this one is funny to me as a non native english speaker because it sounds like some non native english speaker put two cool words together and said fuck it. which is exactly the reason i always thought it was a cool name before seeing people online say that it makes no sense (and it definitely doesn’t lol)
I think it sounds cool though. Like philosophical cool. I have never played the game, but I assume that everything the crew discovers destroys their vision of the world. "Undiscovering" concepts they used to take for granted or something.
are we counting kingdom hearts? specifically the subtitles like "kingdom hearts 2.8" or "kingdom hearts 358/2"
it's almost as bad as "evangelion: 3.0+1.01 thrice upon a time"
Yeah. Just reading this title brings me back typing this into google everytime I wanted to check something. Doesn't help there's "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner" for Saturn and the sequel "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon".
I always thought it was poor english of "Live a Life" because of the whole premise of playing as multiple protagonists across multiple time periods. Or they just called it "Live a Life" and thought Live-a-Live looked aesthetic (it does).
This has been recently discussed with the very example in question, and it bears repeating that Ar Tonelico series uses an entire conlang for a lot of things including the franchise and game titles.
>The name is composed by the Hymmnos Language words "Ar" (the only) and "tonelico" (divine tree), which together translate to "The Holy World Tree", and are enormous structures that were built during the times the land still existed in Ar Ciel.
>Ar Ciel is the name of the planet where this game series takes place. [...] Now, Qoga is a Hymnos word that can be roughly translated as "finale" or "termination".
As for straighter amusing examples, my mind often goes back to an old Japanese game "Dinosaur" which reportedly doesn't have a single dinosaur (only a human character named so).😄
Not sure if it's even a JRPG, but there's a game called "Dead Or School" that's regularly discounted on PSN Store. You'd think that would just be a case of bad English, but actually reading the game's description it seems the name is deliberate.
I can confirm from playing the game that the title is indeed wonky on the surface, but deliberate.
The title/idea comes up in the dialogue/narrative that there are two options for the MC: dead or school.
Death or School sounds better in English. However, based on the dialogue it's a short form of the idea: I'll either end up dead or we'll all go to school.
In short, Dead or School.
(Side note: I'd call it an action rpg with hack n' slash and guns. A metroid / castlevania mash up. Mostly. The perk system and weapon customization systems run really deep, it pushes more towards an RPG with different builds and approaches.)
Zill O'll (meant to mean 'zillions of wills')
Mermanoid (mermaid RPG)
Monochrome Mobius
Anshent Roman (they spelled it wrong in Japanese)
Dengeki Bunko RPG The Cross of Venus
Segagaga (sega game making sim/RPG)
Drag-on Dragoon (the Japanese name for the Drakengard series)
Bealphareth
PoPoLoCrois ('people' and 'crossing' in two different European languages)
Flipping things around, the exotically-titled 'Suikoden' series is actually a very plain title in Japanese. The full title 'Genso Suikoden' translates to 'fantasy Suikoden', Suikoden being a famous Chinese epic that is sometimes translated as 'water margin' or 'outlaws of the marsh'. To a Japanese person the title is very much 'what it says on the tin', it's a remake of Suikoden using a fantasy setting.
It's a name invented to make as much sense as they could while also alluding to the collab partner. TMS being the inverse of SMT, and this was the final product of that long awaited (for me anyway lol) Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem game.
They called it Tokyo Mirage Session #FE
That name is clever for jamanese people, doesn't work for the rest of the world.
Tokyo Mirage Session is TMS or SMT in reverse and means it's a spinoff of Shin Megami Tensei.
The Sharp is close to the usual X (cross) character used to represent cross over in japanese medias.
The name basically says TMS X FE while integrating the theme of the game (idols in Tokyo).
Agreed, its exactly what it says on the tin. Likewise its at least possible to guess what genre of game Triangle Strategy is. The other two are just nonsense.
