Looking for old-school turn based J-RPGs

the last remnant

I've enjoyed a lot the Phanstasy Star series for the Sega Genesis, so pick up an emulator and give these a try if you're curious about JRPGs.

The first 5 Final Fantasy games are also a great intro to "traditional" JRPGs, so if you have a playstation you'll likely find those on some cheap collection and try them out.

Again: I can recommend The Last Remnant.

For PC? Last Remnant is a pretty good game, you can also try this : http://store.steampowered.com/sub/8848/
Is on sale right now, and in spite of beign an indie game is quite fun and long.

For Steam: You could try the demo of Penny Arcade 3 and Carpe Fulgar games (Recettear, Fortune Summoners and Chantelise).
Another good installment is The Last Remnant, made by Square Enix.

For VGs: I recommend Phantasy Star IV, Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Dragon Quests remakes for NDS, Final Fantasy I to X, Suidoken, Legend of Legaia.

Final Fantasy 3, SNES. You have GOT to play this. Really :)

Wikipedia entry

"The game was known as Final Fantasy III when it was first released in North America, as the original Final Fantasy III had not been released outside of Japan at the time."

Read the bit under "Reception" to see why I say - PLAY THIS.

One significant snippet of that bit - However, they referred to the game's storyline as its "... most unique aspect", citing its large cast of characters, "nearly all of whom receive a great deal of development", and the "surprisingly large number of real world issues, the vast majority of which have not been addressed by any RPG before or since, ranging from teen pregnancy to suicide". Overall, RPGamer regarded the game as an "epic masterpiece" and "truly one of the greatest games ever created".

If you like character development, storyline, and engaging, relatable, realistic themes, you will really enjoy this experience, as I did too.

Turn based RPG? What about Front Mission 3 for PS1? It's awesome game.

Front Mission 4 was awesome for the Ps2 and Star Ocean Till the End of Time also for the Ps2 but my favorite has always been Shining Force 2 for the Sega Genesis

Just soo many great games to name all in one post

Cthulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII

For GBA I really like Golden sun series. To be honest when golden sun first came out on GBA, I was amazed by it because its graphic is the best among other GBA title. Can I recommend Pokemon Yellow here?

Final Fantasy 1-6

Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 1 and 2, Jade Cocoon 1 and 2, Septerra Core could name a good amount if you need any more.

Feel free to add me on Steam if you want to have a discussion about any of them.

SNES
Final Fantantasy V (Remake on the GBA which added features. SNES needs Translation patch) (Favorite)
Lufia 1 & 2
Shin Megami Tensei 1 (Translation patch need) (Favorite)
Super Mario RPG

PS1
Chrono Cross
Final Fantasy IX (Favorite)
Legend of Dragoon (Favorite)
Lunar Silver Story Complete
Revelations: Persona 1 (There's an enhanced PSP version. Get that instead)
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (The prequel is on the PSP since the original version never came to America for the PS1. The Prequel is Persona 2: Innoncent Sin, not Persona 1.)
Xenogears (Favorite)
Wild Arms

DS
DragonQuest 4-6 (Favorite)
Radiant Historia (Better than CT) (Favorite)

Gameboy
Pokemon Crystal (Favorite)

Sega Master System
Phantasy Star 1 (Favorite)

Sega Genesis
Phantasy Star 2 (Grind fest)
Phantasy Star 4

Nintendo 64
Paper Mario (Sequel on Gamecube.)

How has no one suggested a Suikoden game yet? lol

You can still buy Final Fantasy VII for PC from the Square Enix store.

SNES: Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy VI
Many good RPG games on GBA like FF remakes, Summon Night Swordcraft Story, Boktai, Golden Sun.

On a totally different subject... Your post adress is eleet. =)

Grandia :D

Fallout 2

Suikoden 2 (ps1).

Fallout 1,Fallout 2

If you're handy with the good ol' emulators or have an old PS1 lying around somewhere, continue your Chrono journey with Chrono Cross.

The Grandia series was really cool, I especially loved playing Grandia II on my old Dreamcast (R.I.P)...

For REALLY old school RPGs, in my opinion you're better off with western developed titles like the Ultima games as old JRPGs tend to be intensely grind-heavy and lack much player input or space to literally Play a Role, but maybe you're into the grind - like I said, that's just my opinion.

However, someone mentioned Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Saves The World which are in a mega-cheap double pack on Steam. They manage to play just like the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest of old, while adding a tonne of spoof humour which makes the experience a little more bearable for my personal taste.

early final fantasy, persona games

The entire Suikoden series is amazing, especially five and three which are my favorites. Also the Tales series are all really good games save for a couple (Tales of Abyss, Tales of Symphonia, ect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_(series) ). Legend of Mana is probably still my favorite game, and you can't go wrong with Grandia 1 (very fun game) and Grandia 2 (amazing classic), 3 was meh. Lastly, the Breath of Fire games are all super favorites and are very similar to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger in a lot of ways, give them a try!

Shortlist:
Tales Series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_(series) |
Suikoden 1-5 |
Legend of Mana |
Grandia 1 & 4 |
Breath of Fire 1-4 |

Digital Devil Saga - Probably my fave turnbased PS2 RPG.

Golden Sun - GBA, my fave handheld series.
Definitely play the first, then it's sequel "The Lost Age". Though I wasn't very impressed with the third game, for DS. STILL MANDATORY!

FYI the OP asked for oldschool turnbased.
That severely limits my choices to several 10/10 titles. :D