Mid-tier RPGs lacking the exposure of the big guns are potential friends here - so another endorsement to the Suikoden series of PS2 games as well as Grandia. Wild Arms is bearable, but only good if you really mean to max out on your RPG experience.
I do have to say, I like story, which is why I didn't mind Xenosaga's stupidly long exposition and drama. The last of the series, episode 3 is by far one of the best, although everything feels a bit rushed (hooray for early cancellations of the series).
Honestly, if you don't mind a downgrade in graphics, take advantage of your backwards compatibility and pick up Final Fantasy Tactics or the remade Lunar series. They're worth the time.
I anxiously awaited Xenosaga 2 for months, then when I got it, I hated it. Terrible.
The soundtrack is nice, though. Not the in-game one, which I recall being godawful, but that's okay since you won't want to play it. I probably should pick up 3 just to finish the damn series.
I've only skimmed the thread, so I'm not sure if these were mentioned or not, but I would also toss in Tales of Legendia(the first part was decent, the second part suffered from being the first part with tougher enemies), Dragon Quest VIII(veryveryvery old school, but fun anyways), Star Ocean: Till the End of Time(aka Star Ocean 3, fairly enjoyable game), and Radiata Stories(yeah, the main character is an idiot, but it was stil fun).
Recommending SO3 is a very dangerous thing to do because 99% of the people who played it hated it so much that they would rather circumcise themselves than play it again. Personally I liked it and I wasn't put off by the whole "No MP is also death" game mechanic. The big plot twist is pretty dumb though and it almost killed the franchise.
Star Ocean can be fun to play through...probably only once though, unless you really like it. I was never bothered by the MP death mechanic because I'm pretty sure I never even noticed it ever happening. I dunno, I just pretty much ignored your crappy AI partners and just killed things with Fayt, the combat was fun enough if you did that.
But yeah the plot is pretty terrible. It's among the games I'd say get for cheap and play through it, if you have fun, that's great, if you don't, then no big loss.
What the hell did happen with Star Ocean 3? I played the hell out of and loved 2. I put in three and just wanted to kick a kitten. It annoyed me so much it made me feel physically ill.
What the hell did happen with Star Ocean 3? I played the hell out of and loved 2. I put in three and just wanted to kick a kitten. It annoyed me so much it made me feel physically ill.
I liked it, for the most part, except for the big plot twist. I mean holy shit fuck that. The rest of the story got progressively worse from that point. I'm glad they acknowledged that it was shit.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
Man, why would you toss in Star Ocean? Did the OP punch your cat or something?
I enjoyed SO3(enough to play through to the end). Yeah, the plot twist was bleah, but I didn't really mind it. There are much worse RPGs to play(Magna Carta and Legaia 2 spring to mind).
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
It may have been insane, but it was still fun to play. If you can take that kind of insanity in your game plots, then it's really worth a try.
Oh, I plan on it. Space Pirates FTW.
Oh, hold on, no. No no no no no no. I liked Rogue Galaxy, but if you get it, get it for the fun (if sometimes unbalanced) combat and interesting settings. Because while your character and the crew of the ship he joins up with are cool heroes, they are the worst. Pirates. Ever. Seriously, a fifty hour game and they engage in zero acts of piracy. I didn't expect them to plunder innocent merchants or anything, but the Skies of Arcadia gang are more pirates than these guys.
I'm with Gilder on the second half of the game's plot, but I wouldn't say it went insane; I'd say it went generic JRPG. I was hoping some of the intrigue and politics of the first half of the game would come into play again, but instead the only shock of the game's second half
was the silver-haired pretty boy villain dying permanently four chapters before the ending; I was guessing he'd be the final boss for a while. Otherwise it's suddenly all about reincarnated Star King heroes and secret princesses from lost worlds and gathering the character-specific artifacts powered by LOVE and multi-form final bosses.
And what was with the ending? "Oh, thanks for saving us. Now, we'll wait patiently for 10,000 years, not doing a thing to advance our culture in the slightest, let a fifteen year old girl nobody met for 500 generations become our undemocratically elected leader, and then act like total douchebags to the other heroes who saved our entire planet and the galaxy at large."
