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Hey guys, I'm trying to get into the role-playing genre a bit more, so I need some advice on some must-have or must-play games to get! I have practically every console (PSX, PS2, PS3, XBOX, XBOX 360, PSP, and I can borrow the wife's DS heh) so if you know of any great RPGs, let's hear about them! As a base-line, I've played through Legend of Dragoon a few times, and it's definitely one of my favourite RPGs; leveling up, equipping different weapons and armour, it seems quite enthralling to me! Are there any games similar to that? Thanks guys!
 
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Well I will throw this out there before anyone else. Final Fantasy...period
Of course there are many different FF's and some you will like more than others. My personal favourites are of course FF7 (though the graphics are very outdated but the story makes up for it), FFX (graphics much better, voice acting, fun overall), FFXII (has a different take on battle and good story).
If you would like to try a strategy RPG with a great story and job mechanics FFTactics.

If FF isn't your thing than I will also throw out any of the Shin Megami Tensei games, though hard to find sometimes. The .hack series, 'tales of' series, Suikoden series, and if you want more cartoony than Dragon Quest series.

I know there is many great RPG's so it will take a bit to find which type within the genre you like. Hope this helps!
 
As far as good delas go, you could hunt down Folklore at TSCC, it's $29.99 right now.
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/prod...=Online&category=PS3_Strategy&product=5815128
There was a PS3 demo and it seemed cool. I think there is DLC for it too. The value of this game will probably hold for a while since it's a PS3 exclusive. I might pick it up myself if I could only stop playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for a minute :)

On that note, if you like the FF Tactics-type games, then there's FF Tactics War of the Lions for PSP (I think I've seen it as cheap as $20), and Jeanne D'Arc for PSP. Jeanne I haven't been able to get for cheap enough yet, but I liked the demo.

But I'm not a big RPG guy, I'm sure others would have a better idea of actual EPIC RPGs :dunce:
 
I'm going to go with strife18 on Shin Megami Tensei. If you want 'epic', I just finished Persona 3 with a game clock of over 100 hours.

If you're into strategy RPGs, then Disgaea games offer a similar scale. If you want to, there's end-game and new-game-plus content in those games to keep you going for a long time. Incredibly deep, too.
 
[quote name='strife18']Well I will throw this out there before anyone else. Final Fantasy...period
Of course there are many different FF's and some you will like more than others. My personal favourites are of course FF7 (though the graphics are very outdated but the story makes up for it), FFX (graphics much better, voice acting, fun overall), FFXII (has a different take on battle and good story).
If you would like to try a strategy RPG with a great story and job mechanics FFTactics.

If FF isn't your thing than I will also throw out any of the Shin Megami Tensei games, though hard to find sometimes. The .hack series, 'tales of' series, Suikoden series, and if you want more cartoony than Dragon Quest series.

I know there is many great RPG's so it will take a bit to find which type within the genre you like. Hope this helps![/QUOTE]

Hey thanks for the response! I have FFT for the PSP, is it the same general idea as the original? I may have to dive into that shortly and see what the fuss is about! I was looking into the Shin Megami Tensei games when I saw the Amazon.ca sale, and a local game shop as DDS1 for sale for the same price, so I may jump on that as well!

[quote name='Cthulhu8u']As far as good delas go, you could hunt down Folklore at TSCC, it's $29.99 right now.
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/prod...=Online&category=PS3_Strategy&product=5815128
There was a PS3 demo and it seemed cool. I think there is DLC for it too. The value of this game will probably hold for a while since it's a PS3 exclusive. I might pick it up myself if I could only stop playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for a minute :)

On that note, if you like the FF Tactics-type games, then there's FF Tactics War of the Lions for PSP (I think I've seen it as cheap as $20), and Jeanne D'Arc for PSP. Jeanne I haven't been able to get for cheap enough yet, but I liked the demo.

But I'm not a big RPG guy, I'm sure others would have a better idea of actual EPIC RPGs :dunce:[/QUOTE]

Hey Cthulhu, I think I may get Folklore, the demo was pretty interesting and it seemed to have a pretty complex battle system, which should prevent the game from getting stale too quickly. Thanks for the heads up on the sale, my local TSCC has two (apparently) so that would be worth checking out!
[quote name='WillGabriel']I'm going to go with strife18 on Shin Megami Tensei. If you want 'epic', I just finished Persona 3 with a game clock of over 100 hours.