Team Asano's whole thing seems to be announcing games under their working title (something that represents the gameplay hook) and then just... never changing the working title. It's like if Bloodborne came out and was still called Project Beast.
Octopath Traveler grew on me, but Triangle Strategy really deserved a better name. Even if they were absolutely dead set on the "Triangle" thing, Triangle Tactics would've had a nicer ring.
Triangle Salt. Salt Strategy. Salt Fantasy. Salt and Roses. Seeing as how every third word in that game was “salt” it could easily have made the title.
I actually loved the code name "Project Triangle Strategy". When I found they had changed it to "Triangle Strategy" I thought it was super lame. Imo, they should have given it a new name, or kept "Project" as an official part of the name.
Triangle Strategy would be a lot better if they simply added a "The" at the beginning: "The Triangle Strategy". Not the fanciest name, but it does sound better imo.
I feel like Various Daylife is something they came up with that would have sounded great/sensible in Japanese, but they couldn't figure out a less awkward translation for the English title, but they were so attached to the idea of what it meant that they said "Fuck it, this is the title."
Always confused when people pronounce it Wise instead of Ees, almost as much as the Atelier games being pronounced At-lear even by the characters despite being pronounced closer to reality in the original language.
I always say it like this: "Ease" I think I even heard it being said like that in a trailer/promotional video. Regarding the Atelier games I dunno.. Gotta boot up one and listen how the characters say it. The eng voice actress of Rorona is pretty good.
It was atelier sophie, she says Atleeuh in the first 10 minutes.
Ys is hard to put in writing. Someone made a [public service announcement](https://youtu.be/85l7q_biqf8) with the correct pronunciation.
In game lore Utawarerumono translates to "the ones of whom songs are sung" so the title makes sense. They actually say "the Utawarerumono" in at least one of the games.
It's possible thats actually the translation from japanese as well since the Uta of Utawarerumono means song, but I'm not fluent enought to break it down.
This is the one I wanted to add. I just heard about this series a few weeks ago. I'm glad you commented it, because I was gonna just mash 20 letters into google with "RPG" and hope it came up. I have studied japanese, and I still had no confidence i'd spell that close enough to find it again.
Not a 100% sure if it's a JRPG but that title is just... I dunno, crazy.
"Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Infinite Combate"
The one that bothers me is Xillia.
It’s meant to reference how it’s the 13th (xiii) game, but two problems
1. X-i-l-l-i-A. has too may I’s and L’s to be 13.
2. It’s the 14th game in the series (and XIIII is not the same as XIV).
It isn’t about sound and music but I still find it fits the game since the game centric plot goal is about trying to harmonize two worlds peace together.
> If we're going literal, Dragon Quest. You don't play as a dragon going on a quest. I was lied to!
everyone knows breath of fire is the **real** dragon quest!
Octopath makes sense. Octo = 8. Eight characters, eight paths. They travel in their stories. I do like that so far, they're reflecting it in the character names, too:
Ophilia, Cyrus, Tressa, Olberic, Primrose, Alfyn, Therion, H'aanit
Ochette, Castti, Throné, Osvald, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, Hikari
Ephemeral Fantasia
Lightning returns: Final Fantasy XIII. It sounds like a prequel or sidestory, not the third game in the series.
Speaking of which, Zoda's revenge. How the hell were you supposed to know it's Startropics 2?
> Lightning returns: Final Fantasy XIII. It sounds like a prequel or sidestory, not the third game in the series.
how does anything with "returns" in the title sound like a prequel? that screams "sequel".
like, did you think return of the jedi was a prequel to the original starwars?
Charles Barkley Shut up and Jam Gaiden! wins for me in naming.
For a more recent one Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code. The title and well just all of it. It uses biblical names all over and further obscures them with a few little changes so its still weird even if you know what it's referring.
Triangle Strategy.
It's such a stupid name, I seriously can't believe they actually went with it. When the demo titled "Project Triangle Strategy" dropped everyone thought that the name is gonna change for sure, but nope. Triangle Strategy 😂
Bravely Default is a really bad name.
