Although it's still "early doors," as British sports commentators are fond of saying, for me and my studies, I'm far enough along to be able to translate (or look up, if need be) pretty much every word I come across that's written using katakana or hiragana, and I find that pretty darn exciting. Plus, I'm finally starting to learn some kanji and grammar (not necessarily in that order), which is making things even more thrilling.
Anyway, all of the above has me itching to buy some of the Japanese PlayStation RPGs I've long wanted to experience--but previously avoided because of the language barrier--so I can pop them into my trusty PSone-plus-monitor combo and give them a whirl at last. (An added bonus: I figure playing through some of these titles, like The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom, will help me expand my vocabulary.)
A couple of the games I'm contemplating at the moment:
PoPoLoCrois Monogatari--This beautiful, sprite-filled adventure is based on Tamori Yousuke's 30-plus-year-old manga series. Sadly, that's all I know about it right now but, really, what else do you need to know about a game that looks a stellar as the one showcased in the screenshot above?
The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom--I'm a bit more knowledgable about this Japanese RPG, which was released in other regions as Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (and eventually was ported to the Nintendo DS). What am I looking forward to most about this title? Seeing its flan attack in action, of course.
TwinBee RPG--OK, so this Konami-made joint isn't as much of a looker as the games mentioned above, but I still want to play it. I mean, it allows you to control low-poly versions of TwinBee, WinBee and GwinBee while battling similarly low-poly enemies that look like turnips and carrots. What's not to like?
As always, I'm open to any and all suggestions you may have when it comes to Japanese PSone RPGs I should add to my ever-growing "to play" list, so feel free to name some in the comments section below.
See also: 'Help me blow my hard-earned cash on some un-translated Japanese PSP RPGs'