If you're into strategy RPGs, then Disgaea games offer a similar scale. If you want to, there's end-game and new-game-plus content in those games to keep you going for a long time. Incredibly deep, too.[/QUOTE]

I've heard some great things about the Disgaea series', I may have to try them out as well! The Persona games seem really well reviewed so there's another option as well!

Does anyone have any experience on the Star Ocean games? The storyline seems pretty interesting (FF meets Mass Effect) but I don't hear many people mentioning them! Thanks again guys, and keep the recommendations coming!
 
Hey, FFtactics for PSP is just the PS version remade with some extra content/cutscenes. Either one works, it is a great game.
As for Star Ocean I never really got into it. I am more into sword and shield/magic stuff rather than the laser beams and space stuff. But I think if you are into that sort of thing than Star Ocean should be right up your alley.
 
[quote name='strife18']Hey, FFtactics for PSP is just the PS version remade with some extra content/cutscenes. Either one works, it is a great game.
As for Star Ocean I never really got into it. I am more into sword and shield/magic stuff rather than the laser beams and space stuff. But I think if you are into that sort of thing than Star Ocean should be right up your alley.[/QUOTE]

Isn't the (fricking) laserbeams and space stuff also found in the Phantasy Star series? I played the PSP demo, quite amusing since I had never tried the series before. The pervy old robot made it a bit quirky :)
I think there were also PS2 versions, probably retreads of the original Dreamcast stuff. You may be able to find those cheaper than the PSP version.

Anyone even play Western RPGs? They are a bit quite different than the JRPG couterparts. How about Oblivion or the Fallout series? Oblivion is suppposed to be a huge game world and probably can be found easily.
 
My JRPG recommendation is as following

XBOX - Tales of Vesperia / Star Ocean 4 / Lost Odyssey
PS3 - Eternal Sonata / Cross Edge ( Only if you are extreme hardcore lol )
PS2 - Suikoden 3 / Wild Arm series / SMT series / Star Ocean / Valkyrie Profile 2 /
PSP - Brave Story / Valkyrie Profile / Final Fantasy Crisis Core
PS1 - Legend of Mana / Suikoden 2 / Vagrant Story / Saga Frontier / Grandia / Breath of Fire 4
GC - Tales of Symphonia

Obviously there are a lot more, but that should be enough for now. There are a lot of awesome RPGs in the old gen systems, but the graphic looks horrible xD
 
Leaving out PC and you cut out half the potential games or more.

Divine Divinity anyone! Pretty hard to get more epic, if I recall every item is movable etc.

Dont leave out the bethseda games. First person or not the Morrowind and Oblivion games are awesome. If your only into Dragoon style then there is jeanne D Arc for PSP and thats a great one, by far my favorite PSP game period.

Others will chime in, there is no shortage of these games so have fun.

For the PS3 Valkeria was a great one, although not the same type of fantasy.

Gamecube you had both the Baten kaitos and Tales of Symphonia games.
 
You can find a fairly good list here

I would avoid Shiren the Wanderer and Etrian Odyssey II if you are fairly new to RPGs.

I wouldn't call these games similar, but I really enjoyed both Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy X, having loved The Legend of Dragoon.

I would add:
Persona 3 FES
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Dragon Quest VIII
Dark Cloud 2
Kingdom Hearts I/II
 
Suikoden for PSnetwork is a great buy at 6$
FF7 for that as well.

Chrono Trigger DS, Final Fantasy 6 Advance, Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor and Final Fantasy Tactics War of the lions are also all amazing.

Persona 3(get the FES edition) and 4 are both stellar games.
I also found the first 3 wild arms (1 is PSN 2 is coming to PSN soon and 3 is PS2 and cheap) to be all amazing games.

Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube), Tales of the Abyss (PS2) and Tales of Vesperia (360) are all good too.
 
For starting off I'd go buy Suikoden and play through that and then FF7. Both are two of the best rpgs out there period. I must have played through Suikoden about 8 times myself.

For Star Ocean as a series. 1 I haven't played yet, 2 was alot of fun, 3 was fun but had some gaping storyline issues and 4 I haven't played yet.
 