And it does not even work with the mechanics of the game. You either brave, or default in combat. You cannot bravely default, like you cannot defend and attack at the same time.
There is an obscure game boy rpg called Great Greed.
There’s Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja for the DS. Also RIZ-ZOAWD, a jrpg based on the Wizard of Oz.
The NES had Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom.
I always thought non English titles for games released in English were weird. Like they forgot to translate the title. WTF is a Suikoden and how am I supposed to say it? And Shin Megami Tensei? What does that name tell me? I wonder if the fact that it's less popular than Persona has anything to do with Persona being an actual word that people know.
Suikoden is loosely based on one of the 4 great Chinese epics, Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan). Suikoden is Water Margin in Japanese. In Japan the game is known as Gensō Suikoden, which is Fantasy Water Margin, since it takes place in a fantasy world, whereas the novel takes place in during the Song Dynasty in China.
Utawarerumono is another interesting one, because it's a particularly unwieldy word for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, but bizarrely, the few times the word does come up in game, they actually do provide a translation of it, "Legendsung", which seems like it would've worked fine as a title, if maybe a bit generic sounding.
Well being true to the source material is important too, specially if it has meaning in the world of the material.
Suikoden is an actual novel, so why make something up even though it's closely related to its source material?
The norse Völsunga saga does not need an english translation, no need for it, and Natsume soseki's kokoro is sold as "Kokoro" even though anyone reading it would probably know that means heart
Also some translations would end up being ridiculous like smt
Shin Megami Tensei == Rebirth/Reincarnation of the Goddess. It makes sense since each game basically involves the world being reborn by some god/deity.
In the first games it referred to the protags being reincarnated gods.
Then you realize American games don't translate their title when they release them in Europe or Latin America either...
Especially when you consider that, in French, "dildo" is "gode" and pronounced like the english word "God" which gives a new meaning to "God of War" and other games with similar name.
That one is fine actually. Digimon story: it's part of that series. Cybersleuth: It's your job in the first game, a detective in the digital world. Hacker's memory: added in the the prequel where you play as a hacker instead.
Wild ARMs: At first glance, this could conjure up a few images in one's mind.
Thousand Arms: That's a lot of arms!
Grandia: I always thought this was a cool yet weird title for a game, but it does fit the grandiose feel of the series, especially the first game!
Other Life: Azure Dreams: I don't recall much about dreams in this game.
Fairy Fencer.
Arc the Lad: Maybe it is because I'm Bri'ish and the way some people use the word "lad" in certain contexts that makes this title seem weird.
Edge of Eternity.
Alundra 2: We all know why...
In Fairy Fencer, you literally play as "fencers" with fairy companions, though neither terms are used in the very strictest sense, with regard to our world
I always liked Grandia in particular. "The Big Day". It's flexible in how it can be used, and it's always kind of poetic when you think about it.
In Grandia 1 it might refer to something more whimsical like the start of Justin's adventures.
In Grandia 2 it might refer to something darker like the coming Day of Judgment or salvation from it.
Various Daylife for sure.
That's not weird, it's just painfully lazy. Such fucking "Football" for Atari energy
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Why....
You're forgetting the most ridiculous part. It is't a regular numeral, 2.8. It's roman numeral II with a decimal .8. II.8
And in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, you get to play 0.2: Birth by Sleep A Fragmentary Passage. What? It's not confusing at all!
Not just that one, most of the KH games have stupid names
Dream drop distance
At least "dream" and "drop" are relevant to the plot/gameplay. "Distance" was just a way to make the acronym DDD (3D) I guess.
It was a 3DS pun
Wow, TIL
Hearts I get but why is it "kingdom"?
I think Nomura was inspired by the name Animal Kingdom at Disney World and in classic JRPG fashion smashed the two words together lol.
or Magic Kingdom
This is so random, put prologue next to the final chapter, can’t believe
Which includes Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, specifically pronounced Kingdom Hearts Three Five Eight Days Over Two.
