Don't get me wrong, I know there are some, I'm just wondering if there's anything worth checking out that doesn't usually fall into the usual Japanese design trappings that make me cringe. I know some people like the JRPG design but I don't and I want to know if gameplay wise there are any titles that buck the trend. Already know about some titles like Armoured Core etc. but they're heavily advertised.
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Nier Automata, Devil Maycry?
Their entire fighting, rhythm, puzzle, and shmup genres for one thing. Many sidescroller, rail shooter, and sim games also. VNs too (but a lot of those might not be considered games),
If you're talking more in the realm of RPGs and RPG-adjacent stuff:
The strategy and tactics games often have a lot less of those to none of those compared to the JRPGs because of the nature of how they often work (e.g. many of the Fire Emblem games (unless you play one of the ones that has infinite grinding allowed in them), Advance Wars, the Super Robot Wars series, Sengoku Rance, Valkyria Chronicles, etc.)
For things like ARPGs or Action/Adventure games, most have at least 1 of those things. Fromsoft games are a safe bet, yes, but other than that its kinda rare. The closer it gets to a boss rush type of game, the less likely it is to have those kinds of things though.
For JRPGs and dungeon crawlers its almost impossible to not have at least 1 of those things, since dungeons are practically a JRPG staple and all of those are pretty much a part of Wizardry (the series that inspired JRPGs).
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.
Dragon's Crown
Panzer Dragoon
Mary Skelter: Nightmares - This is a dungeon crawler, so it is just maze after maze.
Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni
Nights Of Azure
Super Neptunia RPG
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Catherine - original version only, do not get full body version.
Little Witch Nobeta
Neptunia - 1,2,3, sisters vs sisters, VII, VII-R, I like the whole series.
Shin Megami Tensei
Overlord: Escape from Nazarick
Grandia HD Collection
Seven Pirates H
Ys series.
Senran Kagura
Earth Defense Force
Witch and the Hundred Knight
Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet
Parasite Eve 1 and 2
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.
To my Knowledge, full body added a Tranny as a third suitor, which is bad in of itself IMHO, but as the original version had a rather tight story having the third in there just makes it feel like something is off as well.
With Shin Megami Tensei, I didn't find the digital devil saga ones as grinding, though most of this series can be a slog.
Then you have Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers and Soul Hackers 2.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 are tactics games, so a bit different.
Jack Bros. and Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, though for TMS you want the WiiU version as the switch version got censored.
Raidou Kuzunoha: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army and Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon are action games I believe.
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.
all I got right now are monhun and edf
EDF!, EDF!, EDF!
Thanks for the recommendations guys, may well have a poke around, not a huge fan of souls style games but I guess I know what to look at for now.
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?
Think about how many games from there though fall into that category and you'll know why I made this post.
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.
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.
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.