*sigh* RPG woes, looking for a good one

Classic Fighting Games Other Games
21

Damn, wow. How did I forget this one? DEFINITELY recommend Shadow Hearts.

I suppose it is kind of original…I found it to be really button mashy, though, and considering how easy it was to gain levels didn’t help the issue much.

I dunno, it’s weird…considering I like JRPGs a lot, I really think the gameplay in most of them are not good. My idea of a JRPG with ‘good’ combat is combat that doesn’t waste my time and feel slower than molasses. I think JRPGs in general suffer because there are a lot of bad aspects to them that are so commonplace that people take them for granted (random battles, and ‘challenge’ coming down to what level your character is at being the foremost of those).

22

For PS3, try Valkyria Chronicles. Its an amazing WWII strategy/third person shooter RPG. Yes, it sounds really weird, but its put together incredibly well.

Persona 3 and 4 are incredible games in the late life of the PS2.

The Tales series are essentially just dumbed down fighters with stats. Seriously. There’s even characters who have the basic fireball/antiair moveset going on. That being said, they’re really fun, especially if you have a friend to play co-op with you in battles.

23

agree with me that xenosaga 2 was a BITCH ass game it was good but it made me wana to slaughter every bunny i see since. fucking bunnies. took soo long to do all that side shit to get the good stuff…

24

Tales of Symphonia was ported to PS2, so… might be worth a shot.

Screw that Knights of Ratatosk stuff, though. It was nothing more but just fanservice.

But yeah, if you have someone to play with, playing a LOT of Abyss to get extra content (using Grade points) can be tons of fun.

25

Op, you seem to me like games with good visual and stories. If you can, get PopoloCrois for PsP. I recommend that to everyone who enjoys Chrono Trigger. It’s got random battles but it doesn’t use seperate screen for them, instead it uses the immediate stage for battles. It’s not like a lined up battle, you can move around mid battle. I have to say it’s one of my top 5 games for PsP. Although it is in low resolution, it’s very very detailed. Like even the generic townspeople look unique from each other.

26

You’re looking for a great story RPG and yet you won’t play Planescape Torment?
You should try Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer if you’re looking for some good story.

27

It was ported to PS2, but it was only available in Japan, and I didn’t list non-localized versions. ToS:DotNW is worth the shot if you like ToS, so just play ToS first and see if you like it.

28

Lost Odyssey is reallly really good and funny. The .hack series is another that I really liked. I also recommend Megaman X Command Mission if you like the Megaman series

29

I played ToS on a lunchbox. I didn’t know it wasn’t localized for the PS2 port.

But srsly, screwwww Ratatosk. After playing that game at a friend’s for thirty minutes on his already-dozen hours-in file, it wasn’t that great.

I look forward to whoring myself out to the new Tales release coming for the Wii, though.

30

well that and i cant bog up a computer all day playing a game as my time on a computer is kinda limited due to my wife doing online courses

31

scrubbin out!

32

whats so hard to realize? i asked for and listed CONSOLE games not PC games i would have listed PC if i was that into or had the time to play games on my computer
as well as something new was the main point of my thread

however thanks for your suggestion and if i get time to play games on my pc again ill give it a once over

i dont see how thats “scrubbin out”

33

speaking of PC rpgs. Fallout is on that list of must play before you die if you’re an RPG fan.

Arcanum also has a special place in my heart, despite the fact that the execution of it is dreadful, the interactive world of it is just too beautiful.