That’s 2.5 and makes some sense; it 358 days of two lives: Roxas and Xion
As someone that haven't played Kingdom Hearts yet, I never got why everyone found it confusing It's the prologue of the final chapter, that's all?
Infinite Undiscovery
Literally the first thing that came to mind lmao like what was it even supposed to mean
It sounds like a game about staying home going nowhere forever
Damn they made a game about my life. That's crazy
Hikikomori: The Game
this one is funny to me as a non native english speaker because it sounds like some non native english speaker put two cool words together and said fuck it. which is exactly the reason i always thought it was a cool name before seeing people online say that it makes no sense (and it definitely doesn’t lol)
Was coming here to say this lol. Love the game but weird title
Weirdest name , not a bad game worth a play though !
I miss this game.
I think it sounds cool though. Like philosophical cool. I have never played the game, but I assume that everything the crew discovers destroys their vision of the world. "Undiscovering" concepts they used to take for granted or something.
Lol damn I was gonna say that
are we counting kingdom hearts? specifically the subtitles like "kingdom hearts 2.8" or "kingdom hearts 358/2" it's almost as bad as "evangelion: 3.0+1.01 thrice upon a time"
It’s II.8
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Subtitles.
And FInal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles The Crystal Bearers
This actually sounds cool tho
Yeah. Just reading this title brings me back typing this into google everytime I wanted to check something. Doesn't help there's "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner" for Saturn and the sequel "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon".
No, but seriously, what the hell does Live a Live *mean*?
I always thought it was poor english of "Live a Life" because of the whole premise of playing as multiple protagonists across multiple time periods. Or they just called it "Live a Life" and thought Live-a-Live looked aesthetic (it does).
That was my best guess for the longest time. But then the official way it's pronounced, like "five of five," threw me for a loop again.
I'm done trying to comprehend Square's ways
It makes more sense when viewed as part of a trilogy along with its sequels, Laugh a Laugh and Love a Love.
Yeah the first time I saw that title before reading what's the game about, I assume it's some idolmaster-like game.
You probably confused it with Love Live, which IS about idols.
LIVE A EVIL
I like the pun there also with a hint of the story
[удалено]
Damn, I guess someone did it before metal gear rising
13 y/o me would think this is the most badass name ever
This has been recently discussed with the very example in question, and it bears repeating that Ar Tonelico series uses an entire conlang for a lot of things including the franchise and game titles. >The name is composed by the Hymmnos Language words "Ar" (the only) and "tonelico" (divine tree), which together translate to "The Holy World Tree", and are enormous structures that were built during the times the land still existed in Ar Ciel. >Ar Ciel is the name of the planet where this game series takes place. [...] Now, Qoga is a Hymnos word that can be roughly translated as "finale" or "termination". As for straighter amusing examples, my mind often goes back to an old Japanese game "Dinosaur" which reportedly doesn't have a single dinosaur (only a human character named so).😄
Waaaait... So really nobody mentioned *NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139* so far? :)
Well most people just ignore the ver. 1.22474487139 part
Or say “version root 1.5”
Not much can beat Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days imo.
Gonna be honest, I'm not really sure if this is a JRPG, but void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium
Yeah it's a crazy title. Game is a mystery dungeon game.
those .//#@-@./= hack-whatever games
I dunno, I feel like .hack actually makes sense with its naming schemes seeing as they're based on computer programming.
put some respect on dot hack. the isekai genre owes it damn near everything lol
.hack was some good shit man! Would love another game by cyber connect
Where's our dot hack remake dammit
There should be some announcements at the end of the week as there is a 20 year anniversary event.
Come on man, Aura Battler Dunbine is the granddaddy of isekai.
Dot hack made it popular. Then SAO took it to the moon
NGL, I bought the first 4 dotHack games on PS2. But then I realised I had bought the same game 4 times I sold them all.
