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The 1994 JRPG The Legend of Heroes 3: The White Witch, which you might know by another name (more on that below), is being revived by Neowiz, the publisher behind the acclaimed Soulslike Lies of P.
If you haven’t heard of The Legend of Heroes 3 until now, that might be because you’re not a giant JRPG sicko and simply haven’t encountered it until now. After all, the English localization released in North America in 2006 on the PlayStation Portable, and it remains exclusive to that platform to this day. The Japanese version is available on the Nintendo Switch eShop via publisher D4 Enterprise’s EGGCONSOLE series of retro ports, but again, that’s just the Japanese version with the option for English text in menus. That means the only way to play the official English localization is on PSP, and online discussion around that version is far from encouraging.
I promised I’d explain why the game is known by another name, so let me do that quickly. As is the case with a lot of Japanese games that are part of wider series that eventually come to the West, they aren’t always released perfectly sequentially. The Final Fantasy series is notoriously confusing for this reason, but in this case, The Legend of Heroes 4 released in North America in 2005 as just The Legend of Heroes, so when its predecessor was localized the following year, it was titled The Legend of Heroes 2, a complete reversal.
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It seems the remake, or remaster, or whatever it is (Neowiz calls it a revival and recreation), is sticking with the original Japanese naming convention and releasing it as The Legend of Heroes 3: The White Witch, on “PC and console” at an undisclosed date. Not much is known about the project, but Neowiz says it’s aiming for a polished, updated adaptation.
“The White Witch has been cherished by RPG fans worldwide for over 30 years,” reads a statement from a Neowiz spokesperson. “We want to bring a polished experience that recaptures the emotional experience of the original game, while inviting new and old players to immerse themselves in an updated adaptation. With this agreement, we are looking forward to building a strong partnership with Nihon Falcom.”
You also might know The Legend of Heroes series by its more well-known association, the Trails series, which spawned from the former with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky in 2004. Coincidentally, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, the second release in a remake series of the whole Trails series, is launching this week to fantastic reviews putting it even above critical darlings Resident Evil Requiem and Pokopia.
With that extremely nerdy history out of the way, here are the best JRPGs you can play right now.