JRPGs are some of the most historic and beloved genres out there, featuring a wealth of stellar titles that have become legendary in their own right. Gathering a bunch of eccentric and intriguing characters so that players can win a battle against insurmountable odds is one of the biggest draws of JRPGs. And anyone who's ever played one of these games knows just how long that can take.

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A JRPG that is finished in around 30 hours or so is often considered to be on the shorter side, which speaks volumes to just how long these games can be. But never mind those. We're here to talk about the marathons.

Two quick disclaimers! First, we're running off HowLongToBeat.com's 'Main Story and Extras' listing for each of these. We feel this is likely the most representative for most players. Also, we're choosing one game for each series instead of devouring the entire list with a handful of franchises, but we'll include 'honorable mentions' for each listing!

14 The Last Remnant - 76 Hours

We begin our journey with the only game on this list below the 80-hour mark... which tells you a lot about the length of things to come. Long before Final Fantasy XVI director Hiroshi Takai gained a greater degree of mainstream fame, he helmed The Last Remnant. The game features a number of distinct sentient races, setting apart from the all-human settings of many other JRPGs.

At the time of original release, The Last Remnant's extensive large-scale battles and art style received praise, whilst its graphical issues were well-documented, and its battle system quite divisive. It received a remaster in 2018 with notable improvements to graphics and frame rate, as well as some clever retoolings of the more ponderous gameplay elements.

13 Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time - 84 Hours

It might surprise you to see the third mainline Star Ocean game take the throne from the fourth. After all, Star Ocean: The Last Hope has a reputation for its length. With due respect to fans - hey, the battle system rocks, at least - our hypothesis here is that the more mixed reception made loads of players feel like it went on forever by comparison.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time leaps ahead significantly in the sci-fi JRPG series' timeline, and a certain late-game plot twist has been met with, um, let's just say not a lot of people are in love with it.

Even so, the game does a lot right, with more branching paths on which characters you can recruit than ever, a solid combat concept, and an appreciably space-bound endgame following the traditional land-on-fantasy-planet approach. It's worth checking out.

12 Etrian Odyssey Nexus - 89 Hours

If you're looking for in-depth storytelling, Etrian Odyssey is not the series for you. If you're looking for fantastic dungeon-crawling and a robust class system that makes many of its contemporaries blush with relative embarrassment, Etrian Odyssey is absolutely for you.

The longest game in the series, Nexus, offers arguably the best character customization in the franchise and received fairlly strong reviews from critics and longtime fans alike.

11 Final Fantasy 12: 93 Hours

We don't mean this in a bad way, since nobody's an expert on every video game genre under the sun, but we bet more casual JRPG enthusiasts might be surprised that Final Fantasy doesn't rank higher. Many installments are pretty darn long, but none can quite compare with the biggest of big leagues.

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Final Fantasy 12's main story is probably not the longest in its series, but its incredible amount of side content more than makes up for it. While it remains a black sheep in some corners for its relatively thin focus on main cast development and somewhat hands-off battle system, many players praise its deep AI tactical assignment system and impressive worldbuilding.

2017's terrifically retooled remaster, The Zodiac Age, introduced a new generation of fans to 'leading man' Balthier and the gang.

We're not counting Final Fantasy 14, since its status as an MMORPG makes it a contentious nominee. MMOs, after all, feature nigh-endless amounts of content by design. Rest assured, we love the game as much as any other decked-out Warrior of Light.

10 Dragon Quest 7: Fragments Of The Forgotten Past - 94 Hours

Dragon Quest 7 is one of those games that can double its playtime for players who pursue every last nook and cranny on tap, but even just the main story with a respectable amount of dabbling with side content takes 94 hours from start to finish. From around DQ7 onward, these games have been meaty affairs, but the first one to ramp up the length remains the reigning champion.

The seventh mainline installment isn't for everyone. Even the 3DS remake seen in our image above, with some trimming to the plot's opening act, can admittedly be described as slow. Stick with it, however, and you'll feel like you went on a several-season anime binge with multiple memorable arcs.

9 Tactics Ogre: Reborn - 95 Hours

The newest entry on our list - or one of the oldest, if you'd prefer to count the original release for SNES - Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a revamped version of the already-revamped PSP version, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Before legendary creator Yasumi Matsuno joined Square, he'd already made a name for himself with a compelling narrative and complex class-based battle system with the Ogre Battle series at Quest.

Tactics Ogre, in particular, is a deep isometric and turn-based strategy RPG with a downright fascinating cast of characters and numerous branching paths to its narrative. We can't praise this game enough here at TheGamer, and if you should happen to pick it up, check out our coverage hub for guides and gameplay tips.

8 Tales Of Graces - 96 Hours

Isn't odd how close these in length these past few entries have been? Just how the dice rolls sometimes, we guess. Tales of Graces is packed with even more side content than several of its close Tales-related contenders, which is saying something. It also has what many fans still cite as the best combat in the series, and considering how many people pick up these games for that aspect, that's high praise.