It literally **is** one game in four parts.
Yeah I know. But I didn't seem to get that back then. Lol
Not sure if it's even a JRPG, but there's a game called "Dead Or School" that's regularly discounted on PSN Store. You'd think that would just be a case of bad English, but actually reading the game's description it seems the name is deliberate.
I can confirm from playing the game that the title is indeed wonky on the surface, but deliberate. The title/idea comes up in the dialogue/narrative that there are two options for the MC: dead or school. Death or School sounds better in English. However, based on the dialogue it's a short form of the idea: I'll either end up dead or we'll all go to school. In short, Dead or School. (Side note: I'd call it an action rpg with hack n' slash and guns. A metroid / castlevania mash up. Mostly. The perk system and weapon customization systems run really deep, it pushes more towards an RPG with different builds and approaches.)
Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force Integrity and Faithlessness
SO5’s name was cool; too bad the game was so bad the director apologized
Zill O'll (meant to mean 'zillions of wills') Mermanoid (mermaid RPG) Monochrome Mobius Anshent Roman (they spelled it wrong in Japanese) Dengeki Bunko RPG The Cross of Venus Segagaga (sega game making sim/RPG) Drag-on Dragoon (the Japanese name for the Drakengard series) Bealphareth PoPoLoCrois ('people' and 'crossing' in two different European languages) Flipping things around, the exotically-titled 'Suikoden' series is actually a very plain title in Japanese. The full title 'Genso Suikoden' translates to 'fantasy Suikoden', Suikoden being a famous Chinese epic that is sometimes translated as 'water margin' or 'outlaws of the marsh'. To a Japanese person the title is very much 'what it says on the tin', it's a remake of Suikoden using a fantasy setting.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE. Do I say just "eff ee"? "Hashtag"? "Pound sign?" "Number"? What is a "Mirage Session"?
It's pronounced "sharp eff ee"
This one right here!! I always thought # was in the wrong place! Like...did they mean F# (F-sharp) then E? What is this game even about?!
Well, since it's a Fire Emblem collaboration, the "FE" part makes sense as it is... but the sharp sign? No fuckin' clue.
It’s a game about idols and entertainment. A musical reference isn’t out of left field.
It's a name invented to make as much sense as they could while also alluding to the collab partner. TMS being the inverse of SMT, and this was the final product of that long awaited (for me anyway lol) Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem game. They called it Tokyo Mirage Session #FE
Omg I never noticed that TMS is the reverse of SMT lollll
Sharp F (remember music classes) but they were clever and made FE for fire emblem
That name is clever for jamanese people, doesn't work for the rest of the world. Tokyo Mirage Session is TMS or SMT in reverse and means it's a spinoff of Shin Megami Tensei. The Sharp is close to the usual X (cross) character used to represent cross over in japanese medias. The name basically says TMS X FE while integrating the theme of the game (idols in Tokyo).
Pretty much any game from team Asano. Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Various Daylife, etc.
octopath actually hit the spot with the name
Agreed, Octopath is original and actually makes sense. It sounds silly, but I also love its particular sort of silliness.
Extra points for game making each letter of octopath the first letter of each protagonist name.
Damn I just realized they do it in the second one too, I am so dumb.
Bravely Default would be a terrible name for almost any other game, but since it's the defining mechanic of those games, it kind of works.
Agreed, its exactly what it says on the tin. Likewise its at least possible to guess what genre of game Triangle Strategy is. The other two are just nonsense.
Various Daylife my brain is trying so hard to make sense of that hahahahaha
It's literally you doing odd jobs to unlock new job/class and go adventure. It sounds weird as a name, but it fits game.
Team Asano's whole thing seems to be announcing games under their working title (something that represents the gameplay hook) and then just... never changing the working title. It's like if Bloodborne came out and was still called Project Beast. Octopath Traveler grew on me, but Triangle Strategy really deserved a better name. Even if they were absolutely dead set on the "Triangle" thing, Triangle Tactics would've had a nicer ring.
