Modern setting in Japan. Main story is serious but absolutely wacky and funny side stories; Yakuza 7. Characters are great too. You don't need to have played any other Yakuza games to play 7.

Old-style graphics but beautifully made. Lots of freedom of what you do at what time: Octopath II

A big series that is all interconnected: Trails series, which is already mentioned by other users. There are three main sagas now available, but even between different sagas, there is still a lot of connection.

Fun, but also thought provoking stories with emphasis on social links: Persona series.

Classics: Final Fantasy IV, VI, VII, IX, XII are my favorites. Chrono Trigger is also very good. Want to name more, but you're just starting so maybe best to stick to the famous, more easily available ones. (my avatar is a FF IV character :D ).

Playing the Yakuza games and they have lots of minigames, so seems I am doing lots of genres in one game:

Beat em up,
Racing,
Puzzles,
Card games,
even dress up doll type of games (don't ask :D)

Yakuza 5 and I'm loving it.
This game is apparently longer than the first 4 and am only at the first storyline. Love the slower build up tbh, but I'm used to playing longer games.

Yakuza 5 and I'm loving it.
This game is apparently longer than the first 4 and am only at the first storyline. Love the slower build up tbh, but I'm used to playing longer games.

By the way, I don't even expect to pass everything as I tend to play 50 hours+ games a lot.

So for me it was like:

-puzzle-platform-fighting-racing-adventure-jrpgs---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------suddenly a mix of different genres

In other words, I used to switch genres very quickly and played a mix of whatever. When discovering JRPGs, I loved them so much that I only played jrpgs for years. And when I say years, there were many long periods in between that I did not game at all apart from some mobile games.
Lately, I am rediscovering the joy of playing all kinds of genres. It's like a world is reopening to me.

What about you guys? Did/do you mix lots of genres like I used to do as a kid, or do you stick to just one or two?

Yakuza 5, 6, 7 and not yet released: 8
Dragonquest XI: I am probably at around 3/4 of the game. Not as fond of it as some other people, but still want to finish it.
Would like to buy Stray as well at some point.
Trails of Cold Steel III and IV

@Siver seems your taste in games is very similar to mine :)

A lot, but only in the last 2 months or so.

Before that, I would buy a game and then finish it, unless it was really long and I wanted a break from it. This happened rarely.

However, suddenly, I started buying games that had temporary discounts on the playstation, so now I have a bunch of games that I still need to play.
Got all the Yakuzas on discount, as they took turns over the last few months. Still have 5, 6, 0 to play.

As well as some other random games.

My Top 10 games of 2023

1. Yakuza 7, Like a Dragon: I absolutely loved this game so much. I love JRPGs anyway. Wasn't sure what to play next and wanted something relaxing like the Atelier games, so I decided to...play this (???). I already loved the story in the first few chapters and thought it was a very serious game, until some pervert started dancing around in his underwear and started a fight and I was like what? So much humor. Great characters. Lots to explore. Also my favorite arena ever in any game. Original jobs (Night Queen is basically a dominatrix) and funny substories. Has some good mini games as well. Really enjoyed setting up a company with a chicken as your manager. Also liked that the playable characters were in their thirties, forties and fifties, unlike most JRPGs.

2. The Last of Us. I had never in my life played a shooting game, apart from some multiplayer Goldeneye. I sucked majorly in the beginning. Kept pushing through and now I'm kinda good at it. Did a lot for my gaming self confidence haha.

3. Persona 4. Great story. Great setting and characters. Loved the music.

4. Trails to Azure: I really like the way the team game together in this sequel to kick more ass. One of the casts in an rpg that most felt like they became a family. Usually I am more of a fan of the side characters, but Lloyd somehow became my favorite RPG protagonist.

5. Trails of Cold Steel 1. The first in the Trail series I played. I don't even know why I love it so much, but I did.

6. Octopath Traveller 2. Gorgeous settings. Loved the freedom. Temenos and Crick are awesome.

7. Yakuza 2 Kiwami. Never thought I would be playing Beat em Up games this year or ever really, but got into it because of my love for Yakuza 7. Enjoyed the fighting and the story. Kiryu is an amazing dude that I want to drink alcohol with.

