Which RPGs and why?

[just_askin]

Greetings all,
I'm debating what system to get (see thread: http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?threadid=1518), my game preference is RPGs. That being said, what are the best RPGs on PS2 and, more importantly, why? What makes them good? For reference, I'm a big fan of the old style SNES RPGs like FF2, FF3, Secret of Mana, etc. Thanks for any insight.
JA

[T.Tashi]

<div class=\"smallfont\">Greetings all,
I'm debating what system to get (see thread: http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?threadid=1518), my game preference is RPGs. That being said, what are the best RPGs on PS2 and, more importantly, why? What makes them good? For reference, I'm a big fan of the old style SNES RPGs like FF2, FF3, Secret of Mana, etc. Thanks for any insight.
JA</div>

Disgaea - Gives a nice different twist to the strategy genre and it's hella funny.

FFX and X2 - It's Final Fantasy and it's by Square-Enix. I'm really surprised at X2. It's way better than I thought it'd be.

Xenosaga - Sequel (prequel) to one of the best Square rpgs ever. It doesn't disappoint.

Suikoden 3 - This is more for the Suikoden fans that obess over getting all 108 Stars and seeing what food combination you can come up with. It may bore some, and you need to be really story oriented.

Legaia 2 - Cool martial arts combo system, hard bosses and cool mini games and side quests.

Summoner 2 - Feels more like a PC rpg than Japanese but it's got lots of gameplay depth I really enjoyed.

Breath of Fire V - It's stupidly hard until you get a grip on the D Drive system. Not for the impatient. Some boss battles are long hard battles of attrition. But learn the Dragon D Drive and it's not so hard. But it's a unique twist in rpg gameplay.

Dark Cloud 2 - Better than Zelda, IMHO.

Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits: Nothing really special about this one. Just a solid all around good rpg. I blew through it too fast and I'm not strong enough to beat the last boss. So I'm still wandering around leveling up
:rolleyes:

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance: Greatest Hits title now. Some of the best hack-n-slash Iever. Short tho.

Kingdom Hearts: You haven't gamed til you pushed Winnie the Pooh on a swing. I thought it was overrated and played too much like a platformer. It's a great game, I can't deny that but I'm not as enthused about it as most.

I'm looking most forward to Champion of Norrath (online and free) Baldur's Gate 2, Star Ocean 3, Xenosaga 2, Suikoden 4 and FF12.

I would guess there's about 40 rpgs for PS2... and I've played maybe 25, so if you have any questions about a specific one, ask me, I might know.

[Twelve]

Sheesh..Tashi CLAIMED the answers to your questions, pretty much...but I would also add

SHADOW HEARTS: Very original RPG. Fighting system never gets boring. Interesting storyline, anti-hero.

WILD ARMS 3: I don't know about anybody else, but I loved this game. VERY original cast of main characters, decent cell-shading. Admittedly, the story has some dumb moments, but...I enjoyed it.

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[just_askin]

Hey, thanks for the lists. I have a real good idea of what to look for now. Thanks a lot.

[T.Tashi]

<div class=\"smallfont\">Hey, thanks for the lists. I have a real good idea of what to look for now. Thanks a lot.</div>

Anything to help a fellow rpg gamer. :)

*Slaps forehead* I forgot about Shadow Hearts and Wlld Arms 3. I need to play those again. I got the bad ending on Shadow Hearts :( and I never did finish WA3. I was flying around looking for something... temple.. town... can't remember. I never could find it so I gradually lost interest. So when I pick it up again I may pick your brain.

Shadow Hearts is a direct sequel to Koudelka on PS1. Battle system is lack luster and it's short (24 hrs) but otherwise it's a good game.

[Twelve]

Now that you mention Koudelka, a certain strange part of the storyline in Shadowhearts now makes a bit more sense. The writer expected a certain character to have signficance, and I was like, "Huh? Did I miss something?"

I think the part that got me most about Wild Arms 3 was just the artistic design of it all...I loved how the little anime in the beginning changed with time, the music was great, there was a little diddy before you ended the game...LOTS of bad guys, bad guys fighting bad guys(I love that, for some reason)...fun stuff.

