Come in and sign if...

[TechMaster]

You have beaten a rpg without knowing the language that it is in.  For example, finishing Dual Orb 2 before it got translated.

Signs my name...(but not for Dual Orb 2...)

Also, post one of those that you beaten that fits into the statement above that you think was probably the best one you played out of them.

Mine: Solid Runner.

[Rpgfreak]

Dunno whether I may sign in. I never finished an game in an language I completely didn't know.

Closest would be Secret of Evermore. I played that one in French. First time I played the game I only understood about 20% of the text in the game. Later on I started to be able to understand it completely.
Reason I played the French one was that I wanted an RPG for my SNES and they didn't have English RPG's in stock.

[Gideon Zhi]

I finished the GBA version of Final Fantasy in Japanese! It was a lot of fun, and an interesting challenge

[Nightcrawler]

hmm.. I can't say I've actually beaten any aside from Dual Orb 2 and even then, I think I had started some translation work before I beat it.  I got stuck at one point and didn't get past it for awhile.

I've played partway through MANY Japanese games until I get stuck which ranges from 3/4 through the game to stuck inside the first villiage! haha

I usually end up getting stuck somewhere along the line from the language barrier.  It's a pain when you don't know what half your items are and/or have no idea where to go next.

[mades]

Dunno whether I may sign in. I never finished an game in an language I completely didn't know.

Closest would be Secret of Evermore. I played that one in French. First time I played the game I only understood about 20% of the text in the game. Later on I started to be able to understand it completely.
Reason I played the French one was that I wanted an RPG for my SNES and they didn't have English RPG's in stock.

i was just wondering, what did they sell french games? was it cuz it's another official langage?

Mades

[Great Red Spirit]

I almost beat 'Legend of Cao Cao', which is in Japanese. I had to figure out everything the hard way; there's no English FAQ or walkthrough! I do admit that I used a patch that gave your side reinforcements (although they really suck later in the game, but they do make nice meat shields when fighting guys that are up 5 levels against your own)

Eventually I took out the patch (when it was glitching up the game), and I got to (what I believe was) the last level of the game, but I never got too far.

[Rpgfreak]

I don't know why they sold French games. Probably because Holland has so many people speaking different languages. I guess they just ordered the game. Not looking at language. Lucky them sold it. I'm not regretting buying it though.

At that time I did get my first lessons in French. However as I hate learning languages, I never mastered it. Must say that I'm capable of reading some text in French. Not much. But in a context I might actually understand what is being said. Which is why I did understand the text in the game third time I played it... First times I did get stuck on not knowing what I needed to do. Stubborness did get me to finish the game back then... And a little luck.

Beside this game I never finished an game in an language I couldn't understand myself.

[Matow]

I've finished quite a few myself.

Soul Hackers
Ys 4
Legend of Xanadu 1, 2
Popful Mail

There's also a lot of shorter action/RPGs that I played through a first time without knowing what is going on and played them a second time to understand the story when I had knowledge of the language.

If I had to pick a favorite it would be either Ys 4 or Soul Hackers

[Trunkz0r]

I've beat Aretha 2 before without knowing japanese and then i beat it again and wrote a walkthrough for it  

I also got quite far into Rejoice, Wozz, G-O-D, Holy Umbrella, and Arabian Nights.  I also tried to write walkthroughs for all of those, lol.  I'm crazy.  

[Nightcrawler]

wow.. that's alot of work doing all those walkthroughs.  I'm glad someone is though! There aren't that many people who write walkthroughs in English for Japanese only games.  Although with a little luck and some time, perhaps most of the games on your list will end up in English in due time.  

[TechMaster]

I beat Rejoice, then wrote a little boss faq for it.  I got pretty far in Holy Umbrella until I got stuck in one stage... (the stage when you get that demon girl/woman/general/whatever you call her.

Shin SD Sengokuden: Taishou Gun Retsuden is another one that I beat and I wrote a faq about.  This time I wrote a beginner's guide explaining the menus and buttons, although I doubt anyone is going to use it though (only 1 hit so far anyways).

[Nightcrawler]

Was Rejoice cool playing the whole way.

[D--]

I almost beat 'Legend of Cao Cao', which is in Japanese. I had to figure out everything the hard way; there's no English FAQ or walkthrough!

I didn't even know this game has a Japanese version. I've only seen and played the Chinese one.

[TechMaster]

It was ok.  Took me some time to figure everything out.  The first boss was ridiculously easy if you know the trick.  But I have to agree, not being able to see your hp during the battle sucks, even though it means you can see certain spaces better (which would be your hp gauge should be).

[Great Red Spirit]

I didn't even know this game has a Japanese version. I've only seen and played the Chinese one.

I don't know any languages aside from English, so it looks all the same to me (especially when I don't have the East-Asia fonts on my computer, so instead special ASCII characters show up), so I don't know if it was Japanese, Chinese, or another similar language. I usually just end up assuming that if it is an East-Asain language for a computer game, that it's Japanese (although the game in Chinese would make some pretty good sense )