The Disgaea 4 & 5 Complete games hit the sweet spot, where iteration has refined the core gameplay loop, but they haven't dumbed down. Speaking of, DIsgaea 6 kinda dropped the ball by adding auto-battling. (7's ratings seem better, but I haven't given it a chance. I reserve the right to pick up the complete edition, but shelling out for assloads of DLC when I can just grind prior games is a hard pass.)
EDIT: And, just for the record, the current steam sale has Disgaea 1 & 2 for sale at the 4 dollar price point. An absolute steal from a dollar per hour standpoint.
I have a friend (admittedly I haven't seen him in a couple of years) who actually learnt Japanese simply so he could consume Japanese games/manga/anime in its true form.
EDF does have some grind. But you can use an unlocker, get all the weapons, put the armor up somewhere high and play on Nightmare.
As for other games. I know Dynasty Warriors 8 is pretty fun. Has some grinding with per character but you can use 4 or 5 on a select mission to learn their styles and it's pretty fun. The One Piece games look like they can grind and the Dream log does provide that but you can also play it straight. Valkyria Chronicles has a bit but I enjoy the gameplay of 4 too much for it to bother me. The DLC missions can be a bit of a grind. The Yakuza games have some grind to them, the side activites with the club and real-estate in 0 for instance.
Ah, there are some visual novel games, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, those wouldn't have grinding. if you grab a DS emulator you could play something like Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and other detective games like that.
I think that's it. Try and go for action orientated game or ones that can use VN segments, those might not be as grind heavy as others.
Catherine - original version only, do not get full body version.
What's wrong with full body?
Shin Megami Tensei
Do you mean the actual first game on SNES or anything in the series? Because they do have random encounters and some entries felt grindy to me. Maybe you could advance without grinding but it was more difficult.
FromSoft's Soulsborne games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Sekiro)
Metal Gear series
Devil May Cry series
Chrono Trigger and Cross. No seriously. You see all enemy encounters on the map, and both games are designed and balanced around completing them by walking the intended path without backtracking. And Chrono Cross in particular limits how high your stats can rise between boss fights, meaning you can't grind even if you want to.
Pretty much all fighting games like Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, Dark Stalkers, BlazBlue, and so on
A bit late but I'm surprised no one mentioned any Suda51 titles like killer is dead, shadows of the damned, no more heroes, lollipop chainsaw, killer 7 (oh wait you said no mazes) and even though it's technically clover, my personal favorite GodHand
The easier Metroidvanias like Touhou Luna Nights, Momodora, and Rabi-Ribi do not have mazes per se. Bloodstained only has basic maze-like-design on the level of SotN where you might not know where to go next at some points.
Shenmue is just QTE no mazes that I recall. Would not say training your moves is grindy. You don't have to do it.
Valkryia Chronicles already mentioned.
Catherine is a puzzle game. I don't know if you'd call the puzzles mazes.
You played any Yakuza games? Very different from a lot of what you'd associate with a Japanese game. There are random encounters, but depending on which game they can be avoided fairly well by running away and/or using items.
The story isn't great, some levels feel a bit labyrinthine with winding, illogical paths littered throughout and it can be tough starting out. Encounters are not random however, and grinding isn't required; The closest I came was repeatedly running harder areas to figure out how best to utilise the metric fuckton of combat options I unlocked and how to approach specific enemy types. That, and because it has one of the most enjoyable and rewarding combat systems I've encountered.
Nier Automata, Devil Maycry?
I would like to add Disgaea to the Fire Emblem-esqe strategy style of games list.
The Disgaea 4 & 5 Complete games hit the sweet spot, where iteration has refined the core gameplay loop, but they haven't dumbed down. Speaking of, DIsgaea 6 kinda dropped the ball by adding auto-battling. (7's ratings seem better, but I haven't given it a chance. I reserve the right to pick up the complete edition, but shelling out for assloads of DLC when I can just grind prior games is a hard pass.)
EDIT: And, just for the record, the current steam sale has Disgaea 1 & 2 for sale at the 4 dollar price point. An absolute steal from a dollar per hour standpoint.
What is a VN?
From the context, I'm guessing visual novel. It's a format for interactive entertainment, but I wouldn't call most of them games.
Thanks. Sounds right
Chrono Trigger, The World Ends with You, Xenoblade Chronicles, Persona 5
The World Ends with You is great. Too bad the sequel got ruined by trashy woke translators.
I have a friend (admittedly I haven't seen him in a couple of years) who actually learnt Japanese simply so he could consume Japanese games/manga/anime in its true form.
EDF does have some grind. But you can use an unlocker, get all the weapons, put the armor up somewhere high and play on Nightmare. As for other games. I know Dynasty Warriors 8 is pretty fun. Has some grinding with per character but you can use 4 or 5 on a select mission to learn their styles and it's pretty fun. The One Piece games look like they can grind and the Dream log does provide that but you can also play it straight. Valkyria Chronicles has a bit but I enjoy the gameplay of 4 too much for it to bother me. The DLC missions can be a bit of a grind. The Yakuza games have some grind to them, the side activites with the club and real-estate in 0 for instance.
Ah, there are some visual novel games, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, those wouldn't have grinding. if you grab a DS emulator you could play something like Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and other detective games like that.
I think that's it. Try and go for action orientated game or ones that can use VN segments, those might not be as grind heavy as others.
Valkyria Chronicles.
What's wrong with full body?
Do you mean the actual first game on SNES or anything in the series? Because they do have random encounters and some entries felt grindy to me. Maybe you could advance without grinding but it was more difficult.
Ewwww... ok wasn't sure if I had Full Body or the original but I don't recall that at all so it sounds like I dodged a bullet on that one.
most japanese games will have one of those aspects, but rarely all 3.
The metroidvania genre was birthed by two japanese game which heavily involve mazes, but had no grinding or random encounters.
Modern Jrpgs have a decent amount of grinding, but nothing that I would call a maze. They are also moving away from random encounters.
all I got right now are monhun and edf
A bit late but I'm surprised no one mentioned any Suda51 titles like killer is dead, shadows of the damned, no more heroes, lollipop chainsaw, killer 7 (oh wait you said no mazes) and even though it's technically clover, my personal favorite GodHand
..you are aware Japan has produced games that aren't in the RPG genera, right?
Yes.
The easier Metroidvanias like Touhou Luna Nights, Momodora, and Rabi-Ribi do not have mazes per se. Bloodstained only has basic maze-like-design on the level of SotN where you might not know where to go next at some points.
Shenmue is just QTE no mazes that I recall. Would not say training your moves is grindy. You don't have to do it.
Valkryia Chronicles already mentioned.
Catherine is a puzzle game. I don't know if you'd call the puzzles mazes.
You played any Yakuza games? Very different from a lot of what you'd associate with a Japanese game. There are random encounters, but depending on which game they can be avoided fairly well by running away and/or using items.
Nioh 2.
The story isn't great, some levels feel a bit labyrinthine with winding, illogical paths littered throughout and it can be tough starting out. Encounters are not random however, and grinding isn't required; The closest I came was repeatedly running harder areas to figure out how best to utilise the metric fuckton of combat options I unlocked and how to approach specific enemy types. That, and because it has one of the most enjoyable and rewarding combat systems I've encountered.