I actually got into the game late and just beat it this weekend. I'm so glad there's someone else still interested in ranting about it.
Glad to know there are other people who feel this way about the game. I love Rogue Galaxy and consider it among my top ten of RPG's i've played. I will admit the story went a little bad near the end, but that's okay with me. I still loved the combat, the characters (great heroes for an adventure game), and the weapon creation system will leave you with some kind of obsessive compulsion towards feeding things to a frog.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
The start of the game definitely sucked. I didn't think I'd ever make it off that damn ship and onto a planet. I almost stopped playing a number of times during that whole sequence.
i have played about every single rpg on the ps2 there is and the games id recommend are really easy to pick.
First off, the xenosaga trilogy. honestly poeple, i dont understand how one can play only a single title and cast judgement. its a trilogy, no, more then that, you have to see these games as one gigantic rpg title that was split into three parts for budget reasons (anyone remember what happened on xenogears disc 2? hm?) and seeing it as one single game its really the most epic and interesting tale that is told on the ps2. I cannot praise this series enough because i honestly have never seen another game before this that wove such a huge and complex story and lived to tie up every last lose end you could possibly think of with its conclusion. theres some who really dont like part 2, but if you had experienced that as the middle of a game, rather then a game on its own, it would have been perfectly fine. Its a title that just doesnt have its own legs to stand on.
Second would be dragon quest VIII. honestly, i dont care much for oldschool usually, the medium has grown and what was topnotch back then isnt necessarily topnotch today, but holy crap this title took everything i loved about rpgs and polished it to reach divine perfection. this game has so much good old worldexploration, such charming voicework, so much to see... 100+ hours just flew by without noticing.
and lastly theres always suikoden. suikoden III and V to be specific both feature everything that makes an ejoyable rpg experience.
sure, theres loads of fun timeburners around, but whn ill think of the ps2 era in a few years these will be the games ill think of.
carmofin on
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Thanks to whomever recommended Valkyrie Profile 2 in this thread (and in the megaten thread when I asked there). I picked it up yesterday and am loving it so far. The battle system is absolutely fantastic, the story seems interesting so far, and the game is just gorgeous as well. I'm not sure exactly how learning skills works yet (something to do with equipping same colored runes next to each other, but do I just experiment until I find a combo that teaches a skill or what?), but other than that I'm having a blast.
So this princess chick has the soul(s) of a Valkyrie inside of her? Is this explained in the first game, which I never played by the way, or will I find out what the fuck is going on with her later? The way she switches from shy timid princess to bad ass god mode is hilarious, by the way, and I love how Rufus reacts to the dual personality thing.
I'm going to second a lot of previous suggestions.
The SMT series is top notch and Persona 3: FES is a perfect introduction to the series. My partner is playing it as I type this, and we've already beaten it a couple of times. Be warned, once you get this you will want to play the other PS2 SMT games.
The Shadow Hearts series is great. Start with the first one as SH: Covenant is a sequel. Also, I like the first one better.
Final Fantasy X was my first PS2 RPG, and it's still one of my favorites. If you haven't played it, you can find it for very cheap.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
Oh man, the cutscenes. I almost forgot that there were even voices during them because we can't fucking hear them Square-Enix, what the hell is wrong with your sound team? All I could ever hear was the sound of the wind and music because they decided to put voices at volume 3 and sound effects and music at 11.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
Oh man, the cutscenes. I almost forgot that there were even voices during them because we can't fucking hear them Square-Enix, what the hell is wrong with your sound team? All I could ever hear was the sound of the wind and music because they decided to put voices at volume 3 and sound effects and music at 11.
So ARE there any good space opera/sci-fi games out there? Well, for the PS2, for obvious reasons, though I'm curious about the general as well. Bioware's games don't count; they're too obvious.
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
Thanks to whomever recommended Valkyrie Profile 2 in this thread (and in the megaten thread when I asked there). I picked it up yesterday and am loving it so far. The battle system is absolutely fantastic, the story seems interesting so far, and the game is just gorgeous as well. I'm not sure exactly how learning skills works yet (something to do with equipping same colored runes next to each other, but do I just experiment until I find a combo that teaches a skill or what?), but other than that I'm having a blast.