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[Glockstar]

Hmmmm....

I have yet to see anyone make mention of the dot.hack games...
wassawihdat?!?

And how's that RPG Maker, Tashi?

In another thread I suggested the PS2 to just_askin, largely because of the backwards compatibility of it. There are a ton of great RPGs that j_a missed out on! Especially if he's an FF fan - don't you think? Final Fantasy VII is widely regarded as one of the greatest vg's of all time.

Knowing that you're such big fan of these games, and knowing that there's about 4 FF's for you to catch up on, not too mention Final Fantasy Tactics, and the old FF compilations ("Anthology" and "Chronicles" - the latter with Chrono Trigger), plus DW7, Vagrant Story, Wild Arms, and others, I wonder if the $50 (brand new) PS1 wouldn't be the right way for you to go?

The reason I say this, is because, personally, I have a very hard time getting into the older games once I've gotten into the latest games. Vg's have come a looooong way. Especially this year - especially lately. If you don't catch up "now", you may never.

Just a thought.

[T.Tashi]

<div class=\"smallfont\">Hmmmm....

I have yet to see anyone make mention of the dot.hack games...
wassawihdat?!?

And how's that RPG Maker, Tashi?

In another thread I suggested the PS2 to just_askin, largely because of the backwards compatibility of it. There are a ton of great RPGs that j_a missed out on! Especially if he's an FF fan - don't you think? Final Fantasy VII is widely regarded as one of the greatest vg's of all time.

Knowing that you're such big fan of these games, and knowing that there's about 4 FF's for you to catch up on, not too mention Final Fantasy Tactics, and the old FF compilations ("Anthology" and "Chronicles" - the latter with Chrono Trigger), plus DW7, Vagrant Story, Wild Arms, and others, I wonder if the $50 (brand new) PS1 wouldn't be the right way for you to go?

The reason I say this, is because, personally, I have a very hard time getting into the older games once I've gotten into the latest games. Vg's have come a looooong way. Especially this year - especially lately. If you don't catch up "now", you may never.

Just a thought.</div>


RPG Maker 2 is kicking my ass. :p The learning curve for all the scripts is just crazy. I'm making headway, but it's really slow going. The default battle system is 1st person, a la Dragon Warrior so to make your own custom battle system is serious rocket science. I haven't decided if I wanna just modify the default or make my own. Funny you mention graphics tho... the graphics are already dated... like 1999. somewhere between ps1, N64 and early DC graphics. So by the time I finish my rpg, they'll be even more dated. :p

I didn't mention .Hack because didn't like the first one much, so I never finished it. I logged about 700 hours in PSO for Dreamcast so the online sim thing didn't impress me, and the dungeons and land topography was very bland and generic. I was never much into trading on PSO and trading is a big focus in .Hack. Folken said he really liked it so it's an acquired taste to be sure. But I would've never played through the whole series.

I have a PS1. :) I take it with me when I travel. But I played most of them though, including weird stuff like Persona... I never finished that either. Interviewing demons in the middle of a fight just dragged on too long after 30 hours. Yeah it is kinda tough to go back to those old school graphics. But I don't mind if the art is good. Even something old school like Crono Trigger looked great after all these years, cause the art is so well done. My favs include Lunar1 and 2, FF 7 and 9... 8 was..... ok :)
Xenogears is pretty timeless, as is Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden... Grandia is an incredible rpg. Just one thing though... these new TVs really butcher PS1 graphics. If it's a flat screen or hi-res especially.

[T.Tashi]

<div class=\"smallfont\">Now that you mention Koudelka, a certain strange part of the storyline in Shadowhearts now makes a bit more sense. The writer expected a certain character to have signficance, and I was like, "Huh? Did I miss something?"

I think the part that got me most about Wild Arms 3 was just the artistic design of it all...I loved how the little anime in the beginning changed with time, the music was great, there was a little diddy before you ended the game...LOTS of bad guys, bad guys fighting bad guys(I love that, for some reason)...fun stuff.