I highly recommend The World Ends With You for the NDS. Almost ruined other RPGs for me since it's so much faster paced than the traditional RPG.
 
None of the RPGs released on anything (at least for consoles) are remotely close to epic (but that's another argument), but check the used PS2 section of EB; they'll most likely be 10 bucks and if not they'll be 15 and will be 2 for 2/20 during Gamedays.

Some I picked up recently:

Star Ocean 3
Soul Nomad
Wild Arms 3/4
Summoner 2

And the Shining Force and Phantasy Star games on any recent Segs Genesis collection; preferably PS2 since it's 5 bucks or so used. :p
 
I second Star ocean 3. As far as I know, each of the Star Oceans follow the same basic storyline... and 3 is just the cheapest and readily available one that I enjoyed the most (It's a GH).

Even people who hate classic JRPG's like star ocean for the interesting battle system (Turn-Based Real-Time Action Battle or something along those lines)
 
Wow, well it seems like some commonalities are surfacing! I already own Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout 3, but I'm more focused on an epic, singular story, as opposed to a base story of like 10-15 hours, then a bunch of sidequests to increase replay value. I'll definitely be giving FFT a go, as well as the Digital Devil Saga; I also snagged a copy of Folklore for PS3, so that's another I'll have to dive into! Persona 3/4 also seem highly recommended, as well as pretty much all other FF games haha...the Valkyrie games seem to interest me quite a bit, given it's roots in Norse mythology. Thanks for all the posts guys, and keep suggesting ideas, if not for me, than for others who are looking for the latest RPG fix!
 
Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia Tales of Vesperia

$29.99 or $34.99 or something.

Get Tales of Vesperia
 
Haha yeah Firestorm I might look into Tales, you've been touting that game for ages haha; and Lone, allll over KoToR, finished that years ago, although I've never finished the second one, apparently it's incomplete or something??
 
If you liked KotOR then you should give Mass Effect a shot. Still a great RPG, better than KotOR in some ways (and worse in others). Despite some technical issues (glitches, texture pop-in at first, etc) it's still a fantastic game, one of the more engaging RPGs this generation. Great story, good dialog system, decent combat system and a really impressive galaxy.

Oh, and I second Tales of Vesperia. I'm not much for jRPGs but the Tales series has managed to keep me interested. As long as you don't mind the typical jRPG cliches, anyway =P.
 
I'm going to go with strife18 on Shin Megami Tensei. If you want 'epic'
signature_deepthakur.jpg
:)
 
I tried the demo for Valkyria Chronicles on two separate occasions, and personally I found it quite slow paced and uninteresting; just couldn't really get into...perhaps if a crazy sale brings it to around $30 or so (unlikely, I know) I may jump on it and given it another college try

hey Bad_Religion, I've been all over Mass Effect for quuite a while! Such a great game, I might have to buy ME2 for full price once it comes out!
 
The demo for Valk sucks.

I ridiculed it while trying the demo with a friend, then bought Valk for $30 during the Gamestop sale. Worth the money. Not as good as people say it is, but it's sooooooo much better than the demo.

The demo is the first scenario for the "extra" missions. By "extra" I mean "missions you don't care about because there's literally no story behind them or motivation to complete them because all you'll get is experience and maybe an award at the end."
 
I have KotOR2 on my Goozex request list: that game is hard to find. Too bad Obsidian messed it up: it's not a bad game but has a lot of technical issues IIRC.

I also have Jade Empire sitting on my shelf: I have yet to play it, but it's Bioware and got decent reviews.
 
Hey has anyone had any experience with the Monster Hunter series? Video Games Plus has Monster Hunter Freedom for $19.99 for PSP, looks like a good deal on a well-known RPG!
 
[quote name='game_fanatic']Hey has anyone had any experience with the Monster Hunter series? Video Games Plus has Monster Hunter Freedom for $19.99 for PSP, looks like a good deal on a well-known RPG![/QUOTE]

I keep meaning to get a Monster Hunter game for PSP, so I have as much interest as you. But I think MHF can be found for less than $20. If I'm not mistaken, it was cheap, like $10-$15 new, during the last EB Game days or Christmas sale (can't remember which). Used might be even cheaper, so check there first.
 