So this princess chick has the soul(s) of a Valkyrie inside of her? Is this explained in the first game, which I never played by the way, or will I find out what the fuck is going on with her later? The way she switches from shy timid princess to bad ass god mode is hilarious, by the way, and I love how Rufus reacts to the dual personality thing.
No, the first game deals with a different valkyrie, the connections don't start to come into play until much later on.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
Oh man, the cutscenes. I almost forgot that there were even voices during them because we can't fucking hear them Square-Enix, what the hell is wrong with your sound team? All I could ever hear was the sound of the wind and music because they decided to put voices at volume 3 and sound effects and music at 11.
So ARE there any good space opera/sci-fi games out there? Well, for the PS2, for obvious reasons, though I'm curious about the general as well. Bioware's games don't count; they're too obvious.
It's already been mentioned soooo many times, but Xenosaga. The first episode. The first hour or three are just about perfect.
edit: and FUCK how did we go 5 pages without mentioning one of the best villains of any RPG so far, Albedo?
So, for the next six months I'm hermiting away to save up some cash and move back to Portland, OR from Rhode Island. What better way to do that than with some RPGs? Here's a small list of what I'm going to pick up tomorrow. If anyone has any more suggestions, PLEASE let me know.
Final Fantasy XII
Dragon Quest VIII
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Persona 3
Rogue Galaxy
Dark Cloud 2
Thoughts? I like the idea of Persona 3, so others like that would be great. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are more than welcome as well. The longer, the better. Thanks!
I may be repeating what the others have said, but that list will keep you satisfied for A VERY LONG TIME. But may I also recommend Radiata Stories? The game has two different paths depending on your alliance, so you can have two different games in one.
Teisatsu on
"In a world of deceit, open your eyes. Don't be afraid and you'll realize."-"Light", KMFDM.
...Did you know that obesity is frowned upon in Deutschland?:x
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
edited July 2008
Can we just make a list of all the PS2 RPGs multiple people recommend somewhere.
So, for the next six months I'm hermiting away to save up some cash and move back to Portland, OR from Rhode Island. What better way to do that than with some RPGs? Here's a small list of what I'm going to pick up tomorrow. If anyone has any more suggestions, PLEASE let me know.
Final Fantasy XII
Dragon Quest VIII
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Persona 3
Rogue Galaxy
Dark Cloud 2
Thoughts? I like the idea of Persona 3, so others like that would be great. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are more than welcome as well. The longer, the better. Thanks!
I may be repeating what the others have said, but that list will keep you satisfied for A VERY LONG TIME. But may I also recommend Radiata Stories? The game has two different paths depending on your alliance, so you can have two different games in one.
But both of those games are filled with near-endless running around the game world doing stupid fetch quests to recruit characters that you don't even get to control.
Vincent Grayson on
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Zen VulgarityWhat a lovely day for teaSecret British ThreadRegistered Userregular
So, for the next six months I'm hermiting away to save up some cash and move back to Portland, OR from Rhode Island. What better way to do that than with some RPGs? Here's a small list of what I'm going to pick up tomorrow. If anyone has any more suggestions, PLEASE let me know.
Final Fantasy XII
Dragon Quest VIII
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Persona 3
Rogue Galaxy
Dark Cloud 2
Thoughts? I like the idea of Persona 3, so others like that would be great. Fantasy and Sci-Fi are more than welcome as well. The longer, the better. Thanks!
I may be repeating what the others have said, but that list will keep you satisfied for A VERY LONG TIME. But may I also recommend Radiata Stories? The game has two different paths depending on your alliance, so you can have two different games in one.
But both of those games are filled with near-endless running around the game world doing stupid fetch quests to recruit characters that you don't even get to control.
True, but the game would too easy and less focused on Jack if you were able to. Speaking of Radiata, there's also Valkyrie Profile 2 for the PS2. I had a LOT of fun with that.
Teisatsu on
"In a world of deceit, open your eyes. Don't be afraid and you'll realize."-"Light", KMFDM.
