the hype.

Pascal Tekaia here, and last year I worked hard and almost got through both of my #JRPGJuly picks, Trails of Cold Steel and Utawarerumono. I finished both games shortly after our event concluded, so I’m pretty proud of myself. This year, I’m setting myself up for failure, as there’s simply no way I’ll be able to power through both Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and Yakuza Kiwami in a single month, but I relish the chance at making at least a sizable dent in them in honor of #JRPGJuly!

 

Hey, I’m Ryan McCarthy (@LastZimOnEarth) and this is my second year of joining #JRPGJuly. I consider #JRPGJuly the chance to play some older JRPGs to fill in my own personal gaps in the genre’s history. Last year, I attempted and failed to get through Romancing SaGa 2 though certainly not for a lack of trying. However, this year I’ve decided to play games that I actually have a chance at finishing: .hack//G.U. Last Recode, the original Wild Arms, and Ys: The Oath in Felghana — all of which are part of series that I don’t have much, if any, experience with. While it might seem a bit bewildering for me to try to play three games this time when I failed to finish one game last time, I’m still going into this with an “in it to win it” attitude.

Hello, I’m Jervon Perkins and I have joined #JRPGJuly each year since I’ve heard about it. For the past few months, I have been practicing “reflective gaming,” which is fancy talk for taking my gaming so seriously that it becomes a therapy session of sorts. This has interlocked gaming, mental health, and isolation and has helped me stay sane. This year, I want to jump back to the PS2 era of gaming by choosing Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria and Final Fantasy X-2. These are both stains on my gaming past as in Silmeria, I used a Gameshark to beat it and in FFX-2, I never got 100% and with the remaster, I never played the after story.  The goal is to challenge myself to complete them without the elusive cheat codes. Jumping back into these games after letting them sit dormant for over a decade will be nostalgic and challenging.

Hi there! I’m Anna Marie Privitere (@amprivitere), one of the owners of RPGamer. Over the last 20+ years of my contributions at the site, I’ve been everything from a newshound and reviewer but these days I’m usually busy with behind the scenes roles. I want to focus on reducing my backlog in 2020, so for #JRPGJuly I’ll be targeting two games in particular – Atelier Meruru DX and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, both on Nintendo Switch.

 

Hi! I’m Robert “lolwhoops” Sinclair (@lolwhoops) and I’m planning on joining in on #JRPGJuly again this year. It’s always fun to see what everyone’s playing, so be sure to follow us on Twitter. As for what I’m playing, I’ll be stuck knee deep into Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and Dragon Quest Builders 2, both on Nintendo Switch. There’s also a good chance I’ll play through Dragon Quest 1 – 3 Switch, because I hear they’re not overly long and could be good for breaking up the sheer epic journeys that the main two choices are going to be.

My name is Ryan Radcliff (@RadShadow) and I am addicted to RPGs. #JRPGJuly was a lot of fun last year, and this year I plan to tackle a game that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. I have heard good things about Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology and I plan to finally get around to starting, and hopefully beating this game. My play through of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition might also spill into July, so that is another JRPG I expect to be playing during this event. Looking forward to trying a brand new game (for me) and a classic that has new content that I have yet to experience. Fun times!

It’s July again, and of course, I’m always playing a JRPG of one sort or another. I’m Cassandra Ramos (@BerryEggs), a very out-of-practice newsie, semi-regular on RPGBacktrack, and oh yeah, admin to the forums that we still have. This year I fully intend to start a game that has been sitting on my shelf for over eight years: Tales of the Abyss, specifically the 3DS port. No, I don’t know why I still haven’t played it yet, but I fully intend to begin it for #JRPGJuly! I’m probably not going to finish it in a month, but let’s see how far I get. I hope I don’t become too waylaid by the Isle of Armor DLC for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

 

My name is Trent Gleason (@DumDiddlyDoofus) and I’ve been celebrating JRPGs every month and every day since I first played Persona 3 FES in 2017. I just joined the staff this year, and one of my primary focuses has been the JRPG Study Time series of editorials, in which I take deep looks at influential titles in the genre. Thus, I’m expecting #JRPGJuly to come fairly naturally to me. I’m looking at playing Lost Sphear on PS4 and The Legend of Legacy on 3DS, two games that received a lukewarm reception from most that I am more than ready to love. I’m a fairly positive guy, you know?

Hi Michael Apps (@AskWheels) here and I’ll be switching between two massive RPGs in my backlog for #JRPGJuly. The first is Persona 5 Royal which I spent a good amount of time on when it came out but distracted like most when Final Fantasy VII Remake came out. I’ll also be digging some into Dragon Quest XI which I’m long overdue to make progress in. I doubt I’ll finish either this month but there should be plenty of fun adventures along the way.

Matt “Plattym3” Masem (@Plattym3) here and I’m the resident Dragon Quest fanboy here at RPGamer. After playing all the DQ games released in the west multiple times over the years, I’ve recently decided to bite the bullet and play the games that seem like they’ll never come here. I spent May completing the Version 1.0 content for the Japan-only MMO, Dragon Quest X. Google Translate and online guides written by fans allowed me to complete it quite easily. For #JRPGJuly, I’m going to dive into the Version 2.0 content. It might be a be trickier as there are no full guides out there, but I’ve learned a lot so far and feel with the English players’ community that’s built up over the past eight years, I should be able to successfully complete it as well!

I’m Zach Welhouse (@ZachRPG), sneaking in under the cover of darkness with an invitation to try Persona 5 Royal. I don’t anticipate beating it in a month, but it’s been awhile since I’ve played a Persona title. I’m curious about what all the fuss is about: good, bad, and mildly uncomfortable. Since I mostly write reviews for RPGamer, I’m looking forward to doing a little less structured writing about what I’m playing. Time to do some crimes!

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