34

Hm, console RPGs with interesting or noteworthy stories? Generally I don’t care much for most RPG storylines, but here are a few picks that I think surpass the CT/FF6-8/etc. you mentioned:

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (seconding skankin) – PS2 – It sells itself short calling itself “a tiny tale of time concerning war between friends” in many ways. 20 hours for one play through isn’t even much shorter than average. The atmosphere of this game is great, as the whole (or not the whole? I won’t spoil) game takes place in an underground semi-dystopia. Plot is to the point, and sharp. However, it’s the great turn-based battle system incorporating TRPG elements and dungeon exploration that make the game a sleeper hit fan favorite after these several years since its release

Valkyrie Profile – PS1 – In this game, every time you recruit a character (happens a lot), you watch a scene of how they died. Some are quite poignant, for a video game, and many of them are related, so it keeps that interesting. There are a few plot twists if you go down the “A” ending path, and the plot is overall good. The turn-based action battle system is quite nice too (imagine setting up a combo with four different characters attacking the same apponent, resulting in a guard crush, some ground bounces and air juggles, etc.), and dungeon exploration involves some platforming and puzzle elements, spicing up the game. Music includes a lot of awesome metal tracks and is very diverse. On a trivia note, Josh Ballard (aka rashreflection) did a speedrun of this game. It’s up on speeddemosarchive.com.

Vagrant Story – PS1 – According to the creator (I forget how he worded the analogy exactly), this game is something of the independent film to Final Fantasy’s summer blockbuster. It’s got both style and originality, and it packs a unique presentation. The action battle system may get a little tedious or not, but for what it’s worth the game is only one of a handful ever to get 40/40 from Famitsu. The battle system requires some very precise timing to score high attack chains and defend from attacks, so that may be interesting to you.

Radiata Stories – PS2 – This is overall a very lighthearted, funny game that may seem shallow plotwise, but the direction is really spot on, and there really is a relatively great amount of depth under the surface that many people miss. It’s pretty much all you can expect of a good coming-of-age story. In any case, it has very humorous scenes throughout, and the actual gameplay may be really fun or just a little fun depending on your preferences. Battles are a little shallow though.

35

I see no one has mentioned Legend of Legaia for the PSX. Granted it may feel repetitive at times, but it’s a decent game.

36

I also loved this game.

What about some KOTOR?

37

i bought this at the same time i bought xenogears i thought it was good but xenogears took priority since i was leaving for boot camp and wanted to beat it b4 i left

my main interest is in the newer games out for 360/ps3

38

The Suikoden series 1-5 were good, you could leave out 4 as it was probably the worst in the series. If you only play one or two though: play 2 or 3. They’re both my favorite RPGs ever. (btw, you can carry over save data from 1 to 2, and from 2 to 3 to give you some extras to reward your playthroughs)

Tactics Ogre is another great PS1 game… holy hell I love this game 11 years after I first played it still. It’s another of my favorites. Extremely tough learning curve, save before every battle practically!

39

I highly recommend Paper Mario 1 and 2. The battles are not random, and you level up at a reasonable rate, which keeps the game interesting. In between battles there’s puzzles to solve and a bit of light platforming. Your party consists of Mario and one ally. You can have up to five allies follow you around but only one can join you in battle. Different allies do different things such as hitting multiple enemies, helping you dodge attacks, or upping Mario’s attack power. In order to have an attack do more damage you must perform a certian action such as pressing A just before you hit, or tapping a random button sequence in the right order. The badge system works like relics from FF6, only instead of two slots you can have up to 70. Some badges take up more than one slot (the biggest badge takes up seven slots). Some badges up your attack or defense and others give you new spells/moves, or make you resistant to a certian damage type. I highly recommend Paper Mario for either the N64, or the Wii as a download. Not a lot of people realize it’s a JRPG but it’s one of the best.

Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga, M&L Partners in Time, are based around Paper Mario but I haven’t played them yet. Skies of Arcadia is supposed to be good too, but I haven’t played that either.

Earthbound is crap. You’ll pay fifty dollars for a battle system/inventory that’s as primitive as the original DQ, graphics which look like an early genesis game (which is bad for a SNES game made in 1994), and a story with zero things to do outside of the main plot.

Aside from the long plot and the insane level of um… level grinding I thought DQ8 was pure genius.

40

The original poster is looking for games that have a really epic feeling to them. While I really enjoy the Paper Mario series, I doubt they’d be up his alley.

Suikoden is a good choice… Suiko 2, at least. Suikoden 3, I feel, tries very hard to be epic but falls short of the mark.