Hmm does Megaman Legends count as a JRPG?

Transistor takes place entirely in one city with a detour to a different part of it.

@gyoza Action rpgs definitely count! I think Megaman Legends kind of rides the line a little bit but it definitely has a sort of jrpg "spirit" and there4 def belongs here

@Frozenroy I LOVE the environment of transistor and think it totally counts in a broader sense but I'm not sure if I want to include global rpgs as opposed to just jrpgs, where this sort of thing feels even more rare to me (probably because a lot of them that might fit this criteria aren't localized/well known over here). Might do an honorable menchies section at the end for non-Japanese rpgs that still feel related to "jrpg" as the flimsy genre category it is

Don't you think the tower in Resonance of Fate is like a multi-floor overworld?

@beetbeatbit oh hmm it's been forever since I've played it but I remember Resonance feeling more like a multi-tiered "vertical snowpiercer" megacity ala Midgar (that defies the sort of overworld globe-trekking vibe due to it having a singular political leadership/culture mostly stratified by class--I feel like there aren't any independent cities and environments that vary in flavor/aesthetic to the degree of like, a world-spanning voyage). IIRC it felt like exploring different districts separated by occupation/industry but maybe I'm forgetting a lot and it has moreso the vibe of an abstracted continent, in which case it might need to be removed! I refrained from adding the floating Ar Tonelico II landmass for that same reason so it might be time 2 revisit! It's hard to know where to draw the line between a Midgar "single megacity" vs a Cocoon "planet settlement" but I feel like a unification of aesthetic and constrained scope might be the ticket, idk still working it out

The "singular political leadership/culture mostly stratified by class" definitely applies here, so yeah, Resonance counts. It seems I just didn't understand your list properly.

Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter :)

would strange journey count? entire game takes place inside some bigass black hole, and while it is made up of distinct zones, i dont think considering that all to be one thing is any more of a stretch than the tv world or mementos would be

Baroque! Set in a small town that resides just outside of a tower where you spend much of the game (I think)

Would you consider the first Dragon Quest contained? I was also thinking about Ys Origins.

@Lot0 I'm not so sure about DQ1 because it does have this cross-country kind of vibe to it and several distinct towns iirc. I've shamefully never played an Ys game before but Origin sounds like it belongs here! Really interesting how jrpgs that take place in some iteration of "the tower" are such frequent iterations of this micro category

mother 3 is a huge example of this too. Shigesato Itoi talked about in an interview somewhere how he had to change how he wrote npc dialogue from towns full of npcs you meet twice max or so the whole journey to a much smaller collection of npcs that you speak with over and over and who's dialogue changes with the course of events, and going for a small town feel and chronicling that one location's history.

little town hero?

I'd say Bowser's Inside Story, but that's only true for about ~50% of the game

@mellorine ooooh good suggestion, I havent played but it sounds right on target!

@ls197 inside story is actually on there already but w/ caveats--I think it's at least playing with the idea from a different angle and worthy of inclusion even if it doesnt 100% adhere to all of my made up restrictions!

Tokyo Wakusei Planetokio takes place entirely in one city or you travel by the end??? don't remeber at all

not sure if mega man battle network counts, because you get to explore the entire internet, but the offline parts take place in a pretty small town, and you take a bus to get from your neighborhood, the school, the mall, etc, so maybe it counts?

Monster Hunter World takes place in a small town and a couple of surrounding areas, does that count?

Shadow Tower is set entirely in one big dungeon albeit with some fairly minor dimensional warp areas. The same can be said for early Wizardry so I'd add https://www.backloggd.com/games/wizardry-i-ii-iii-the-story-of-llylgamyn/
Not sure about the later Wizardry games though. I'd count Radical Dreamers since it's a hybrid between VNs and JRPGs complete with a turn-based battle system.
Rent A Hero has bus stops to different small towns but is in a pretty small overall area.
Last one coming to mind right now is Light Crusader.

Does Threads of Fate count?

Märchen Forest: Mylne and the Forest Gift (takes place in a single forest home/garden and a cave)