[Reccomend On] XB360 RPGs

Zerokku

I've been looking around for some good RPG's for the 360. JRPG, WRPG, they're all good as long as they have a moderately interesting story.

I know the standard games like

Mass Effect
Fallout 3
Fable 2
Lost Oddyssey

But what are some other great RPGs on the system for me to play?

If you could, rather then just posting a list, put a little description/explanation of why you think it's a good rpg.

Please?

Also any games with good stories and/or remotely rpg-like aspects to them are good as well.

urahonky

Did you like DragonQuest? If so I highly recommend Blue Dragon. Seriously. Play the demo if you want to... As that gives you a pretty accurate view of the game. But this is a great game and hated for no good reason (I agree Marumaru is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as the kids from Lost Odyssey/Infinite Undiscovery).

taliosfalcon

Tales of Vesperia - because its simply the best RPG on the system =p . Seriously, awesome art style, decent story, entertaining combat, non- girly emo main character. What more could you possible ask for?

Bartholamue

I liked Eternal Sonata, only because it wasn't 60 hours long like Tales of Vesperia was. You could blow through ES in 25 hours. The battle system is quite good too.

Taramoor

Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Because it's fucking Star Ocean and you're a fool and a communist if you don't at least give it a shot.

Gunstar

urahonky wrote: »

Did you like DragonQuest? If so I highly recommend Blue Dragon. Seriously. Play the demo if you want to... As that gives you a pretty accurate view of the game. But this is a great game and hated for no good reason (I agree Marumaru is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as the kids from Lost Odyssey/Infinite Undiscovery).

play this thing if you don't ever wanna give up!

main character: OK I'M GONNA WIN CUZ I NEVER GIVE UP!

*win*

main character: IT'S CUZ I NEVER GAVE UP!

Guibs

well the only other RPg that I own that is not on your list are Oblivision (if you liked Fallout 3, it's basically the same but with swords) and Blue Dragon.

Blue Dragon is a strange beast. The setting isn't for everyone and the first disk is slow paced but after that it picks up for the better and it gets fun. You can try the demo, but the demo is damn boring. It does show you a little on how the combat looks like, which is simply but fun. The shine of Blue Dragon is the Soundtrack which is simply amazing.

I am personally trying to get my hands on a cheap Tales of Vesperia myself.

urahonky

Gunstar wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

Did you like DragonQuest? If so I highly recommend Blue Dragon. Seriously. Play the demo if you want to... As that gives you a pretty accurate view of the game. But this is a great game and hated for no good reason (I agree Marumaru is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as the kids from Lost Odyssey/Infinite Undiscovery).

play this thing if you don't ever wanna give up!

main character: OK I'M GONNA WIN CUZ I NEVER GIVE UP!

*win*

main character: IT'S CUZ I NEVER GAVE UP!

Darn straight. Don't be hatin' the main char. He never gave up. (which is so much better than the: abloobloo I hate my life main chars)

e: Listen to Guibs about the soundtrack and don't you fucking listen to people that say differently.

donhonk

Guibs wrote: »

well the only other RPg that I own that is not on your list are Oblivision (if you liked Fallout 3, it's basically the same but with swords) and Blue Dragon.

Blue Dragon is a strange beast. The setting isn't for everyone and the first disk is slow paced but after that it picks up for the better and it gets fun. You can try the demo, but the demo is damn boring. It does show you a little on how the combat looks like, which is simply but fun. The shine of Blue Dragon is the Soundtrack which is simply amazing.

I am personally trying to get my hands on a cheap Tales of Vesperia myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNyNmuFSlw

urahonky

I hate everyone who hates that song. There. I said it.

Toefoo

Wait...WAIT...

Blue Dragon has fucking POWER METAL in it? I'm going out right now and buying this.

Honk

urahonky wrote: »

I hate everyone who hates that song. There. I said it.

Put me on your list...

urahonky

Toefoo wrote: »

Wait...WAIT...

Blue Dragon has fucking POWER METAL in it? I'm going out right now and buying this.

It's for every boss fight except the last boss. And it's amazing every time.

e: Honk you're already on the list. You called me an idiot on April 17th, 2008.

Okay that was a joke, you weren't on the list before, but now you are.

Gyral

Part of me wants to suggest Tri-Ace's offerings, Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4, because the gameplay is aces and both look great. The problem is that both feature the most asenine cast of characters that made me want to skip cutscenes rather than deal with them. Tri-Ace needs to stop adding children to their games. Hell, I wanted to hate the main character of IU until I realized the slacker bum was actually the most likable person of the lot.

Also, Urahonky, we're gonna have to duel. My sister played Blue Dragon and that boss fight music has forever scarred me mentally. I can not listen to it without convulsions.