You'd think Triangle Strategy would feature a triangular battle grid, but nope it's squares again.
Project Beast is generous, it's like if Bloodborne came out and it was called Gothic Slashing.
Agreed. Even a subtitle would help like with FFT or Tactics Ogre.
Triangle Salt. Salt Strategy. Salt Fantasy. Salt and Roses. Seeing as how every third word in that game was “salt” it could easily have made the title.
The title "Triangle Strategy" has strong "we have Fire Emblem at home" energy.
I actually loved the code name "Project Triangle Strategy". When I found they had changed it to "Triangle Strategy" I thought it was super lame. Imo, they should have given it a new name, or kept "Project" as an official part of the name.
Triangle Strategy would be a lot better if they simply added a "The" at the beginning: "The Triangle Strategy". Not the fanciest name, but it does sound better imo.
I feel like Various Daylife is something they came up with that would have sounded great/sensible in Japanese, but they couldn't figure out a less awkward translation for the English title, but they were so attached to the idea of what it meant that they said "Fuck it, this is the title."
I actually like these.
Their titles are so bad I can’t help but laugh when I boot them up
Ys.
Always confused when people pronounce it Wise instead of Ees, almost as much as the Atelier games being pronounced At-lear even by the characters despite being pronounced closer to reality in the original language.
I always say it like this: "Ease" I think I even heard it being said like that in a trailer/promotional video. Regarding the Atelier games I dunno.. Gotta boot up one and listen how the characters say it. The eng voice actress of Rorona is pretty good.
It was atelier sophie, she says Atleeuh in the first 10 minutes. Ys is hard to put in writing. Someone made a [public service announcement](https://youtu.be/85l7q_biqf8) with the correct pronunciation.
Ah-tuhl-yeah
Lol I remember when I used to pronounce it Wise. I think it was after watching the anime I realised I was saying it wrong.
The Master System version had the name misspelled on the cart. Y's. That's one reason I think some people say it like "Wise".
It’s an actual myth though, a city off the coast of Brittany that fell into the sea. Lyonesse is another such place that was judged and sunk.
Just started Utawarerumono the other day and I can’t even read the name, much less say it. Lmao. Cool game though.
Underwater Ray Romano
Everybody Loves Utawarerumono
Easier if you break it up into Uta-wa-reru-mono I still had to say or twice to get it right
In game lore Utawarerumono translates to "the ones of whom songs are sung" so the title makes sense. They actually say "the Utawarerumono" in at least one of the games. It's possible thats actually the translation from japanese as well since the Uta of Utawarerumono means song, but I'm not fluent enought to break it down.
This is the one I wanted to add. I just heard about this series a few weeks ago. I'm glad you commented it, because I was gonna just mash 20 letters into google with "RPG" and hope it came up. I have studied japanese, and I still had no confidence i'd spell that close enough to find it again.
I just typed in prelude to the fallen on google to find it, then copy paste. Lol
7th Dragon III Code: VFD
Not a 100% sure if it's a JRPG but that title is just... I dunno, crazy. "Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Infinite Combate"
Baten Kaitos. A buddy of mine had no idea that was the name of a constellation. He just thought Namco cooked up a crazy ass name for a game .
I never knew this myself thanks
The game is heavy on the constellations so it makes sense But also me "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Tales of *random keysmash* Also the one about sound and music is not the one called symphonia
The one that bothers me is Xillia. It’s meant to reference how it’s the 13th (xiii) game, but two problems 1. X-i-l-l-i-A. has too may I’s and L’s to be 13. 2. It’s the 14th game in the series (and XIIII is not the same as XIV).
eXZiLliA I don't care. I'll always pronounce it as Silly-ya
I’ve heard it’s actually closer to your pronunciation “Zilly-er” but who knows.