You wouldn't like MHF on PSP. I suggest you wait until Wii's release (if you have one) for better control / online play.

MHF is for hardcore players only, and it is rather boring to play without any friends. I clocked about 15 hours into the game, and I couldnt get use to the control, and everything is very slow paced as well. The quests involve trial and error, and with difficult controls to get use it becomes very frustrating at times.
 
[quote name='PuppetYuber']You wouldn't like MHF on PSP. I suggest you wait until Wii's release (if you have one) for better control / online play.

MHF is for hardcore players only, and it is rather boring to play without any friends. I clocked about 15 hours into the game, and I couldnt get use to the control, and everything is very slow paced as well. The quests involve trial and error, and with difficult controls to get use it becomes very frustrating at times.[/QUOTE]
Are any of the other MH games any good on PSP, or does the crappy control scheme go for all of them?
 
They are all the same type of games with different quests / equips. I didn't say the control is crappy, it is just hard to get used to.

For example, one of the quest which involves a player to slay a Flying Dragon. After travelling through the jungle countless time (around 7-8 parts of the map), defeating monsters and collecting items, the flying dragon finally appears in the deep end of the map. Upon encounter it will fly over your head, and move onto a different loading zone. By the time you adjust your camera 360 or 180, you already lost sight, not to mention you will need to dodge + attack the same time. *Note if you are playing solo, it will probably take you at least 15+ minutes to take down a boss, and that is if your equipments / levels is up to par LOL

This is an insight base on 15 hours gameplay. If you are dedicated enough, you will definity enjoy this game with particularly limitless customization and quests, especially if you have friends that you can play with via Ad-Hoc or Xlink. I am just trying to say this game is definitely not for everybody.

For 15-20 dollars though, go ahead and try it out, afterall it is the best selling game on PSP :D
 
Haha alright Firestorm, where's the cheapest place to get Tales? Once I get a good dent in Lost Odyssey (really liking that, btw) Tales will be the next one to purchase.

Reading up a bit on MHF, it does seem like the multiplayer aspect is significant, so playing solo might not get me the best experience; I was kinda hoping it was a more mature Pokemon/Digimon type game haha...Pokemon is a great example on how to create a deep combat RPG without being overly complicated!
 
If you really enjoyed Pokemon, I would recommend SMT Digital Devil Summoner, basically you capture monster and it fights with you lol! Digimon World 4 on PS1 is a great game too, but the graphic might puts you off :p
 
I'll make a quick list of the games that I've enjoyed through the years. I wont list all of them because some of them some people will say are crap.

FF 7,8,9,10 (11 is a waste of space) 12 was too linear.
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Romancing Saga (Oh Yeah!)
Tales of the Abyss, Legendia, Symphonia
Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2
Ogre Battle 64 (if you can find it) and Ogre Tactics are good bets.
 
^ I found 10 way more linear than 12 myself.

I know some big fans of the Tales' series, I find you'll either like them or not, but if you do, they're all comparably enjoyable. I'm in the "not so much" category myself.

There are of course the super JRPG niche games from companies like Atlus you could check out. Disgaea 1-3, La Pucelle Tactics, Atelier Iris 1-3, etc. Again, one of those "like one, like them all" type of deals I'd say.

Now you're new-ish to the genre so I think some RPGs might be a little too much for you at the start. Some get quite intensive, particularly in their battle systems. So I'm going to compile a small list of ones I would suggest to start with, with accessibility and fun factor in mind.

Final Fantasy IV - Nintendo DS - Great update to a classic.
Final Fantasy VII - PS1 - Popular for a reason!
Suikoden 1, then 2 - PS1 (1st is on PSN too) - Should be played in order, fantastic titles that never got the respect they deserved.
Shadow Hearts 1, then 2 (Covenant) - PS2 - Another set of under-the-radar, fantastic games.
Wild Arms 1 - PS1 (and PSN) - Always had a soft spot for this game, although it's probably not as good overall as the others.
 
Chrono Trigger was remade for the DS. One of my all time favorites RPG's.

A recent favorite was Fallout 3. Really looking forward to Fallout New Vegas as well.

I've heard good things about 3D Dot Game Heroes as well.
 
enternal sonata, all the paper mario's, most FF's (not XI or spin off series) borderlands kingdom hearts etc..... :D
 
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