Balrog

Operation Darkness is a pretty good SRPG on the 360. It's set in WW2, has vampires and werewolves and stuff. It's $10 at Best Buy starting on Sunday. I had a lot of fun with it despite some interface/camera issues.

urahonky

Pistols at dawn, mayhaps?

I agree with you about Tri-Ace. It's so hard for me to enjoy their games because the cast is so forgettable.

Threepio

The first time I heard the boss music in blue dragon I was impressed. It became more hilarious with each subsequent battle. Two thumbs up.

Gyral

urahonky wrote: »

Pistols at dawn, mayhaps?

I agree with you about Tri-Ace. It's so hard for me to enjoy their games because the cast is so forgettable.

Pistols it is.

Yeah, I love their gameplay designs (for the most part) but they badly need to hire someone to write decent characters/story.

urahonky

I will say Blue Dragon is probably one of the most polarizing RPGs out there right now.

donhonk

urahonky wrote: »

I hate everyone who hates that song. There. I said it.

Woah bro, I love that song.

I mean just look at my avatar.

Please dont hate me.

Xagarath

The boss music keeps nearly selling me on Blue Dragon, and I don't even own the system.

Zerokku

urahonky wrote: »

Did you like DragonQuest? If so I highly recommend Blue Dragon. Seriously. Play the demo if you want to... As that gives you a pretty accurate view of the game. But this is a great game and hated for no good reason (I agree Marumaru is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as the kids from Lost Odyssey/Infinite Undiscovery).

I wasn't the biggest on DQ, but it wasn't bad. I do Akira toriyama's art style though, especially when it's brought to life in a game (Chrono trigger). That was definitely one I've been looking at.

Taramoor wrote: »

Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Because it's fucking Star Ocean and you're a fool and a communist if you don't at least give it a shot.

Would it be all right to start on it? I've never played the previous star ocean games... I know...

Guibs wrote: »

well the only other RPg that I own that is not on your list are Oblivision (if you liked Fallout 3, it's basically the same but with swords) and Blue Dragon.

I haven't played oblivion, but I didn't care for morrowind, mostly because of the combat. That's why I like fallout. It takes all the things I liked about Elder scrolls, but without the combat. (The first person slice/poke of a sword just looked jarring to me, and annoyed me because of that)



How is Eternal Sonata? I've been looking at that a bit and the art style looks good and the combat looks fun as hell.

EskimoDave

The song gets so fucking annoying by the end of the game. The one thing I didn't like (other than hearing the song 60 times) in Blue Dragon was that all the optional shit required you to level the fuck out of yourself. You can spend more time leveling up to the extra shit than it takes to play the game. And I only have 125 achievement points for beating the game. There isn't even an achievement for beating the game. I thought that shit was pretty much mandatory.

EskimoDave

There is a demo of Eternal Sonata.

Gyral

Zerokku wrote: »

Taramoor wrote: »

Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Because it's fucking Star Ocean and you're a fool and a communist if you don't at least give it a shot.

Would it be all right to start on it? I've never played the previous star ocean games... I know...

The new Star Ocean is a prequel, so you'd be fine.

urahonky

Xagarath wrote: »

The boss music keeps nearly selling me on Blue Dragon, and I don't even own the system.

Do eeet.

Madpanda

I loved this hilarious Blue Dragon boss music in the demo, I loved the demo so much I bought the game. I am now ~20 hours into it, near the end of disc one playing on Hard mode.

The boss music causes a grimace from me now as I know a boss fight usually more often that not is going to piss me off, and this is from someone who doesn't usually get angry at games.

Even though it doesn't sound like it, I highly recommend picking up Blue Dragon, it can be gotten dirt cheap new from Newegg and most other stores now. Try the demo, if you can get past marumaru and the art style you will find a nice JRPG underneath.

Only download the free hard mode DLC if you like hurling racial epitaphs at scissor wielding robot bosses.

I cannot wait to face all 4 of these jackasses at once, from what I hear its the hardest fight in the game

Sebbie

So when you use Hard Mode the game goes from ridiculously easy to ridiculously hard? Couldn't they have a scale or something? I hated Blue Dragon at first but after giving it a second chance I loved it like crazy. Even after having played ToV, LO, and all those fancy shmancy jRPGs, Blue Dragon is the only one I want to revisit all the time. It has such a classic RPG 'vibe' to it.

Blackjack

Sebbie wrote: »

So when you use Hard Mode the game goes from ridiculously easy to ridiculously hard? Couldn't they have a scale or something? I hated Blue Dragon at first but after giving it a second chance I loved it like crazy. Even after having played ToV, LO, and all those fancy shmancy jRPGs, Blue Dragon is the only one I want to revisit all the time. It has such a classic RPG 'vibe' to it.

