JRPGs that take place in our real world

[OmegaPunch's icon OmegaPunch OmegaPunch]

Oh yeah, there was Tokyo Xanadu as well (when Nihon Falcom tried to do Persona).

But idk if we should count Action RPGs as well.

They're made in Japan, so I think they count.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

-Fatal Fury and iirc King of Fighters too

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-the first Metal Slug looks like somewhere in Italy, I remember there was a stage with this huge canal and the arched bridges

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-Sonic Adventure 2 has a couple references to San Francisco. City Escape being the main area of it and Prison Island obviously being Alcatraz

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-Sonic Unleashed takes place all around the world, and that's not an exaggeration

Windmill Isle: Greece
Rooftop Run: Italy
Savannah Citadel: Africa
Cool Edge: Alaska
Dragon Road: China
Jungle Joyride: Indonesia
Arid Sands: various places in the Middle East
Empire City: guess
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It said JRPGs and I proceeded to name 3 non JRPGs ?
I'll reply if I think of more RPGs

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Mega Man Battle Network does take place in our world, there is even a moment in which you go to Brazil.

 

[PrismRed]

MS Saga overworld map is literally planet earth.

 

[jankusanagi jankusanagi]

Don't forget about 7th Dragon III Code: VFD.
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I haven't had the pleasure with this one ?

 

[RageBurner]

If we are counting action RPGs, the Yakuza series, I guess.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

It said JRPGs and I proceeded to name 3 non JRPGs ?
I'll reply if I think of more RPGs

Segagaga (kind of): see this game entirely takes place in Sega of Japan's headquarters. It also hasn't been translated yet so there's that

The Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise always takes place in Japan until recently where one of the more recent games takes place in Hawaii. It's consistently in Kamurocho but occasionally other places in tandem. They're 3D beat em ups but I consider them action RPGs, especially the first game on PS2 with a levelling system. The latest games are turn based as well too.

Castlevania Aria of Sorrow (and possibly Portrait of Ruin?) takes place in Europe. The GBA and DS Castlevania games can technically be classed as Action RPGs due to the levelling and customisation system but Aria of Sorrow is the only one in an actual specified place. Dawn of Sorrow is the sequel to Aria but I know nothing about the game, so for all I know, that's a different location

Valkyria Chronicles is in medieval Europe

Muramasa is in Edo-period Japan

and Okami, play this game, play Okamiden and then play the upcoming sequel that got announced, these games are (no pun intended) ?

and with that, I have redeemed myself

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

Some of the Digimon RPGs.

Can confirm. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth takes place in the real world around Tokyo, and I remember Shibuya especially being mentioned.

 

[RageBurner]

Can confirm. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth takes place in the real world around Tokyo, and I remember Shibuya especially being mentioned.

Very good point. I love CS/HM by the way.

 

[DarkTownStrutters]

Also beat me to it lol. The amount of games that take place in Shibuya I tell ya...
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Shadow Hearts is a very good, & very easy to forget answer! I think this one meets the criteria one 100%.

For the longest time i thought Shibuya was a fictional place thanks to those very same games.

 

[miguk miguk]

Don't forget about 7th Dragon III Code: VFD.
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Actually, every game in the 7th Dragon series after the first one takes place in the real world.

 

[Jeff]

Aside from the SMT series, Persona series, Castlevania Aria and Dawn of Sorrow take place in Japan if that counts?

 

[starseeker300]

Illusion of Gaia sort of, It starts out in a more fantastical setting, but as the game goes on it slowly is transformed into the real world

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

In Terranigma, you create our world as you go.

 

[UnDubious]

Wait, OP's avatar looks like a Kazuma Kaneko character, but they don't know Persona? Hard to believe, no?

I love when RPGs take place in the real modern world, or something close to it. It's my favorite setting. Most of those you can play in English have been mentioned already. There are also first-person dungeon crawlers like Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy and the whole trilogy it's part of, the SNES Sailor Moon RPG starts in Tokyo, and The Adventures of Hourai High on the SNES revolve around a modern Japanese high-school built on a desert island. Demon of LaPlace is a SNES horror dungeon crawler that takes place in the American midwest Northeast, I think around the 1920's. Further down you have games that take place in a cyber world or a false world that is made to resemble the real world, like the Caligula Effect games (I think) and maybe Fate/Extra CCC?

Untranslated games include Illusion City, the 3X3 Eyes RPG on the Sega CD, and Marica: Shinjitsu no Sekai on the Saturn.

 

[SpectreOverflow]

Strange edge case example: Eternal Sonata takes place inside the mind of real-world composer Frédéric Chopin on his deathbed. Also, if I recall, you can play as him too.

 

[UnDubious]

Oh, the Exile/XZR games (MSX, Genesis, Turbo CD) take place in the real world during various time periods and you meet various historical characters. You even play as an assassin and the villain in Exile is a templar, so it's a similar idea to what Assassin's Creed did later. The last chapter of the first game, which is the only one that's not in English, takes place in the USA in the 1980s. Everything else is pretty far back in the past, though.

 

[Adrastia]

They're made in Japan, so I think they count.

Then Illusion Of Gaia should count.

 

[UnDubious]

Using the term "JRPG" to designate turn-based RPGs specifically is stupid anyway. Japan has been making action and strategy/tactical RPGs forever too, as well as all kinds of hybrid styles. If you mean turn-based or "traditional", it's clearer to just say that.

 

[Aeriththeflowergirl]

Terranigma had real places like France, Spain, Japan and pretty much all seven continents

 

[RageBurner]

Terranigma had real places like France, Spain, Japan and pretty much all seven continents

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Yeah. When I finished this one I really wished it were longer; such a great game.

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

Shin Megami Tensei i think?

I haven't played many of the games but I did play 5 and it was definitely real locations. Some of which I have been to.

go play Etrian Odyssey I HD!

I would it it would get a bigger discount on Steam ?

Oh yeah, there was Tokyo Xanadu as well (when Nihon Falcom tried to do Persona).

But idk if we should count Action RPGs as well.

Is that the one that takes place in Tachikawa?

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Is that the one that takes place in Tachikawa?

Yes, as far as i know, Nihon Falcom based the in-game locations on Tachikawa city, which is where their head office is located.

 

[NotReallyHere]

Parasite Eve, to me, will always be the heavyweight champ for RPGs set in the real world. The 3D, rotating overworld map of Manhattan was very impressive by PS1 standards, as was the use of real-world locations for the game's various "dungeons."

Maybe not a true JRPG, though?

Also on that note, the Genesis and SNES Shadowrun titles both take place in and around a futuristic Seattle. Though they both had Western developers, and I suppose wouldn't qualify as JRPGs by default ;)

There WAS a Japanese-developed Shadowrun game for the Mega CD, though I believe it was a combo visual novel / strategy game? Might be worth checking out. I know there was an English translation in the works at one point, though I don't know if it was ever finished.

And, of course, there's the recent Shadowrun Returns / Hong Kong / Dragonfall... which were all Western-developed. I guess those don't help OP too much, either :P

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

I believe it was a combo visual novel / strategy game?

It definitely wasn't a visual novel