#JRPGJuly 2023 Introduction

Welcome to another #JRPGJuly! Here’s to another year of communities coming together to love, play, and talk about JRPGs. For those that are unfamiliar with the event, it was created as a community game-along by Anne Lee of Chic Pixel and hosted by MDi. What is the goal of #JRPGJuly? To play JRPGs and share the experience with others through blogging, social media, and on the RPGamer Discord server. Join us on Twitter with #JRPGJuly and engage 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! Also, check out our #JRPGJuly themed streams throughout the month over at our Twitch Channel!

Read on to learn more about what we’ll be playing:

Hi everyone, my name is Joshua Carpenter (@jscarpe) and I work on editorials and features for the site and I can often be heard on RPGCast. While I usually like to dig into my backlog for #JRPGJuly, there is so much coming out this year that I’m playing some contemporary games for a change. I’m starting the month with Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 since I adored the first game a couple years ago and I’ve been looking forward to the next installment in the trilogy. When I finish up Fuga, I’ll move on to Trails into Reverie as I want to see how Falcom ties up all the loose ends in Crossbell and Erebonia. You can follow my gaming adventures this month on Twitter.

If you’ve spent any time reading RPGamer, you probably already know who I am, but in case you didn’t, I’m Anna Marie Privitere (aka Paws) and I do both reviews and a bunch of behind-the-scenes things. JRPGJuly is my favourite month, and this year I’m excited to be diving into Octopath Traveler II. I really enjoyed the first game up until the final dungeon, so the sequel should hopefully be exactly what I’m looking for. Follow along with me on twitter @pawsrpg 🙂

Hello! I’m Casey Pritt, a features, news, and media writer here on the site. Although I’m no stranger to the concept, 2023 marks my first time sharing my #JRPGJuly experience with the community, and I couldn’t be more excited for it! This year, I plan to team up with my spouse to tackle Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition. Also on deck is Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. Both of these games are arguably a bit unusual, but in my opinion, that’s part of their charm!

Hey, I’m Ryan McCarthy (@LastZimOnEarth), a reviewer for the site. During previous #JRPGJulys, I took the opportunity to play games from series I never tried before or ones I always meant to get around to. This month I’m playing Ys Origin, after having played Ys: Oath in Felghana a few years back and really enjoying it. I will also try to make further progress in Shin Megami Tensei V. I still have a good ways to go in SMTV despite starting it a year and a half ago and I would like to finish it and talk about it for a certain podcast on the site later this year. Anyone can follow my progress on Twitter.

Hey there, I’m Jervon Perkins (@QueerShapedLife), and I write reviews and editorials for RPGamer. I gotta say, #JRPGJuly is like my favorite time of the year ’cause it’s when I can fully immerse myself in a specific game. So, here’s my confession: I couldn’t resist and already dove into Final Fantasy XVI. I mean, who has the patience to wait, right? Oh, and that “thing” I started a while back in #JRPGJuly? Well, I’m back at it: trying to achieve that sweet 100% completion in Final Fantasy X-2. I got far, then got burned out, but now that I’ve recently replayed Final Fantasy X, I’m all pumped up and ready to continue. Hopefully, this time around, I’ll make it all the way. Fingers crossed, folks! Let’s see how this adventure unfolds!

Hello! I’m Jon Jansen (@jjansen34) a reviewer for RPGamer, and I’m back for my second #JRPGJuly! Last year I tackled Demon’s Souls to complete my first ever Souls game. It was a challenging undertaking that I was proud to complete, but this time I am taking on a different kind of challenge. The Trails series has escaped me in my JRPG journey and it’s time to remedy that. It’s intimidating to start this series due to its volume of games and needing to play from the beginning to fully grasp the full story, but my interest has nevertheless continued to grow. A few months ago I made the plunge into Trails in the Sky FC, but due to work contstraints, I had to stop playing it. #JRPGJuly is the perfect time to continue Estelle and Joshua’s tale, of which I am currently near the end of chapter two and about to start the next chapter. I’m looking forward to finally completing a JRPG classic and exploring more of this sprawling world.

Hi all, I am Sarah (@yournoodleface) aka Noodle and I make pretty things for the site, and sometimes write blurbs for features and impressions at events. I’m so excited about attending the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival at the end of July that I’ll be rushing through as much story as possible in Final Fantasy XIV. Let’s see how far I get, shall we?

Hola amigos, Ryan Radcliff (@RadShadow) here and in July I will be playing Castle of the Underdogs Episode 1, a fun indie RPG that borrows ideas from the games from yersteryear. The story seems light-hearted and it has a comical undertone, so let’s see how deep this game is. Off stream, I am also playing Final Fantasy XVI and having a great time with it, so I might comment on that game as I make more progress.

Hello, I’m Cassandra Ramos (@BerryEggs), aka Strawberry Eggs, contributor to many a feature here at RPGamer. I’m using #JRPGJuly as an excuse to finish Fire Emblem Engage, a game I’ve been playing on and off for a few months now. Since I think I’m close to the end, I’ll likely start Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 before July is over.

Hello, I’m Robert Sinclair (@lolwhoops), and this year I’ll be tackling Disgaea 6 for #JRPGJuly. I love the series and after having earned the platinum trophy for Disgaea 1 Complete, I decided I’d try the same on the newest one. I’ve been enjoying it more than I was expecting, so I’m hoping the platinum trophy is within my reach.

I’m Robert Albright, aka TAM (@TheAnimeMan1), and I’m part of the community team as well as one of our streamers on Twitch. The stream team started #JRPGJuly kinda early and I was planning to go through the Galaxy Fraulein Yuna game series that has recently been translated. The first two games were really short text adventure games, and I’m now into the meatier 3rd game which is a TRPG with branching paths. If I manage to beat Galaxy Fraulein Yuna Final before the end I’m not sure what I’ll start, but I’m sure it will be one of the weirdest and most unique JRPGs that are available.

We hope you enjoy keeping up with our staff’s adventures this #JRPGJuly. Let us know if you are participating and what you will be playing in the comments.