Baldurs Gate 2 was probably the best RPG I’ve played. I don’t like JRPG’s much the pacing is too slow and they put emphasis on a theme that doesn’t deserve that much to begin with. I loved FF1 and Phantasy Star 3 back in the day, tried to play 9 and was just bored. Tactics was great gameplay wise, story and dialogue were mediocre. Baldur’s gate has the voice acting and dialogue I’ve heard in a game yet. FF tactics was very challenging. Morrowind Elder Scrolls is a great game too. I enjoyed it more than the little I played Oblivion.
I thought Saga Frontier was horrible. Super hard and had no direction.
Disgaea really bored the shit out of me. Just a childish grind fest to get items and level up.
Baldur’s Gate 2 was fantastic but it took me a few tries to “get into it”. But like someone else said the dialogue is very polished and the story-telling and gameplay are very engaging. It’s even better if you’re a Forgotten Realms fan :]
I haven’t played any good JRPGs since like Chrono Trigger/FF7/FFT
SNES: Breath of Fire II, FF4, FF6, Ogre Battle, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3 (fan trans)… honorable mention to Arcana for nostalgia
Genesis: Warsong
PS: Valkyrie Profile, Xenogears, FF Tactics, Breath of Fire III
PS2: Valkyrie Profile Silmeria, Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Disgaea, Persona 3, Persona 4
Next-gen: Pretty much just Tales of Vesperia. Oh, and Valkyria Chronicles.
Persona 3 Portable will probably steal my soul. If only they would release the Langrisser series on the NA PSN Store…
Earthbound
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Phantasy Star 4
Final Fantasy 6
Brave Fencer Musashi
Lunar (Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue)
Tales of Eternia
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia
Tales of the World
Megaman Legends 1 and 2 (not exactly an RPG but they could count, con-sarn it!)
Pre G.U. .hack games (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, Quarantine)
Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
Phantasy Star Online (PSO)
Mario and Luigi series
Chrono Trigger
Persona 4
Skies of Arcadia (reg and GC remake)
Persona 3 (more hardcore than Persona 4)
I felt a part of the game, I am nearly 30 and never went to school in JPN but if I did, it would have bene like that, good friends, first time GF and overall great storyline
Even though I’m typically old school about stuff, I think P1 and P2 are just plain overrated. I feel the same way about the entire Suikoden series, as well. Different strokes for different folks, though.
lol people were treating P3 like the new FFVII when that shit dropped, “I shoot myself to summon demons from my head” “Hey I get to mack on anime girls” “hey I get to save the world”, I mean P3 is great (I bought it 3 times) but good lord did people blow that shit up…
Anyway SMT:N>P4>P3>P2 imo, never played Persona: Revelations though…
-Chrono Trigger
-FF series
-DQ series
-Dragon Quest Monsters
-Deus Ex
-Culdcept
-Castlevania Circle of the Moon (Dawn of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night are good too)
-Legend of the Dragoon
-Super Mario RPG
-Mario & Luigi
-Baldur’s gate series
-Neverwinter Nights
-Icewind Dale
-Morrowind/Oblivion
-Shadow Hearts: Covenant
-Radiata Stories
-Rogue Galaxy
-Grandia II
-Kingdom Hearts
-Tales of Symphonia
-Skies of Arcadia
-Fire Emblem
-Langrisser (mostly japanese series, only US iteration was Warsong for the sega genesis)
I might write a breakdown of the games later if you really want it, otherwise just google/wiki the names.