...Did you know that obesity is frowned upon in Deutschland?:x
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
The start of the game definitely sucked. I didn't think I'd ever make it off that damn ship and onto a planet. I almost stopped playing a number of times during that whole sequence.
I borrowed SO3 from a friend, having never played a Star Ocean game before. Said friend was pretty fanatical about 2. I suppose that's a much better game.
I gave up after being too weak for three dungeons in a row. But what annoyed me the most was the cocktease of an opening section. "Oh hey, you enjoyed the space opera setting and lasers and stuff? You want to see all sorts of planets and take part in this civil war or whatever the premise is? Well too bad, welcome to Generic Fantasy Planet for the next bazillion hours."
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
The start of the game definitely sucked. I didn't think I'd ever make it off that damn ship and onto a planet. I almost stopped playing a number of times during that whole sequence.
I borrowed SO3 from a friend, having never played a Star Ocean game before. Said friend was pretty fanatical about 2. I suppose that's a much better game.
I gave up after being too weak for three dungeons in a row. But what annoyed me the most was the cocktease of an opening section. "Oh hey, you enjoyed the space opera setting and lasers and stuff? You want to see all sorts of planets and take part in this civil war or whatever the premise is? Well too bad, welcome to Generic Fantasy Planet for the next bazillion hours."
SO2 does the exact same thing but eventually in SO3 you do get to futuristic stuff. In SO2 your "future world" that you eventually get to has things as scientifically advanced as test tubes and windmills.
I honestly have NO idea how you guys were able to stomach 3. I put 20ish hours into it then I just had to walk away. I really, REALLY wish I knew why I didn't like it so much.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
The start of the game definitely sucked. I didn't think I'd ever make it off that damn ship and onto a planet. I almost stopped playing a number of times during that whole sequence.
I borrowed SO3 from a friend, having never played a Star Ocean game before. Said friend was pretty fanatical about 2. I suppose that's a much better game.
I gave up after being too weak for three dungeons in a row. But what annoyed me the most was the cocktease of an opening section. "Oh hey, you enjoyed the space opera setting and lasers and stuff? You want to see all sorts of planets and take part in this civil war or whatever the premise is? Well too bad, welcome to Generic Fantasy Planet for the next bazillion hours."
SO2 does the exact same thing but eventually in SO3 you do get to futuristic stuff. In SO2 your "future world" that you eventually get to has things as scientifically advanced as test tubes and windmills.
Yeah, I've been pretty disappointed with SO's "sci-fi" setting.
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PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
I do have to say, I like story, which is why I didn't mind Xenosaga's stupidly long exposition and drama. The last of the series, episode 3 is by far one of the best, although everything feels a bit rushed (hooray for early cancellations of the series).
Honestly, if you don't mind a downgrade in graphics, take advantage of your backwards compatibility and pick up Final Fantasy Tactics or the remade Lunar series. They're worth the time.
Which Xenosaga do you recommend?
III sums up everything worth knowing about II in about ten minutes.
The soundtrack is nice, though. Not the in-game one, which I recall being godawful, but that's okay since you won't want to play it. I probably should pick up 3 just to finish the damn series.
But yeah the plot is pretty terrible. It's among the games I'd say get for cheap and play through it, if you have fun, that's great, if you don't, then no big loss.
Seriously, Persona 3 was my favorite RPG in recent memory. It's astounding.
I liked it, for the most part, except for the big plot twist. I mean holy shit fuck that. The rest of the story got progressively worse from that point. I'm glad they acknowledged that it was shit.
I enjoyed SO3(enough to play through to the end). Yeah, the plot twist was bleah, but I didn't really mind it. There are much worse RPGs to play(Magna Carta and Legaia 2 spring to mind).
Glad to know there are other people who feel this way about the game. I love Rogue Galaxy and consider it among my top ten of RPG's i've played. I will admit the story went a little bad near the end, but that's okay with me. I still loved the combat, the characters (great heroes for an adventure game), and the weapon creation system will leave you with some kind of obsessive compulsion towards feeding things to a frog.
Here's hope for a sequel one day.
So what you're saying is you made it through the first cutscene?
I'm joking... Sort of. Seriously though, Metal Gear's cutscenes didn't feel as drawn out, stupid, and pointless as the ones in this game. I just don't understand what the hell they were thinking.
