i have DQ8 i just didnt have time to play it due to the fact i was in iraq when i first popped it in
If all you’re into is plots then Paper Mario isn’t all that great. But if you like gameplay then it’s right up there with Chrono Trigger and FFVI.
DQ8 is really good. You can create your own gear, and potions by putting different items into an alchemy pot and seeing what comes out. There’s a good monster training section to the game which works a bit like Poke’mon. You can even use your monster team instead of your regular party for a few turns each battle. The game has Gold Medals which are like skulltullas from OoT. For every ten or so that you hunt down you get rare gear. There’s only four characters in the game, but each character can be grown to be vastly different. For example the woman can either be a support character that casts buff spells, or a whip cracking rogue, or a fist fighter that can drop bosses down to half health with a massive nuke spell. The only bad things I have to say about DQ8 are that it takes 70-90 hours to beat, and there’s a ton of random battles. Sometimes you can’t take a single step without running into another random battle.
Okay, I agree, but I’m not arguing that. I’m just saying what the original poster was asking for was not anything like Paper Mario. 
Yeah I enjoyed this one and its sequel for ps2 (Legaia Duel Saga)… one of the more unique battle systems made it very fun (although the battles could be a bit lengthy at times because of it).
Nippon Ichi makes very good SRPG games that are actually very challenging and have literally hundreds of hours of gameplay (should you decide to complete all challenges in the game aside from the main story). Also the stories are all usually very fun (although they are not exactly what I would call epic). Some examples of good games they have made are:
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2)
Disgaea 2 (PS2)
Disgaea 3 (ps3)
Makai Kingdom (ps2)
The Shin Megami Tensei series also offers good games with great stories (at least I think so). The games themselves are more traditional (as far as battle systems go) but they offer a good challenge and require strategy to win some of the tougher boss battles (as opposed to your average RPG where you just lv up early on and bulldoze every enemy you face the whole game). Also the storyline in each game usually involves many demons, angels (and various other deities from around the world adapted to the game) fighting in a post apocalyptic world so its a nice change to your normal fantasy setting. Some of the games they make are as follows (I’ll shorten Shin Megami Tensei to SMT):
SMT: Nocturne (ps2)
SMT: Digital Devil Saga (ps2)
SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2 (ps2)
SMT: Devil Summoner (ps2)
If you are fan of SquareEnix though and have not given any of the Kingdom Hearts games a chance I suggest you do. They are very fun and the stories are very good (I know many people avoid it because disney characters are involved but trust me the story is good and feels much more like a Final Fantasy story than a disney story)
Unlimited SaGa (PS2) is unique in that it has an extremely deep system, and it’s gameplay flow breaks the conventions of most JRPGs. It has it’s flaws, but if you take the time to learn the game, it’s worth it.
Haha… I always tell everybody that unlimited saga is by far the worst game I ever played. I don’t know… I guess I just really didn’t get it.
You have an xbox 360. Buy Mass Effect and Fallout 3 and you will be set for a very long time. I wasn’t into Western RPG’s until I played Mass Effect and realized what I was missing.
Yeah, no shit. Fallout 3, and KoToR are two of the best RPGs ever made. Mass Effect and Jade Empire are KoToR’s spiritual sucessors.
Glad to see some Legaia love in her :lovin:
There’s an UNDUB ver. of Legaia 2 for the PS2 (NTSC only though) if anyone’s interested.
Has anyone played Eternal Sonata? I ATM only have V. Chronicles for the PS3, but would like some feedback on ES.
Oh and was Last Remnant mentioned? When I buy a new laptop I’ll install it into it to play it.
yeah i was wondering about eternal sonata as well
yeah i cant find eternal sonata anywhere that I look .
justin i have seen it at best buy for 360
wtf I guess im going tomorrow cause last time we were there they did not have it
id call GC though they are cooler IMO
edit just called and they dont
found this instead
Bah for my money Bioware has steadily been going downhill after MDK2 and BG2. All their recent games seem so devoid of the hours of fun (at least to me) that I had playing those. Each new one just seems like another homogeneous concoction with arbitrary, but ultimately meaningless moral quandries.
I still have high hopes for Dragon’s Age, but we’ll see.
Play Baldur’s Gate 1,2 , Fallout 1,2 and 3(by far the lesser title but still fun) or Planescape: Torment if you want a decent RPG.
No love for the Elder Scrolls series? Sure it doesn’t have the best plots, but to me the main part of an RPG is to actually play a role and decide how you want your character to function and act.
Gotto agree with KOTOR, Mass Effect and Fallout as great RPG’s as well.
As you can see, I’m much more into WRPG’s, but there are some great japanse tactical RPG’s like FF tactics and Disgaea.
elder scrolls bored me to death.
Valkyrie Profile is the masterpiece you’re looking for.
how has mother 3 not been mentioned even once in this thread
Eternal Sonata is actually a pretty decent game.
To me though, I didn’t really get attached to the characters, they just weren’t anything special, and the story wasn’t spectacular… But the gameplay was nice, I enjoyed it.
Plus, the PS3 version has unlockable costimes, 2 newly added characters, and an added dungeon as well.
The Last Remnant… Well, I bought it for the 360, =/
It’s got some load time / slow down errors, quite a few of them.
If you’ve read any reviews on them, that’s the game’s main flaw, but on PC, I read that they got rid of a lot of the issues that came along with the 360 version, as well as some nice added features.
So I hope you have fun with it.
I might pick it up sometime as well, just to test it out.