The best JRPG with high replayability based on story branches

Key things

• Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together offers multiple story paths with impactful decisions
• Star Ocean: The Second Story changes drastically based on early character selection
• Front Mission 3 has two distinct narrative paths determined by an early decision

Unlike a lot of Western RPGs, JRPGs aren't generally known for having branching story paths. They don't tend to support replayability to see how the story unfolds depending on the decisions the player makes. However, the games listed below are an exception.

These titles have great stories that sometimes play out in wildly different ways based on key decisions or even more subtle gameplay changes that some players may not even be aware of. RPGs are long and it's a big challenge for players to go through them multiple times to see all the content there is to see, but that just goes to show how great these titles are.

6 Ogre Tactics: Keep us together

Hard decisions that can cost lives

This turn-based strategy game is considered a predecessor Final Fantasy Tactics. It's easy to see a lot of the same DNA in both games. Both feature a dark, politically charged story. However, Ogre Tactics: Let us stick together differs from Final Fantasy spin-off by offering players the ability to influence the narrative.

Several key decisions affect the way the story unfolds. Some main characters may die at the beginning of the story, depending on what the players do during the game. Most decisions revolve around moral decisions, but some fall into a grayer area. Sometimes players don't even know how a dialogue choice could affect the future.

In the PSP version and the 2022 re-release, players can go back after beating the game and see how those other decisions play out without starting over.

5 Star Ocean: The Second Story

It is impossible to recruit all of them in one game

on the surface Star Ocean: The Second Story it looks more primitive than other PS1 JRPGs of the time. The graphics still use sprites instead of the polygonal models that other series like Final Fantasy already used. However, the game has more running under the hood, making it more advanced than its graphics suggest.

For starters, it's impossible to recruit all party members in one game. To make the game even bigger, it changes significantly based on the early decision of whether to play as one of the two characters. After that, choices during the story still affect the ending. Players will want to beat her twice to get most of what the game has to offer, but even more playthroughs allow players to see more of what the ending has in store.

4 Front Mission 3

Two scenarios that branch depending on one decision

Front Mission 3 takes an interesting approach to storytelling for its time, making the game feel twice as long. At the beginning, players choose between one of two scenarios, and from then on, the game's story takes two drastic turns. There is some overlap between the battles and gameplay segments, but they are two distinct stories.

They also play differently enough that it doesn't feel like deja vu. Front Mission 3 isn't the only PS1 game to let players choose between scenarios and main characters, but it was rare for an RPG. Resident Evil 1 and its sequel also allows players to choose between two protagonists to play through the game with.

3 Riviera: The Promised Land

Part JRPG, part Dating Sim

• Release date: July 12, 2002
• Developer: Entertainment Sting
• Publisher: Atlas, Sting Entertainment, 505 games
• Platforms: Wonderswan Color, Game Boy Advance, PSP, iOS, PC, Android, Nintendo Switch

Riviera: The Promised Land mixes JRPG elements with the dating sim genre. Due to this fact, players can expect a lot of dialogue options during the narrative. Adventure is a unique twist on both playstyles, with unpredictable twists in mechanics like exploration not really giving players free rein.

The main character, Ein, conducts conversations with the other members of the party, and the favor the players show to any of them affects both the course of the game and its ending. Riviera has an interesting release history, initially released on the Wonderswan Color exclusively in Japan before making its way stateside on the Game Boy Advanced. A few years later, a remaster was released on the PSP, and now it's also available on Windows.

2 Triangle strategy

Decision making is a core mechanic

Triangle strategy it will feel familiar to those who have played Final Fantasy Tactics or Ogre Tactics: Let us stick together. It features turn-based strategic combat in a medieval fantasy setting with rival kingdoms at stake.

Decision-making is a key feature of the adventure, with the game essentially pausing for players to discuss decisions with key party members before moving forward. This mechanic, called Scales of Belief, sets Triangle strategy in addition to the other games on this list. The game also lets players know when the effect of a decision is over and the main, unchanging part of the story continues.

1 Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Play the game three times for three different houses

As the name suggests, Fire Emblem: Three Houses features three different paths players can take after a short prologue. Even after this choice, the first half of the game is not very different for each of the houses. However, once players reach that half, the changes are impossible to overlook.

three houses' the gameplay offers a lot of choice in progression and build customization, so playing even similar paths again offers a chance to experience the classes and how the party will fare in combat. Even though one half of the game is the same, it's worth going through it three times to see what all the game packs in.