JRPGs With the Best Music

One of the most significant aspects of JRPGs is their music. A good soundtrack helps players connect with the world depending on the game's theme, whether it be through popular life, free adventure, or devoid of joy. Some characters and areas have their own memorable themes to make them more menacing, welcoming, or awkwardly amusing.

Another significant function of music is to make gameplay engaging. For both normal and boss encounters, it helps keep the player invested during conflict. This is especially the case for more significant fights. The music needs to emphasize the right feeling from the player to correlate with the game's main purpose.

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11 Tales Of Vesperia

The Brightest Guild

• Scene Music: Pleasant Scheme; Fun And Games
• Combat Music: Staunch Opponent; Furnace Of War

Tales Of Vesperia sets a hopeful tone for the protagonist’s goals. The soundtrack portrays his wish for justice, setting the mood for adventure. With how the world developed under the Empire's rule, he was influenced to build a guild to assist others' quests, especially the smaller needs.

The battle music conveys the desire for the protagonist’s guild: to fight for justice. It plays an exciting melody to follow the action-packed combat while reminding the party about their purpose.

10 Wild Arms 5

Wild 'N Free

• Scene Music: A Boy Meets A Girl And ARMS
• Combat Music: Terrible Monster Attacking Crew!

Wild Arms 5 is set in a world where humans have thrown away their need for technology. This forces them into the Dark Age of technological progress for several years. This scenario is reflected in its music as it’s more Western-based, making the world feel more free and wild rather than advanced.

The game's combat mixes Western vibes with its action tunes, making the battles feel free and familiar. In more serious battles, the music becomes intense to increase the tension or wary caution between the main party and the enemy. It’s very memorable how the soundtrack portrays the game’s setting, especially when involving whistling.

9 The World Ends With You

Beating To Noise

• Scene Music: Calling; Fighting For Freedom
• Combat Music: Long Dream

The World Ends With You has memorable songs that make its world pop. The music is compatible with the protagonist's goal, as he’s forced to scurry through Shibuya to complete tasks from the Reapers under specific time limits. Shibuya becomes more alive and busy with the music’s lyrics.

The game's battle music follows a similar premise, as the main party goes against the noise groups. It’s bumpier and quicker since the protagonist is forced to interact with a hostile crowd surrounding him. It keeps its rocking pace as the protagonist resists the noise to escape their confusing predicament.

8 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Treasured Tunes

• Scene Music: Petal Meadows
• Combat Music: Battle-Time Bomb's Ticking

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door conveys a more whimsical feeling with its soundtrack. It’s more upbeat and catchy to encourage exploration as Mario travels to search for ancient treasures mentioned by Peach. The characters of Rogueport are very expressive with their own themes.

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By  Gerardo Molina

Combat does well with transitioning the battle music from the current exploration music. The music becomes more dramatic to fit the battle scene settled on a theater stage, which helps to hype players up.

7 Octopath Traveler

Singing A Tale

• Scene Music: My Quiet Forest Home
• Combat Music: Decisive Battle

Octopath Traveler brings a band of characters together from different lands to explore the continent. The authentic songs make the adventure feel like a bard’s tale, gaining much more impact during each character's hardships in their separate stories. Each character even has their own theme song to fit their style.

The soundtrack is also excellent for battles, especially the boss fights. The intense, epic music makes the detailed, larger bosses seem even more overwhelming for the related, smaller characters.

6 Persona 3 Reload

Dreadful Music

• Scene Music: Aria Of The Soul
• Combat Music: Mass Destruction

Persona 3 Reload is themed around handling challenges and facing failures in reality. Its soundtrack plays slower and more serenely when exploring after school, being rewarded with many activities to complete. There's even a bit of rap to follow the calm rhythm.

What's very different is the battle music, which hastens its usual flow. The music brings a bigger contrast to the night missions compared to the school day with its faster pace. The flow is still uplifting, but the beat is much stronger when facing the shadows, including the bigger targets.

5 Blue Dragon

Grand Adventure Music

• Scene Music: In Search Of The Ruins
• Combat Music: Eternity

Blue Dragon is straightforward with its music for dramatic impact. It’s very suitable for the main party since they’ve never been out of their home village, forcing them to stay secluded from the world until now. Outside of action scenes, the serene music suits the atmosphere for both exploring new areas and civilization.

The soundtrack becomes dramatic for more tense scenes that involve chasing or fighting enemies. The intense rhythm makes the action much more engaging and epic, especially during boss fights.

4 NieR: Automata

Serene World

• Scene Music: Vague Hope-Cold Rain
• Combat Music: Dark Colossus-Kaiju

NieR: Automata focuses on androids being sent to Earth to follow their orders under YoRHa. The soundtrack portrays the feeling of exploring the planet devoid of human population, emphasizing the great loss of life and what remains. The delicate music excels at making the emotional scenes heavy, though what’s discovered while following under YoRHa will only weigh heavier.

The action is explosive when the pace gets going, especially during the boss fights. The soundtrack raises its pace with the intense tempo, since many bosses throw lots of projectiles at the protagonists. What happens to the androids will result in various outcomes for humanity’s last stand.

3 Shin Megami Tensei 5

Balance Creation And Chaos

• Scene Music: Da’at Ginza, Tokyo-Daybreak-
• Combat Music: Battle-droll, Battle-Magatsuka

Shin Megami Tensei V revolves around the series’ main theme: the cycle of life. It retells the story of Creation and how humanity became before the downfall of the first sin. It’s related to the Conception, a process that destroys the entire world before leaving it in limbo to create its new existence and reason.

The game’s music exquisitely fits the religious-inspired situation. As the Nahobino explores the decrepit world, the music plays serenely but becomes more distorted when exploring later areas. Confronting hostile demons will spike the music with loud beating drums and guitar for a rocking, chaotic flow.

2 Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Respecting The Loss

• Scene Music: Off Seer-Noah; Where We Belong
• Combat Music: Moebius Battle; You Will Know Our Names; New Battle!!!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 focuses on the tension between Agnes and Keves, who have been waging war for several generations. The deaths of warriors are mourned by the off-seers, the flutists who use their tunes to pass on the lost lives. The main protagonists devote their roles as off-seers, giving the flute a huge lead with several songs to heighten its engaging impact on the game’s theme.

The flute is also noticeable during battles, since the members of the main party are trained in the way of war. It helps to keep the party motivated during their quest to resist the world’s system and malevolent influences.