Don't know much about the author, but I looked over the free material they've put out for Fabula Ultima the last time this topic came up. (Available here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/411240/Fabula-Ultima-TTJRPG-Press-Start?manufacturers_id=17072). For me at least, there are a lot of red flags, there.

The quickstart materials do a shockingly poor job explaining how the game works, instead providing a scenario which must be played with the pre-generated characters. However, from what is here, it's abundantly clear that the game's DNA is firmly in the realm of story gaming, particularly Powered By the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark games. Character's have "themes", the game is divided by "scenes", it uses PBTA-esque "bonds", XP gain is based on spending metacurrency, etc. Personal preferences will vary, but if like me, you think PBTA and its derivatives are cancer, you'll probably hate this game.

There are also some pretty clear signs of wokeness. The pre-generated characters all have their pronouns specified on their character sheets, and each character has an "Identity", described in the book as "what your character currently sees themselves as." Again, YMMV, but I would at least argue that wokeness runs counter to the spirit of a game seeking to emulate JRPGS, which at their peak were not woke at all, and even these days tend to be less woke than their western counterparts.

What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?

Quote from: Tasty_Wind on November 23, 2022, 10:22:09 AM
What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?

You forgot singing.  At some point a girl has to sing and discover this is as effective of more effective than military action to defeat the enemy. 

Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?

Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2022, 12:04:02 AM
Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?

no but the gm has to make a villain who looks and sounds like sephiroth

Quote from: Tasty_Wind on November 23, 2022, 10:22:09 AM
What exactly would qualify as JRPG style game?
(Let me preface this semi-rambling string of questions with the fact that as far jrpgs go, I've only played a handful of older ones, I.e., Dragonquest 1-3, the Breathe of Fire series, Fantasy Star, and some of the older Final Fantasy entries).
Would it just be a standard ttrpg where the PCs have goofy hair and impractical weapons (and they're probably orphans)?
Or
Would it be a game that emulates the actual gameplay; attacks always hit, healing is damn near instant, a lot of wilderness exploration with constant random encounters, the entire session is one big fetch quest, when a PC dies you just go to local church and they resurrect him/her but it is never explained or addressed how they do this,etc?

From a mechanical standpoint, it would more or less be D&D. In fact, 5e is very much what a Jrpg would be. From sub-systems of gameplay unique to specific classes (Ki points for Monks, the Battle Master dice, etc) to campaigns that revolve around saving the world and that your characters are the heroes.

There would be no utility magic. No knock spells or create food and water. You have attack spells and healing spells. Summoning monsters would also be a thing.

Most games don't have multiclassing.

Anachronistic technology.

There's piles of tropes for a jrpg. There's also outliers in the genre of games. Many of the games don't do mature themes... then games like Xenogears and Parasite Eve come along.

The biggest issue with doing a Jrpg type game, is that D&D has evolved so much from what it was in the 70's and 80's, that if you strip down the magic to emulate many of the spells found in jrpg games, and then dump a bunch of tropes from the games into 5e, then play through a campaign where you are the heroes that save the world, then you are pretty much playing a modern jrpg game.

If you want more of a Final Fantasy 1-3 feel, play Basic D&D or AD&D, since those games were inspired by D&D itself.

Quote from: AmbitiousGM on October 06, 2022, 10:24:08 PM
Fabula Ultima (recently released from Need Games) is this exactly.

From their sales pitch:
"FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs.  In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!"

The art is also heavily reminiscent of older Final Fantasy art (the stuff that showed up in the manuals and title screens moreso than the games themselves).

This game sounds pretty cool. It's inspired from Ryuutama, which is another neat jrpg TRPG.

Quote from: jeff37923 on September 23, 2022, 06:15:14 PM

Quote from: MeganovaStella on September 22, 2022, 12:35:32 PM
what are your favorite JRPG (xenoseries, megaten, dq, etc) inspired tabletop games?

Mekton II and Mekton Zeta.

Although Cyberpunk 2020 with mecha from Mekton II or Zeta using the Roadstriker II conversion rules makes for some great game play. Does Patlabor and like a charm. It helps that R Talsorion Games published both systems.

Totally.

As for some JRPG themed RPGs? As in bog standard console RPGs from Japan and the US? They are usually so bog standard you dont need anything special to run them as some were inspired by D&D.

But if just mean "RPGs with an anime feel" then theres tons of those.
Tri-Stat I believe was the publisher that did Tank Police, Bubblegum Crisis and Votoms. Did they do the Sailor Moon one too?
Well before that Palladium was doing the whole Macross line.
Mekton and Battletech are both inspired by mecha anime.
BESM covers it all.
TSR did that Giant Monster Battle wargame Gammarauders way back.

Post 90s theres even more now.
Pretty sure saw a Vampire Hunter D RPG even.

Palladium RoboTech was my first ever RPG.  It's a good game that had some cool features.  Ultimately, it led to Rifts.

The Anime Hack.  A variant of the Black Hack game.  We liked it for the diversity of character types, but also found constantly rolling to see if your power or supplies levels go down a step after each use tedious.  Machine gun rules are broken as a goon with a submachine gun one shot my power armor hero.  It wasn't for us in the end. 

Tiny D6 Mecha vs Monsters.  It looks like Pacific Rim the RPG, but it's perfectly fine to also run as Mecha vs Mecha, as it has no defined size of the machines/monsters which you can design yourself.  It's main feature is how simple it is.  It's main drawback is how simple it is.  Another side benefit you will be able to pick up and play the other games in the Tiny D6 line almost immediately. 

Mekton Zeta is an old and well loved game, but seems to have very complex Mecha design rules.  That level of complexity isn't for me.

My choice is rules lite stuff right now, so Tiny D6 is for me.  The cross compatibility of the various kinds of Tiny D6 games like Frontiers (Star Trek), and Tiny Supers (spandex comic book heroes) is fun. 

BESM is supposedly (this is debatable of course) is THE anime RPG. 

It's a bit crunchy/complex as you build your hero with points.  Even your gear is bought this way, so it might feel odd that you use creation points to buy a laser pistol.  To me that should be part of the story that you get tech gear as part of your job, but that isn't how BESM is play balanced. 

I have never tried it myself.  I have a couple of their lower page count starter games and the d20 version (which the author says wasn't their best effort on last weeks Sunday Legion of Myth podcast). So I can't say if the game is good or not. 

Me, I'm just waiting for Tiny D6 Mecha vs Monster Evolved (2.0) to go on sale soon. 

Quote from: MeganovaStella on November 24, 2022, 12:14:13 AM

Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2022, 12:04:02 AM
Does the GM have to sing some Power-metal inspired J-rock intros for his group before each session where the lyrics are a recap of the last session?

no but the gm has to make a villain who looks and sounds like sephiroth

Hmmm I only did a frienemy villain that was essentially Seifer. But he kinda looked like Sefiroth, but only because I wanted him to look like Elric. I swear!

Teenagers from Outer Space is lite and pretty fun.

We played Double Cross for a while. Pretty good it was 4e inspired.

Tri-Stat pr Fuzion did that series of RPGs based off manga and anime. Dominion. Votoms, think they did Sailor Moon?