Ever since the originalFinal Fantasy,JRPGs have garnered a sterling reputation for customizable party systems that fundamentally change every playthrough. Often made up of a striking and diverse cast of weirdos and badasses, JRPG parties are the life and soul of many of these stories — and can radically change the way the game is played too.
Whether it be hot-swapping space rocks into pieces of gear to change abilities or party members having wholly unique abilities, JRPGs are masters at figuring out how to fuse characters, narrative, and gameplay into an incredibly satisfying loop.
Bravely Secondis the perfect example of a sequel that iterates on everything that worked in the original, but improves in almost every other way. That means that the originalBravely Default’s gameplay broadly remains the same, including the great party customization system.
Clearly inspired by the old schoolFinal Fantasygames,Bravely Seconduses a job system for the characters, which essentially functions as classes that can be leveled up with AP. Interestingly, abilities unlocked in this way can remain even if that character switches jobs, meaning that the party can be highly customized to deliver a variety of cool builds.With rumors of a sequel on the horizon, now is the best time to jump into the franchise’s greatest moment.
While the originalOctopath Travelercertainly made a splash, some criticized it for not bringing together the eight unique characters until far too late into the game.Octopath Traveler 2still somewhat suffers from a similar issue, but after playing through a brief prologue for each character, the party grows, and they can be hotswapped into the main fighting party at will.
That customization is increased with a typical JRPG job system, with a sub-job system beneath that. By mixing and matching the different jobs in the game, a player’s party can be radically specific toward the end game in delivering a power punch of a build that’s built around a highly customizable upgrade tree.Despite being a great JRPG for beginners,Octopath Traveler 2still delivers when it comes to complexity.
Any JRPG fan worth their salt knows that theFinal Fantasygames are the most popular, buttheDragon Questgamesare the original and continue to deliver stunning experiences to this day. This remains true inDragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skieswhere a traditional job system (now called vocations) exists, and they can be assigned to any character in the party, including two more vocations later in the story.
What makesDragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skiesparticularly unique is that the player can not only customize their party’s classes, but also their entire appearance. With a party tailor-made, the player has ultimate control in thislong-running JRPG franchisewith a venerable history full of JRPG’s greatest stories.
As the relative newcomer to the JRPG scene,theXenoblade Chroniclesfranchisehas earned a strong foundation of fans who delight in the techno-futuristic world mixed with traditional JRPG fantasy elements. InXenoblade Chronicles X,not only is the player avatar entirely customizable, but the party can be fully customized too.
What makes this customization unique is how each character can earn “Arts” when they level up. These abilities or stat boosts can actually be used if that character opts into a different class, meaning the possibility for powerful multiclassing opens up as the game progresses. Pair that with the Skell mechs, andXenoblade Chronicles Xhas a claim to having one of the best customization systems in JRPGsthat decidedly improves upon the main franchise entries.
Though it might be the obvious answer, it’s hard to deny thatFinal Fantasy 7is not just one of the greatest JRPGs ever made, but it also pioneered much of the customization that would define the genre for decades to come through the concept of Materia (while also becoming one of the best rated games ever).
While characters inFinal Fantasy 7are locked to their particular style of weapon (Barrett with his guns, Tifa with her gloves, Cloud with his swords), Materia can be inserted into this gear that grants magical abilities and stat changes. With multiple materia slots in multiple pieces of gear across multiple characters, this cascades into an incredible customization system that allows any character to adopt a suitable role with enough planning, resulting in devestating late-game builds powered by incredible materia synergies.