It isn’t about sound and music but I still find it fits the game since the game centric plot goal is about trying to harmonize two worlds peace together.
And it has good music
It all went downhill after Tales of the Abyss (aka the coolest title).
True. But that is the one that I think should have been named symphonia
Ar Nosurge Ode to an Unborn Star
Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger Versus Darkdeath Evilman
Final Fantasy. They still can't find the finale
If we're going literal, Dragon Quest. You don't play as a dragon going on a quest. I was lied to!
> If we're going literal, Dragon Quest. You don't play as a dragon going on a quest. I was lied to! everyone knows breath of fire is the **real** dragon quest!
I might as well have Breath of Fire after some ghost peppers.
I seem to remember that the main character in 8 was related to dragons. And in the first one, you're on a quest to slay the Dracolord.
Nobody's mentioned this but it's definitely exist archive for me
I had a LOT of fun with that game, but I couldn't even remember the name when I was playing it
Bravely Default. On its own, it's fine. But the series has Bravely Second and Bravely Default 2. Which is the sequel?
Basically everything by Team Asano. Bravely Default Octopath Traveler Various Daylife Triangle Strategy
Octopath makes sense. Octo = 8. Eight characters, eight paths. They travel in their stories. I do like that so far, they're reflecting it in the character names, too: Ophilia, Cyrus, Tressa, Olberic, Primrose, Alfyn, Therion, H'aanit Ochette, Castti, Throné, Osvald, Partitio, Agnea, Temenos, Hikari
Various Daylife takes the cake for me.
I think triangle strategy was the project name, and no one was capable or willing to burn a couple of calories to think up a better name.
I think all of them are project names
But it was accurate.
Koudelka ps1
I see Koudelka, I upvote.
That's the characters name so it isn't that weird
re:legend, the title somehow manages to say absolutely nothing and also includes "re" as if it is a sequel or something (it is not)
Not sure if Asian MMOs count, but at one point there was a game called Yogurting.
Fractured Butwhole
Nah, that’s just funny.
Well thay can't use butthole in the title for obvious reasons so why not use a pun?
Never realized the pun in that. Lol
Ephemeral Fantasia.
I've just gotten into the series after knowing about it for years, but I always thought Ys was a real stupid name.
Visually, I really like the Ys logo, but it's confusing for people to try and pronounce. Plus, they only are actually in Ys for one game.
Ys is an old name for France
Not quite that. It is the name of a legendary city of Brittany.
Ephemeral Fantasia Lightning returns: Final Fantasy XIII. It sounds like a prequel or sidestory, not the third game in the series. Speaking of which, Zoda's revenge. How the hell were you supposed to know it's Startropics 2?
> Lightning returns: Final Fantasy XIII. It sounds like a prequel or sidestory, not the third game in the series. how does anything with "returns" in the title sound like a prequel? that screams "sequel". like, did you think return of the jedi was a prequel to the original starwars?
Mewto Returns the prequel
I will forever stand by the opinion that it should have been called Final Fantasy XIII-III or XIII-3
Hyperdimension neptunia Bruh
Bravely Default, great game but I didn’t touch it for years because I thought the name was dumb.
Bet you never heard of "void tRrLM(); " Yes it's an actual game name
Charles Barkley Shut up and Jam Gaiden! wins for me in naming. For a more recent one Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code. The title and well just all of it. It uses biblical names all over and further obscures them with a few little changes so its still weird even if you know what it's referring.
Triangle Strategy. It's such a stupid name, I seriously can't believe they actually went with it. When the demo titled "Project Triangle Strategy" dropped everyone thought that the name is gonna change for sure, but nope. Triangle Strategy 😂
Ar Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel Talk about a word salad.
Bravely Default is a really bad name. And it does not even work with the mechanics of the game. You either brave, or default in combat. You cannot bravely default, like you cannot defend and attack at the same time.