The only really hard part of hard mode is the end of disc one, which is where madpanda is now. Everything else is pretty standard.

jclast

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Zerokku

jclast wrote: »

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Not to nitpick, but you do realize the same guys made both, right?

jclast

Zerokku wrote: »

jclast wrote: »

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Not to nitpick, but you do realize the same guys made both, right?

Which makes it all the more mind-boggling that they got it so right the first time and so wrong the second.

SilentCoconut

I recently put down Tales of Vesperia after sinking 30 hours into it, and my recommendation is that you don't touch the game.

The graphics are pretty good, but the environments aren't very interesting and it reuses assets a lot (which is to be expected when a game drags on this long).

The characters are actually the best part of the game, but the storyline, while bearable, isn't worth the amount of time you'll spend watching (unskippable) cutscenes. And even while I was being forced to pay attention (I even watched all of the skits!) I still managed to miss half of the plot twists, and on more then one occasion I had to stop and ask the person watching me play why I was now fighting this person that used to be my ally.

The combat seems interesting at first, but as far as I got, it was extremely shallow: the non-boss encounters are laughably easy to the point that you can more or less mash B and heal afterwards (because the friendly AI is awful and refuses to heal you in combat despite standing still and having a full TP bar). Boss encounters are slightly better, with secret missions you can do for extra items, but god forbid you die the first time, because you can only reload a save rather then start at that fight, forcing you to rewatch the same cutscenes, and occasionally redo a seperate boss fight, all over again.

The dungeon design can be annoying and is never particularly good, and it's extremely linear even by JRPG standards, with very little to do outside of the main story line, even if you bother to backtrack to earlier locations.

To reiterate, Tales of Vesperia is not a bad game, but it definitely isn't worth the 60 hours it takes to play through. The game has the same problems that the series has had since Tales of Destiny 2, and if you've played any of the 5+ games in the series since then, or really any JRPG since 2001, then you've had the exact same experience you'd have with this game.


Also, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is one of the best RPG's this generation. Yeah, the AI cheats, but your spells are always way better then the enemies, so while they do better at the puzzle section, you can still overpower them with your abilities. There's even an XBLA exclusive expansion that adds 10 more levels and some new classes.

Blackjack

SilentCoconut wrote: »

I recently put down Tales of Vesperia after sinking 30 hours into it, and my recommendation is that you don't touch the game.

The graphics are pretty good, but the environments aren't very interesting and it reuses assets a lot (which is to be expected when a game drags on this long).

The characters are actually the best part of the game, but the storyline, while bearable, isn't worth the amount of time you'll spend watching (unskippable) cutscenes. And even while I was being forced to pay attention (I even watched all of the skits!) I still managed to miss half of the plot twists, and on more then one occasion I had to stop and ask the person watching me play why I was now fighting this person that used to be my ally.

The combat seems interesting at first, but as far as I got, it was extremely shallow: the non-boss encounters are laughably easy to the point that you can more or less mash B and heal afterwards (because the friendly AI is awful and refuses to heal you in combat despite standing still and having a full TP bar). Boss encounters are slightly better, with secret missions you can do for extra items, but god forbid you die the first time, because you can only reload a save rather then start at that fight, forcing you to rewatch the same cutscenes, and occasionally redo a seperate boss fight, all over again.

The dungeon design can be annoying and is never particularly good, and it's extremely linear even by JRPG standards, with very little to do outside of the main story line, even if you bother to backtrack to earlier locations.

To reiterate, Tales of Vesperia is not a bad game, but it definitely isn't worth the 60 hours it takes to play through. The game has the same problems that the series has had since Tales of Destiny 2, and if you've played any of the 5+ games in the series since then, or really any JRPG since 2001, then you've had the exact same experience you'd have with this game.


Also, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is one of the best RPG's this generation. Yeah, the AI cheats, but your spells are always way better then the enemies, so while they do better at the puzzle section, you can still overpower them with your abilities. There's even an XBLA exclusive expansion that adds 10 more levels and some new classes.

I think we possibly played different Tales of Vesperias. I had to TURN OFF the AI healing spells as they would blow their TP as soon as anyone took any damage.

And, really, if you can't pay attention to the plot long enough to tell why something's happening, that's really your own fault.

Glenn565

Zerokku wrote: »

jclast wrote: »

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Not to nitpick, but you do realize the same guys made both, right?

No. No, they did not. Remnants from the Shadow Hearts team made Lost Odyssey; most of the FFX team is still probably with SE. The important people, anyway.

