8 PS4 JRPGs Where the World Feels Bigger the More You Learn About It

One of the things I love the most about JRPGs is how the worlds slowly grow the more you play a game. Whether it be from a world map expanding or a more linear experience where the areas get more and more grand and fantastical, there is always this amazing feeling of adventure that fuels them.

The PS4 was an era for the JRPG that had a lot of games flexing their muscles in terms of graphics, but also the level of grandeur when it came to the experiences themselves.

We're going to check out some JRPGs for the PS4 that feel bigger the more you learn about the world.

8 Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition

The Gangs All Here

Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition went a long way in righting the wrongs made by the initial release. There are 3 DLCs added on in addition to some areas being expanded, and the experience feels a lot more full. The game feels like it takes place in the modern world, but if you pay attention throughout the game, you see the story unfolding behind the story being told to you in your face. There are books throughout the game that tell the story of Ardyn, Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut.

These are important because they feel as if they take place in another world, one admittedly far more interesting than the one we're stuck exploring. But they also make everything feel bigger, with much higher stakes. Their story is an optional one to find out about, but once you do, you realize the stakes of everything in a whole different way. It makes the world feel like there is a lot more to see, and unfortunately, it's one of those aspects that keeps fans years later begging for this thing to get a comprehensive remake where we get to experience that bigger world.

7 Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is one of the best adventures you can have as a JRPG, and it starts out feeling very small and slowly grows into something special. It starts with a rather simple feeling adventure across a single kingdom, but then you learn more and more about the world and the histories of the different lands and nations and how they all interconnect and what the real nature of the chosen one really is.

It's an adventure that feels like it has an ending several different times, only to reveal a whole new path that the story can take. And you'll be thankful it does, because the game only gets better and better, and that story keeps making the world bigger and bigger in the process. It even has side quests that explore the lore of places you'd been to earlier in the game, making them feel far more interesting than they initially might've been. Big is the operative word when talking about Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.

6 Kingdom Hearts 3

Following the Thread

Kingdom Hearts 3 was initially looked at as a possible ending to the long-running series, and while we know that's now not the case, it still had to go as big as possible. It certainly doesn't start that way. It's got some pretty slow moments in the opening of the game, and that feeling of grandeur is nowhere in sight. But then, the typical Kingdom Hearts insanity takes over, and it gets massive, really fast.

Specifically, the reveal of the world of Verum Rex changes things immediately. Now, it's not just Final Fantasy and Disney worlds colliding, but also video game worlds, within the video game itself. It makes the Kingdom Hearts universe feel exponentially bigger in every way, and though that doesn't get fully explored in this epic JRPG, it sets the stage for a future of the series that pretty much has no limitations.

5 Visions of Mana

The Cycle Continues

While it may not have rewritten the series from a quality perspective, Visions of Mana was still a great, cozy feeling JRPG that starts small and slowly grows its world to a massive scale. The mission is simple, but dark, as the chosen Alms are to make a pilgrimage to be sacrificed, so Mana can continue to be given to the world. It starts off feeling like a typical adventure, but as you learn more about each region, the quest starts to feel bigger as the world around you expands.

As you travel to different regions, you get a different feeling from each culture, who all see the world in their own way. You learn about civilizations that have long gone, and people who have attempted to control Mana who have failed, and the whole history of the series comes out in an epic way that makes your initial simple and contained journey into something that feels spectacularly grand.

4 Persona 5

The Mind is a Dangerous Place

Persona 5 is a gargantuan-sized JRPG that has very humble beginnings. Because after the thrilling opening segment, you find yourself in a modern-day setting, where you're a high school student. While that's cool and all, how does that fit the JRPG sense of adventure most show up for? Well, that is why you must push through the somewhat mundane daily activities, because eventually, you get to explore the various Mind Palaces throughout the game, where the real juice of this game is made.

These dungeons are massive labyrinths with bizarre visuals and even weirder-looking enemies, and they represent the true nature of some of the characters you encounter in the game and are where the real story is told. As you learn more about these characters in the real world, the world starts feeling darker, and then you explore their Mind Palaces and that world becomes much bigger. It's kind of like Inception, the video game, with way more strange high school teachers involved.

3 NieR Replicant

Worlds Apart

NieR Replicant is one of the must-plays in the JRPG world, as far as I'm concerned, and one of the reasons is the constant feeling of "what the hell is happening?" That's because you start the game in a seemingly post-apocalyptic future before getting ripped away to a world that looks entirely different, seemingly in the past, if anything.

So you explore, and you quest, and you talk to people, and slowly, the very small feeling world you seem to be stuck in grows, not necessarily in size, but rather in concept. Because that wasn't the future at the beginning of the game; it was the past, and this world that you're in, it's not yours, and when the realization happens, the stakes grow insurmountable, and as you learn more, the scale of the adventure reaches all-time heights.

2 Tales of Arise

Shackles Broken

Tales of Arise is a somewhat divisive JRPG that gave the series its biggest success yet. In the opening hours, though, everything feels so small. That's because you're literally enslaved and can only dream of the world beyond your post. That changes rather quickly, though, and slowly the world starts to open up. You learn more about the different lords and how they've been subjugating the land in different ways and the race that compels them all to act this way.

It's a thrilling experience, as drab mountains soon become incredible-looking dungeons, snow-filled wonderlands, and sci-fi dystopias. While the first half of the game has you generally grounded in the world you know, once the bombshell drops about who Alphen really is and where he came from, everything goes fully off the rails and these story revelations send you into space and suddenly a silly political race seems like the least of your worries as aliens and all manner of JRPG kitchen sink ideas are thrown at the wall. It might not have stuck the landing, but it sure took us to some wild places.

1 Star Ocean: Second Story R

A Small World Becomes a Galaxy

Star Ocean: Second Story R is a full remake of the PS1 classic that starts you in a very plain-feeling world, where you're a fish out of water coming from a far more scientifically advanced place. However, that changes as the story progresses, and you learn a bit more about what is going on that brought you to the world in the first place.

When the turning point in the story comes, suddenly, this planet you've been exploring feels minuscule in comparison to the conflict at hand. It's one of the all-time "Holy *%&*" moments in JRPG history and one that makes the world become a universe. Suddenly, new systems of gameplay open up, huge new places to explore, and the story takes on a decidedly more serious tone on top of all of this. As soon as the plot builds, so does the world itself.