IMHO, as released, I think it was superior to the PSX version. I'm running it on my Pentium 1 box with a voodoo 1 & AWE64 and I'm getting a nice 640x480 resolution. Thanks to sound fonts, the music seems a match for PSX (don't currently have an end game save to test one wing angel unfortunately). The PC port's translation makes more sense. The prerendered assets are unfortunately the same as the PSX's. When the port was being made, the ability to alter them was long gone. :(

FF7 is just an old PC game that doesn't run well on current hardware. Fan patches to the rescue if you care to putz with the game.

Could use ePSXe... If you crank up all the settings you can run the old PS1 3D games quite well (As in HD resolution's with lots of other bells and whistles)

And maybe give Digimon World (1) a shot... Not exactly a traditional JRG but still worth a shot if you can put up with some of the frustrating bits (Getting a Ultimate Digimon is about as fun as chewing glass) but changing the world around you a bit, old school exploration etc etc does help to make up for some of it's shortcomings :)

Unfortunately the PC is not a mainstream gaming platform in Japan so your choices are pretty limited. :(

Last Remnant - a jrpg with a fairly unique battle system. I think people going in expecting something more typical were disappointed. Odd for a jrpg, grinding is not necessary as there is level scaling (in fact, it makes the game more difficult). I had a lot of fun with Last Remnant but the battle system is not adequately explained in game or manual (formations are critical). Check out the wiki but avoid spoilers. Also, the demo is garbage. :(

http://lastremnant.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Remnant_Wiki_-_The_Last_Remnant_Guide


Recettear - not sure I'd label this an RPG but the story telling is very JRPG style and it's an excellent game. It cutesy but at the same time the little girl was abandoned by her father, is forced into child labor, and constantly in danger of living in a cardboard box. Grim dark with a candy coating? I played the demo after Rock Paper Shotgun sung it's praises, fully expecting to hate it as much as I did it's saccharin graphics. I ended up preordering it, LOL.

Shining Force I & II - I've never played these but had a lot fun with gamegear Shining Force a zillion years ago. It's a tactical RPG series of which the first 2 were made for the Sega Genesis/ Mega Drive. You can get them in the Sega Genesis/ Mega Drive collection on a number of DD services along with Shining in the Darkness (never played. same world but a dungeon crawling style of jrpg instead of tactical). IIRC, people regarded them well enough that Sega could position them along with Phantasy Star as their answer to the Super Nintendo Final Fantasies. Then again, Final Fantasy wasn't as big back then.

Ys series - Falcom seems very PC centric but I'd don't think any of their PC stuff has seen English localizations since the EGA DOS days. :( Fan localizations may be available. Ancient Land of the Y's is fun if ancient. It's an action jrpg where you charge at stuff instead of swinging your sword. Good luck finding a copy. :(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcom
http://www.mobygames.com/game/ys-the-vanished-omens

Final Fantasy 7 & 8 - these are great but I don't recommend them because they're expensive (only available second hand), take tinkering to get working, and have early 3D graphics which many people seem to think have aged poorly (similar to people liking Doom monster sprites better than Quake monster meshes).

Cleidophoros is right, Grandia 2 has PC port. So does Breath of Fire 4. I've tried neither of them.

Tactics Ogre: LUCT !

edit; whoops, just noticed it needs to be on the PC. please disregard

I second the grandia 2 recommendation. it is really good game with very fun combat system.

Sorry its not ... Septera Core is also a JRPG that is not Japanese ;)

No one mentioned Breath of Death VII and Chuthulu Saves the World yet - JRPG parody/homages that are supposedly quite funny, I've got them but haven't played them

True, but Anachronox has PAL-18 :P "Wanna see my batteries" forever burned into my brain.

My best suggestion for your fist RPGs would be Final Fantasy 6 (SNES), Final fantasy 7 (PSX or PC (patched, of course) and Chrono Trigger (SNES).

I really suggest going for those three first before you try others. Their plot, gameplay, world, gimmicks have been reused, parodied and copied for the last 10 years, so you may find them clichés and trite if you play more recent JRPGs before them.

But, if you can get past that, they're excellent games.

Don't bother unless you have an emulator, the best ones are console only and imo most of them on PC aren't worth playing.

Xenogears is a good starting point considering the story blows most JRPGs out of water since it tries to touch on human nature. This is pretty much the Torment of JRPGs.

When you get some experience make sure to check out Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together. The games are hard to get into but easily some of the best JRPGs out there.

If you would feel bad about just playing the games buy a copy of Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics off of PSN for $10 each to say you have them.

Personally I loved The Last Remnant, I didnt know about the "scaling", I remember I had a major difficulty with a boss (some kinda bird in a river iirc), but after I leveled up a bit, it was a breeze.

Maybe meantime I had better gear, teams and tactics, it was a few years ago, but a pretty unique experience (for me anyway)..

Don't do it. I repeat: dont-do-it :-P

I find the resolution mismatch between the backgrounds and the real time rendered bits quite ugly. You might be getting nicer sound than when it was released by using soundfonts, but it still won't sound as intended and there won't be any vocals in 'one winged angel' because after all it's still just MIDI.
I can't comment on the translation though because I don't remember enough to compare between them.

Chrono Trigger. Simple to get into, great adventure. And lots of replayability.