The Sisyphean Quest: 10 JRPGs That Demand Your Soul (and 2000+ Hours)

Let me tell you a story. A long time ago, after I finally beat Super Mario RPG, I proudly told a friend, only to be hit with, "But did you get Luigi?" That launched me on a wild goose chase through magazines and playground rumors, a quest as futile as trying to hold onto a handful of smoke. Of course, Luigi was never in the game. But that mythical hunt, that desire to wring every last secret from a game's code, burrowed into my brain and never left. That's why a walkthrough is my constant companion, and why I embraced trophy systems like a long-lost sibling—a digital pat on the back for my obsessive efforts. But sometimes, that pat on the back requires you to push a boulder up a mountain for a thousand years. Here are the JRPGs where the journey to 'completion' is less a satisfying conclusion and more a test of your sanity's tensile strength.

10. Persona 5: The Phantom Thief of Your Time

Writing "Persona 5" on this list felt as natural as breathing. But my certainty was almost its undoing; compared to the real monsters here, its demands seem almost quaint. Don't get me wrong, the base game is a sprawling beast. But for the true completionist, the real time-sink is the New Game+ run required to fill the Persona Compendium, a task as meticulous as cataloging every grain of sand on a beach. It assumes you missed nothing in your first 100+ hour playthrough, which, let's be real, you probably did. Optimizing a social calendar with a walkthrough is less like playing a game and more like conducting a military campaign. I poured nearly 150 hours into this masterpiece and loved it, but I'd never casually recommend it to a JRPG newbie. That's like handing someone their first book and it's War and Peace.

9. Tales of Symphonia: The Four-Part Harmony of Despair

My first Tales platinum was Zestiria—not the crowd favorite, but it was there when I was broke and new to the PS4. Later, I looked at the rest of the series. Big mistake. Tales of Symphonia doesn't ask for a replay; it demands a minimum of four full playthroughs to collect every character title. Some are locked behind affinity systems that require you to guide relationships with the precision of a master watchmaker across an entire story. A third of the trophies are missable, turning your adventure into a tense, guide-following trudge. This isn't unique to Symphonia; it's a series-wide affliction. Vesparia needs careful planning, others demand soul-crushing grinds. My two Tales platinums will have to be enough. My spirit can only handle so much.

8. Fire Emblem: Three Houses: A Lesson in Repetition

This game featured on my "JRPGs that don't respect your time" list, and it earns its place here too. One 50-hour route is a satisfying tale. But there are four canonical routes, and the first half of each is virtually identical—a narrative groundhog day that saps the will to see other perspectives. It's simple math: 50 hours x 4 = 200 hours for the core stories. Now, add the obsessive compulsions:

• Recruiting every student from other houses.

• Mastering every combat art.

• Maxing weapon proficiency.

Suddenly, you're looking at a 200+ hour commitment. It's a masterpiece, but experiencing it fully is like deciding to read every footnote in a history textbook... aloud.

7. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Gacha Hell and Affinity Purgatory

After Xenoblade Chronicles nearly broke me with its 'achievements' (dying 100 times is not an accolade!), I did the logical thing: I dove into XC2 for a 100% run. I am not a smart man. Two pillars uphold this temple of time: the gacha Blade system and the Blade Affinity Charts. The gacha is lore-friendly but cruel. I'm over 100 hours in and KOS-MOS, the legendary rare Blade, remains a myth, as elusive as a coherent plot in a David Lynch film. Every Blade you do get has an Affinity Chart—a sprawling checklist of tasks like "kill 50 flying monsters" or "deliver 10 specific pouch items." They're charming world-builders, but completing them all is a part-time job with no benefits.

6. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: The National Dex Nightmare

For a true Pokémon Master, the game isn't over until the Dex is complete. Game Freak, in its infinite wisdom, made this a Herculean task in Sinnoh. Let's break down the insanity:

Completing this before the remakes was an archaeological endeavor, requiring you to dig up hardware and software from a bygone era. It was less a game challenge and more a corporate loyalty test.

5. Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten (To Grind Forever)

The Disgaea series looks at the standard JRPG level cap and laughs. Disgaea 4 is where the laughter becomes maniacal. We're talking:

• Max Level: 9,999

• Max Damage: 10,000,000,000

Your 40-hour hilarious campaign is just the opening act. The 200-hour hardcore grind is the main event. To hit that 10 billion damage, you need to:

1. Reach max level (obviously).

2. Master the Custom Map Editor with specific Geo Blocks.

3. Farm a mountain of Trapezohedrons.

And that's just one trophy. You still need to collect every item, craft a level 300 weapon, unlock all classes, and conquer the post-game Land of Carnage. It's a game that treats your free time like a renewable resource it owns the mining rights to.

4. Star Ocean: The Last Hope: The Last Hope For Your Social Life

I always check trophy guides. For this game, I should have just called a therapist. While completionist sites say ~188 hours, trophy hunters whisper the real number: over 500 hours. The culprit? Battle Trophies. Hundreds of them. Examples include:

• 🎯 Defeat 10,000 enemies with one character.

• ⚔️ "Defeat the hardest boss in under 10 minutes using the weakest character."

I've platinumed other Star Ocean games. This one feels like a deliberate act of hostility from the developers. It's a wonderful way to drain not just your appreciation for this game, but for the medium itself. It's the gaming equivalent of being asked to fill a swimming pool with an eyedropper.

3. White Knight Chronicles: The Offline Grind of Sisyphus

This game is a relic of the late 2000s, and its completion requirements are a monument to a bygone, masochistic era. The endgame was an online grind to raise your Guild Rank for GeoRama upgrades. The servers are long dead. What remains is offline grinding with incompetent AI companions, multiplying the time required fivefold. My rough estimate?

• Going from Guild Rank 8 to 12 (for one trophy) takes about 300 hours of repeating the same quests.

• Max Rank is 15. That's not for a platinum—that's just for "completionist" status.

We're talking about adding hundreds more hours. It's a beautiful, tragic artifact, like a clock designed to tell time by counting individual grains of falling sand.

2. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (and Your Waking Hours)

Nintendo avoids achievement systems. After seeing Dragon Quest IX's "Accolades," I understand why—they'd cause a mass player exodus. Behold the madness:

👉 Wanderluster Accolade: Requires 1000+ hours of playtime. (Okay, maybe you can idle for this one.)

👉 Friend to the End: Spend 1000 hours in multiplayer with a companion. That's 1000 real hours of co-op.

👉 The Cruel Twist - Socialite Accolade: "Time spent in Multiplayer is at least 50% of your total game time." If you don't plan this perfectly from hour one, you're locked out. You could waste thousands of hours.

And that's just playtime! You still have RNG-based accolades involving endless Grotto diving to complete the Bestiary and catalog every item. Anyone who has 100%'ed this game is either a national treasure or should be gently studied by scientists.

1. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate: The Ultimate Time Sink

We've arrived at the summit. The king. Monster Hunter is about the grind, but Generations Ultimate is the grind distilled into its purest, most potent form. Completing "everything" here is a concept that bends the mind. The checklist:

• ✅ Complete the Guild Card (hundreds of achievements).

• ✅ Hunt all Gold Crown monsters (size variants, pure RNG).

• ✅ Solo all Deviant monsters (super-powered nightmares).

• ✅ Reach Hunter Rank 999.

You might think HR 999 comes naturally from doing all that. You poor, optimistic soul. Community reports consistently show this taking over 2000 hours. Let that number sink in. That's working a full-time job for a year, but instead of a salary, you get a slightly different icon next to your character's name. This game doesn't just demand your time; it requires a generational commitment, as if you're expected to pass the save file down to your children. It is the final boss of completionism.

So, there you have it. A tour through digital purgatory. In 2025, games are bigger than ever, but the true cost isn't the price tag—it's the lifetime you might surrender to the pixelated void. Sometimes, the greatest achievement is knowing when to walk away and just enjoy the ride. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check if there's a new trophy for staring at a title screen for 500 hours... just in case.