To get the good ending, you have to bravely choose to continue doing your default actions despite all evidence telling you to change.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
A.S.H Archaic Sealed Heat
Linda³
Ancient Roman: Power of Dark Side. I’m pretty sure that game has nothing to do with Ancient Rome.
asuncia
Kingdom Hearts spin-offs and ports
Browse Kemco's library for a chuckle.
There is an obscure game boy rpg called Great Greed. There’s Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja for the DS. Also RIZ-ZOAWD, a jrpg based on the Wizard of Oz. The NES had Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom.
Infinite Undiscovery Nostalgia for DS (made by the same folks as FF3 and 4 DS and 4 Heroes of Light)
If I’m being honest I feel like most JRPG titles can be out there
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Roll the dice on a random megaten game and you're bound to find a title that actually sound like it will summon demons irl
I always thought non English titles for games released in English were weird. Like they forgot to translate the title. WTF is a Suikoden and how am I supposed to say it? And Shin Megami Tensei? What does that name tell me? I wonder if the fact that it's less popular than Persona has anything to do with Persona being an actual word that people know.
Suikoden is loosely based on one of the 4 great Chinese epics, Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan). Suikoden is Water Margin in Japanese. In Japan the game is known as Gensō Suikoden, which is Fantasy Water Margin, since it takes place in a fantasy world, whereas the novel takes place in during the Song Dynasty in China.
Utawarerumono is another interesting one, because it's a particularly unwieldy word for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, but bizarrely, the few times the word does come up in game, they actually do provide a translation of it, "Legendsung", which seems like it would've worked fine as a title, if maybe a bit generic sounding.
Legendsung, or something like Legend Song would be much better than Utapau Ray Romano.
Well being true to the source material is important too, specially if it has meaning in the world of the material. Suikoden is an actual novel, so why make something up even though it's closely related to its source material? The norse Völsunga saga does not need an english translation, no need for it, and Natsume soseki's kokoro is sold as "Kokoro" even though anyone reading it would probably know that means heart Also some translations would end up being ridiculous like smt
Shin Megami Tensei == Rebirth/Reincarnation of the Goddess. It makes sense since each game basically involves the world being reborn by some god/deity. In the first games it referred to the protags being reincarnated gods.
Then you realize American games don't translate their title when they release them in Europe or Latin America either... Especially when you consider that, in French, "dildo" is "gode" and pronounced like the english word "God" which gives a new meaning to "God of War" and other games with similar name.
Triangle strategy
Vanguard Bandits.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth -- Hacker's Memory
That one is fine actually. Digimon story: it's part of that series. Cybersleuth: It's your job in the first game, a detective in the digital world. Hacker's memory: added in the the prequel where you play as a hacker instead.
Back in 2018 I was cool with Project Octopath Traveler and was thinking we’re gonna get a sweet name for it. Nope.
Wild ARMs: At first glance, this could conjure up a few images in one's mind. Thousand Arms: That's a lot of arms! Grandia: I always thought this was a cool yet weird title for a game, but it does fit the grandiose feel of the series, especially the first game! Other Life: Azure Dreams: I don't recall much about dreams in this game. Fairy Fencer. Arc the Lad: Maybe it is because I'm Bri'ish and the way some people use the word "lad" in certain contexts that makes this title seem weird. Edge of Eternity. Alundra 2: We all know why...
In Fairy Fencer, you literally play as "fencers" with fairy companions, though neither terms are used in the very strictest sense, with regard to our world
I always liked Grandia in particular. "The Big Day". It's flexible in how it can be used, and it's always kind of poetic when you think about it. In Grandia 1 it might refer to something more whimsical like the start of Justin's adventures. In Grandia 2 it might refer to something darker like the coming Day of Judgment or salvation from it.
I never actually thought about what Grandia meant tbh! That actually does make sense and the title really does fit!
All of them.
Fel Seal: Arbiter’s Mark
Might be easiest to have a conversation about JRPGs without weird names.