Dragkonias

Put down another recommendation for Tales of Vesperia, the game is just fun really.

And Karol is a beast, they even had to give him armor with a horned helm just to contain it...and sunglasses!

FrantzX

Put me down for Tales of Vesperia. I put over 100 hours into the game, beating it twice. I consider it to be one of the best jRPGs I've ever played.

Raiden333

If you have a hard drive to install it and can deal with slowdown issues (they make it unplayable without installation, and even with installation it gets choppy) The Last Remnant is really fun. But if you have a PC, just play it on that with a 360 controller.

Zerokku

Glenn565 wrote: »

Zerokku wrote: »

jclast wrote: »

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Not to nitpick, but you do realize the same guys made both, right?

No. No, they did not. Remnants from the Shadow Hearts team made Lost Odyssey; most of the FFX team is still probably with SE. The important people, anyway.

It was my understanding that a good chunk of the original crews followed sakaguchi when squeenix kicked him out.

Not an overwhelming amount sure, but he definitely wasn't alone.

Glenn565

Zerokku wrote: »

Glenn565 wrote: »

Zerokku wrote: »

jclast wrote: »

If you like strategy RPGs at all grab the demos for both Band of Bugs and Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Both go for only $10.

As disc games go the only RPGs I hung on to are Fable II and Fallout 3.

I wanted to like Lost Odyssey, but the dev forgot to finish copying FFX's battle system so the fighting was pretty crappy. They tell you that turn order is important (and it is), but you assign all your actions at the same time with no real indication of who will do what when. Either give me a turn order bar a la FFX and Xenosaga I or just let me pick moves as they come instead of all at the beginning of a round.

Not to nitpick, but you do realize the same guys made both, right?

No. No, they did not. Remnants from the Shadow Hearts team made Lost Odyssey; most of the FFX team is still probably with SE. The important people, anyway.

It was my understanding that a good chunk of the original crews followed sakaguchi when squeenix kicked him out.

Not an overwhelming amount sure, but he definitely wasn't alone.

You might be thinking of Matsuno. When he left FF 12 mid development he reportedly took half the team with him.

Rent

I'm going to be the anti-urahonky and say Blue Dragon is one of the worst piles of fetid shit I've ever had the displeasure of putting into my 360's drive
I'll try and dig up my post detailing everything fucking wrong with that game
(Not trying to bash urahonky's opinion, I concede that there can be people on this green earth who might enjoy this game and aren't batshit loco, just trying to provide some balance to the commentary)

Rent wrote: »

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

I can't believe this sold nearly well enough at all to merit a pseudo-sequel.

Damn right it did. And the entire thing was awesome.

I regret that I contributed to the sales of Blue Dragon. In all probability, the worst and most generic JRPG I've ever played.

Yeah, this
I think with me the thing that irritates me about people who like the game use its awesome battle system to justify everything else.
Lets review
To a normal human being this is what the game is
Gameplay: Awesome
Graphics: Okay, I guess. Not as good as it could be. Kind of a dull and barren homeworld.
Voice Acting: Generic to actively harmful to listen to
Storyline: HAHAHAHAHA
Music: Fucking awful
Interface: Servicable, has some flaws but is otherwise okay
But to a lot of Blue Dragon fans the fact that the only real shining star, the Gameplay, make the otherwise dull or really awful parts somehow totally awesome dude. The Graphics become "The best the 360 has ever produced :rollseye:" The VA becomes "charmingly quaint".
Same treatment to the goddamn common sense-breaking enemies. And this is by JRPG standards, which are pretty fucking lenient. I mean...really... LAND sharks? That are ROBOTS? Are you fucking SHITTING me? And POO snakes? Am I fucking four? And there's like twenty different kinds? Fuck you, Toriyama.
The Storyline becomes "A throwback to old times". No it's not, it's a piss-poor excuse for anything. I've read shitty fanfics that had more effort than that goddamn story. Fuck I've written shitty fanfics that had more effort than that goddamn story.
The Music became "so bad it's good". It's just bad. That is it. It is terrible.
The thing that infuriates me the most is that just because it has ONE good part to it it became the best thing EVAR on AWESOMESAUCE. It's like, if BD had LO's combat system (good but nothing special), would we be even talking about it? No, everyone would regard it as a terribad game. But because the combat system is really really REALLY good, it's become awesome.
A game is more than the sum of its parts, especially a JRPG, a plot-driven genre, and it just seems like BD is a celebration of mediocrity and cutting corners in all parts of its design besides one. It is a terrible game, it has many many many faults, and people love it.
And that's what saddens me.

(Seriously though dude, pick up Lost Odyssey. It's basically a next-gen Final Fantasy, and it's really really fucking good)