8. Trails to Zero. See Azure. Great cast. The setting of Crossbell is awesome.

9. Trails of Cold Steel II: nice continuation of the first one. Like the variety (they're on the run instead of having a base where they return to). Like that they have different clothes now with more personality in those clothes.

10. What Remains of Edith Finch: an amazing experience. More a novel than a game. This is better than any movie I watched in 2023

Also, honorable mention for Yakuza Kiwami I, the first beat em up I ever completed. Just the "Kiryuuu-chan~~~ from you-know-who coming at you from the weirdest places is worth a mention. Anyone who played this game, knows what I'm talking about.

As a break, I started playing some short games the last few weeks (visual novels, point and click). I also played Yakuza I-III and while not tiny, they are definitely shorter than my usual games.

Normally I play almost exclusively JRPGS games that I sink at least 60 hours into and often quite a bit more. Am at 130 + for P5 Royal. (I think driving through Mementos is very relaxing, sorry, I know that's weird ;-) ).

Can't remember how many hours I put into FFVII Remake. Might be a bit less than 60, but I don't think it was super short. I play Trails though and those are series of direct sequels, but at least they feel like different games. Maybe it feels different because FFVII used to be one game that is now split into many.

Thank you for making one. Good luck to anyone participating

The ones with things like 'won in a prize in this' don't mean much to me as I don't follow this kinda stuff.

However, for myself, I'd like to add things like
"is set in a modern day city"
"is set in a European medieval style setting".
"has a cat that we know the name of" (so random cats in the background do not count).
"has a protagonist that is part of royalty".
"has a computer hacker that is playable".
"You travel in a space ship at some point".
"Has a playable character that is a functional alcoholic"
"Is higher than the number 6 in its series."
"Has a fandom that has weird shipping fanwars'

I wanted to say "Is set in Japan", but I am working on beating all the Yakuza games, so that would be too easy :D )

I wasn't a member when this list was made, but let's see how far I got.

2. An old game (released 10+ years ago) Trails to Zero
3. A really old game (released 20+ years ago) Star Ocean 1
5. A time sink (50+ hours) Trails of Cold Steel I
14-1. A sequel that is a different genre than the original Yakuza 7
21. A game with a strange title Octopath Traveller II
22. A tie-in to a licensed movie or TV show The Last of Us
29. A game with a diverse cast Trails to Azure
39. A game where you play as an antihero or a villain Yakuza I Kiwami
41. A game from a genre you rarely play Yakuza Kiwami II
42-1. A relaxing 'feel-good' game Atelier Ryza
42-2. A dark, gritty, or violent game Yakuza 3
43. A game recommended to you by someone else (friend, family, youtuber, etc.) Lost Grimoires 2 - Shard of Mystery Deluxe
47. A visual novel What Remains of Edith Finch
48. A game that was not originally in your native language, but was localized later Trails of Cold Steel II (no or very few games are made in my native language so this one was easy)
49-1. A game from one of your favorite developers/companies Persona 4
49-2. A game from a developer/company you haven't played a game from before A Tale for Anna

When I was a kid, I used to play all kinds of genres: beat em up, adventure, racing, platform, fighting games, stuff with planes and everything in between. Usually, those were rented so I only got a day or two with them, but still enjoyed trying it. There was only one exception: shooting games. Just didn't play them.
Then I discovered JRPGs and after that I almost exclusively started playing those.

I liked the Last of Us series, so on a whim I got the game. And I sucked at it. HUGELY. I nervously pushed buttons, not finding it instinctive how to use them at all. I hated the clickers sooo much haha.
Finally I beat it (on easy of course) and started playing on normal and...I fell more and more in love with it. I've done grounded now and still play through chapters regularly just to relax.

To a lesser extend: the Yakuza games that are not Yakuza VII. Played VII because, you guessed it, it is a turn based jrpg, but then I found myself going back to the other games. Even when I was a kid, beat em up games weren't my fave. Yakuza's characters and story sucked me in and now I really enjoy the fighting as well.
Guess I sometimes need a bridge (a tv series, a jrpg in the same series) to get to try games in different genres. Maybe one day, I will be as open minded as a kid again.

What about you guys?

What if my language is obscure enough that I never see games translated into it? ;)

9-2.