12</div>

A cell shaded western RPG.. with transforming dragon robots... you can't get much more artistic than that. Did you fight in the arena? Those were pretty tough. Don't mention the end tho! I need to finish it. :)

[Twelve]

Oh yeah....I fought in the arena. Won everything. I got my character hooked up so that they were super powerful. Of course, I gave the best abilities and powers to the dark-skinned brotha on the squad. (hehe) That being said, I also loved Wild Arms 3 because the black dude in the game was stereotypical. (And I don't want to get into a discussion as to if he's truly black or not...my wife doesn't think so, but forget that).

Due to boredom, I went back to Suikoden 3...I take everything bad I said about that game. Wow. Even though I still found the big fights to be too easy, I was SO impressed with what you can do with the characters. In my opinion, the two characters with mounts are the best, because they can heal themselves and attack in the same turn!!!

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[GamingKnight]

RPG gamers,

Was anyone disturbbed by shadow hearts?

I mean...there is an enemy that pretty much slaps you repeatedly with his...oh...play the game, and you'll see what I mean.

[T.Tashi]

<div class=\"smallfont\">RPG gamers,

Was anyone disturbbed by shadow hearts?

I mean...there is an enemy that pretty much slaps you repeatedly with his...oh...play the game, and you'll see what I mean.</div>

LOL... remember the flaming gay massuese?

[Twelve]

<div class=\"smallfont\">RPG gamers,

Was anyone disturbbed by shadow hearts?

I mean...there is an enemy that pretty much slaps you repeatedly with his...oh...play the game, and you'll see what I mean.</div>


Yeah...I remember that part. The best part about Shadow Hearts, perhaps, were that the enemies were so gross that you WANTED to slaughter them. Great bestiary in Shadow Hearts...

The game has plenty of mature jokes...PLENTY. But that's part of what made the game fun.

(Remember that part when the main character fell down and landed under the skirt of that blond spy? And then she said, "That's your reward for saving my life"...lol)

On top of that, the music in the map area is AWESOME. I mean...really.


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[OmegaReaper777]

well a few ppl already mentioned it but i think final fantasy 7 is the BEST video game ever made...i know the graphics by todays standards are horrible but it came out in 1997 so cut it a little slack there. final fantasy tactics is also an amazing game. but as for ps2...

arc the lad twilight of the spirits: amazing game. someone already talked about this and said it wasnt anything special but i beg to differ. it has an awesome battle system an incredible storyline and enough secrets to make me want to play through again and get everything. the music is above average as well.

grandia 2: a decent rpg. it had a decent storyline with a pretty kool battle system and average music. its worth a shot but dont expect any replay value whatsoever.

disgaea: a beefed up version of final fantasy tactics however its more corny and kinda funny. it lacks the seriousness fft had but still an awesome strategy rpg.

hope this helps but if youve never played it i recommend picking up ff7...this is as close as ive found to being the perfect game. amazing storyline amazing music and the battle system is awesome with so many ways to customize your materia making your characters strong in the area you want. and when your at the end of the game the fun isnt over theres still hidden materia, ultimate weapons, secret characters, and two bonus bosses that are near impossible to beat waiting for you. its taken me well over 100 hours to do absolutely everything there is to do. plus the chocobo breeding and racing and the arcades in gold saucer theres so much to do. guaranteed to keep you busy for a while.

[Bob-the-Fish]

<div class=\"smallfont\">
WILD ARMS 3: I don't know about anybody else, but I loved this game. VERY original cast of main characters, decent cell-shading. Admittedly, the story has some dumb moments, but...I enjoyed it.

12</div>

Great old-school game there. I thought the cell shading was nice too. Really gave it that ancient weathered look.

[Twelve]

Sorry Tashi, but BOF5 sucks. I wasted my time with it this past week. I'm about to review it and give it a 4/10. I'm so pissed off with that garbage. Look forward to seeing it's rating go down at Gamerankings soon.

*angry*


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