First off, the xenosaga trilogy. honestly poeple, i dont understand how one can play only a single title and cast judgement. its a trilogy, no, more then that, you have to see these games as one gigantic rpg title that was split into three parts for budget reasons (anyone remember what happened on xenogears disc 2? hm?) and seeing it as one single game its really the most epic and interesting tale that is told on the ps2. I cannot praise this series enough because i honestly have never seen another game before this that wove such a huge and complex story and lived to tie up every last lose end you could possibly think of with its conclusion. theres some who really dont like part 2, but if you had experienced that as the middle of a game, rather then a game on its own, it would have been perfectly fine. Its a title that just doesnt have its own legs to stand on.
Second would be dragon quest VIII. honestly, i dont care much for oldschool usually, the medium has grown and what was topnotch back then isnt necessarily topnotch today, but holy crap this title took everything i loved about rpgs and polished it to reach divine perfection. this game has so much good old worldexploration, such charming voicework, so much to see... 100+ hours just flew by without noticing.
and lastly theres always suikoden. suikoden III and V to be specific both feature everything that makes an ejoyable rpg experience.
sure, theres loads of fun timeburners around, but whn ill think of the ps2 era in a few years these will be the games ill think of.
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NNID: carmofin
3DS: 2852 6971 9745
Throw me a PM if you add me
The SMT series is top notch and Persona 3: FES is a perfect introduction to the series. My partner is playing it as I type this, and we've already beaten it a couple of times. Be warned, once you get this you will want to play the other PS2 SMT games.
The Shadow Hearts series is great. Start with the first one as SH: Covenant is a sequel. Also, I like the first one better.
Final Fantasy X was my first PS2 RPG, and it's still one of my favorites. If you haven't played it, you can find it for very cheap.
Oh man, the cutscenes. I almost forgot that there were even voices during them because we can't fucking hear them Square-Enix, what the hell is wrong with your sound team? All I could ever hear was the sound of the wind and music because they decided to put voices at volume 3 and sound effects and music at 11.
I mean, you buy skills, close enough.
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
So ARE there any good space opera/sci-fi games out there? Well, for the PS2, for obvious reasons, though I'm curious about the general as well. Bioware's games don't count; they're too obvious.
No, the first game deals with a different valkyrie, the connections don't start to come into play until much later on.
edit: and FUCK how did we go 5 pages without mentioning one of the best villains of any RPG so far, Albedo?
XBL: Torn Hoodie
@hoodiethirteen
I may be repeating what the others have said, but that list will keep you satisfied for A VERY LONG TIME. But may I also recommend Radiata Stories? The game has two different paths depending on your alliance, so you can have two different games in one.
"In a world of deceit, open your eyes. Don't be afraid and you'll realize."-"Light", KMFDM.
...Did you know that obesity is frowned upon in Deutschland?:x
But both of those games are filled with near-endless running around the game world doing stupid fetch quests to recruit characters that you don't even get to control.
True, but the game would too easy and less focused on Jack if you were able to. Speaking of Radiata, there's also Valkyrie Profile 2 for the PS2. I had a LOT of fun with that.
"In a world of deceit, open your eyes. Don't be afraid and you'll realize."-"Light", KMFDM.
...Did you know that obesity is frowned upon in Deutschland?:x
I was looking through the thread, hoping someone mentioned this.
:^:
I borrowed SO3 from a friend, having never played a Star Ocean game before. Said friend was pretty fanatical about 2. I suppose that's a much better game.
I gave up after being too weak for three dungeons in a row. But what annoyed me the most was the cocktease of an opening section. "Oh hey, you enjoyed the space opera setting and lasers and stuff? You want to see all sorts of planets and take part in this civil war or whatever the premise is? Well too bad, welcome to Generic Fantasy Planet for the next bazillion hours."
SO2 does the exact same thing but eventually in SO3 you do get to futuristic stuff. In SO2 your "future world" that you eventually get to has things as scientifically advanced as test tubes and windmills.
Yeah, I've been pretty disappointed with SO's "sci-fi" setting.
Apparently SO4 has a lot more space and whatnot.