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On the flip side, Tales of Graces also has one of the most juvenile stories with even more 'friendship is magic' tropes than Tales tends to be known for. Your mileage may vary - that's true for everything, of course! - but as far as we're concerned, you would be forgiven if you skipped every cutscene.

7 Disgaea 3: Afternoon Of Justice - 105 Hours

Nippon Ichi JRPGs are known for their irreverent humor and frequent lampshading of common stories in other publishers' offerings. The isometric strategy found in the Disgaea games is like the opposite of Tactics Ogre's; it's absurdist and comedic, just like its story. The damage numbers in these games can hit the millions. Just because.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice closely trumps other entries. It stars Mao, son of the overlord who rules over the Netherworld. No pressure, Mao. Disgaea 3 is challenging, it features a catchy soundtrack, and its cast of eccentric rogues is good fun. Don't expect much from a visual perspective, though, and it's entirely possible the irreverence of it all won't be your cup of tea.

6 The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel 4 - 106 Hours

The Trails series is our pick for the best JRPG franchise that just can't break out of its niche status in the Western hemisphere. We can hardly blame people for not giving it a chance; it spans 12 games and counting, and they all tell a continuous overarching story. Daunting, to say the least.

Trails of Cold Steel's quadrilogy is especially lengthy. Each one can eat up a big chunk of time, with the fourth taking the crown. Cold Steel is set in the military nation of Erebonia, and its protagonists are largely comprised of young men and women who begin their journey as students together before playing pivotal roles in a major war.

We could never recommend jumping straight into the fourth game, but if you don't want to start from the very beginning of the franchise, the first one's a pretty decent entry point.

5 Xenoblade Chronicles X - 106 Hours

In a sense, the Xeno franchise started when Tetsuya Takahashi's 1998 flawed masterpiece Xenogears launched, which was followed by the Xenosaga trilogy in the early 2000s.

The Xenoblade Chronicles series itself began with 2010's inaugural entry, developed by Takahashi's own Monolith Soft. Times were tough for JRPG fans in the West back then, and it took a surprisingly successful online petition to compel Nintendo to bother publishing it overseas. Go figure - it was much more successful here, and that helped to spawn eventual sequels.

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But what makes Xenoblade Chronicles X so special? Unlike the three numbered chapters, it's set in its own universe and features plenty of mecha goodness like Xenoblade's spiritual predecessors. The game's open world is touted as one of the best in the industry, but its status as a Wii U game has unfortunately kept sales to a minimum.

4 Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment - 109 Hours

The Sword Art Online anime is one of the most successful in history. The heroes, trapped inside an MMO, contend with some very real problems. Common criticisms include the show's (and its light novel origin's) reliance on some, let's say, unsavory themes.

With so much popularity, it was inevitable that an RPG-based show would inspire actual RPGs, and Hollow Fragment takes the cake for taking the longest. Featuring over 100 recruitable characters and fairly deep dungeon-crawling elements, Hollow Fragment has a lot going for it, but be advised its localization is stunningly poor for a game as recently released as 2014.

3 Rune Factory 4: 111 Hours

At first glance, Rune Factory might come across as more of a farming sim than a 'real' JRPG. This is hardly a shock - Rune Factory is a spin-off of Natsume's Story of Seasons series, formerly known overseas as Harvest Moon. What separates Rune Factory from its proverbial cousins is its inclusion of combat and deeper core plots with nefarious villains. The fantasy setting only adds to it.

The growing of crops and tending of livestock is still there, however, as well as marriage partners and all the other elements that makes Story of Seasons so great. If you're going to play Rune Factory 4, you might want to grab Rune Factory 4 Special, which touts extra content.

2 Persona 5 Royal - 123 Hours

Come on, you had to know this one would be here. It's not even some sort of revelation that it's the runner-up; in terms of JRPGs with reasonably widespread appeal, it's going to steal the show.

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Persona 5 is the latest and probably the greatest in a series that's skyrocketed in popularity over the past several years. You take on the role of a high school student who gets involved with some world-ending crises as epic as anything - all while balancing your grades and social life. Adolescence is rough.

Persona 5 Royal continues what's become a series tradition of re-releasing the vanilla game with heaps of new stuff. Enough, in fact, to up your play time into the 150s range if you're as thorough as humanly possible. Get to it, Joker.

1 Super Robot Wars Taisen MX

Here we are. The longest JRPG around, at least as far as we've found. Super Robot Wars Taisen MX, like almost every game in its series, is tragically unreleased outside of Japan. You can find fan translations of several others if you know where to look, but alas, it appears Taisen MX isn't one of them.

A PSP port of one of many PS2 entries, Taisen MX takes the wild amount of content that most Super Robot Wars games are known for, and simply... goes even further with it. It's mech-on-mech turn-based spectacle starring a plethora of famous mecha characters and their big honkin' robots. Gundam gets plenty of rep, but other shows like Macross, Neon Genesis Evangelion, even Gurren Lagann come along for the ride.

If you're interested in playing an official English-released game, look no further than Super Robot Wars 30, the most recent title. The game performed well above expectations in the West, so we'll likely be treated to more SRW in the future.

Next: The Best Standalone JRPGs