Good RPG Games?

[Daichi]

I am looking for some good RPG games to play, I just finished 'Skies of Arcadia Legends' for the Gamecube and really enjoyed it, and was wondering what other good games are out there?

Other RPG's Ive enjoyed are Persona 4, Dragon Quest 8, some of the Final Fantasy series, Arc the Lad, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Skies of Arcadia. My favorite game out of these was Dragon Quest 8, just because of the great story and amazing voice acting.

Im looking for RPG's that are on the following consoles:
Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Wii, or N64

I really like games that have good voice acting, good plot, and tons of great overall gameplay, thanks if you can help.

[broodwars]

Alright, here are some ideas:

N64 - Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibur (yeah, good luck finding it. Maybe we'll get lucky and get it on the Wii Virtual Console)

GameCube - Baten Kaitos Origins; Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

PS3 - Valkyria Chronicles.

Wii - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

PS2 - Final Fantasy X (if you haven't played it already) and Wild Arms 5.

[Daichi]

Oh yeah I have Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, thats also a really good game.

Hows the rest of the Wild Arms series, is 5 the best? Can I pick up 5 and understand the story without playing the rest of the series?

[Betenoire]

Oh yeah I have Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, thats also a really good game.

Hows the rest of the Wild Arms series, is 5 the best? Can I pick up 5 and understand the story without playing the rest of the series?

I haven't got to 5 yet but none of the others really carry over story wise.

Disgaea has some fun characters and a good story.

[broodwars]

Hows the rest of the Wild Arms series, is 5 the best? Can I pick up 5 and understand the story without playing the rest of the series?

The Wild Arms games are related to each other the same way the Final Fantasy games are (with the exception of X and X-2, obviously): they share some elements like town names; spell names; the general setting; and story themes, but they're pretty much unrelated.

I've played all the Wild Arms games except for 2, and to me 5 may not have the "best story" (I'd probably give that one to WA 4) but it is definitely the most fun of the series. It doesn't try to take itself the least bit seriously and features a fast and exciting battle system. Just for an example, go google the Wild Arms 5 "Genocide Circus" combination attack.

[Raiho]

Have you tried out the other Shin Megami Tensei games on the PS2? I'd recommend trying them out if you can.

[Daichi]

Hows the rest of the Wild Arms series, is 5 the best? Can I pick up 5 and understand the story without playing the rest of the series?

The Wild Arms games are related to each other the same way the Final Fantasy games are (with the exception of X and X-2, obviously): they share some elements like town names; spell names; the general setting; and story themes, but they're pretty much unrelated.

I've played all the Wild Arms games except for 2, and to me 5 may not have the "best story" (I'd probably give that one to WA 4) but it is definitely the most fun of the series. It doesn't try to take itself the least bit seriously and features a fast and exciting battle system. Just for an example, go google the Wild Arms 5 "Genocide Circus" combination attack.

Oh wow that does look really cool, Ill be getting this then, looks great

[cutliquidsnake]

Do you like Western RPG's as well?

Also, I think you would like Demon's Souls on the PS3. Keep in mind it is very tough though.

[Daichi]

Yeah I played Demon Souls, it was alright, but yeah it was hard.

[pathos]

I'm quite fond of the Shadowhearts Trilogy, especially the first 2.

Also, Tales of the Abyss for the ps2. There is also Tales of Vesparia for the 360, which is getting a Japanese ps3 release. I don't think anyone has announced bringing it here for the ps3 however.

More ps2 games, both Ar Tonelico games, plus both Mana Khemia games. Oh, and there are the Altelier Iris (sp?) games, the first 2 were pretty good. Haven't finished the 3rd yet. It's ok, but so far less story focused, so not as good as the first 2.

If you liked persona 4, you'll probably like Persona 3, although it is a little rougher to play than 4.

Also Shin Megumi Tensei:Nocturne is pretty good, but I found the difficulty a good bit harder than the Persona games.

Games with mixed reviews, that I liked, are a couple of Star Ocean games, Till the End of Time, and First Departure. There is a plot twist in TtEoT that alot of people don't like, but it didn't bother me. First Departue was 360 only, but they are putting out an International Edition for the ps3 soon.

[grgspunk]

More ps2 games, both Ar Tonelico games, plus both Mana Khemia games. Oh, and there are the Altelier Iris (sp?) games, the first 2 were pretty good. Haven't finished the 3rd yet. It's ok, but so far less story focused, so not as good as the first 2.

Be advised, Ar Tonelico 2 recieved a horribly subpar localization. If the idea of having typos, grammatical errors, name changes, untranslated text, excessive translation liberties, or repeatable glitches in a game doesn't turn you off, then the fact that they omitted half the voices in both the English and Japanese options will.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

I'll throw a vote out for the Xenosaga trilogy for PS2. Be advised that they are all tied together and playing them in chronological order is highly recommended. It's a grand space opera, as much cinema as RPG.

The three games tell a very ambitious story, and at times it even seems like there's too much going on at once, especially in Episode II. (Much of this is due to the fact that Xenosaga was originally to be - I believe - a six part series, but it didn't turn out that way, so the story was condensed to three parts.) As I was playing through, I got fully pulled into the trilogy's world and invested a lot in the characters, to the point where I was sad to finally finish the games. The characters were developed sufficiently that I missed them when it was all over.

It's got a good story and some great voice acting and an excellent score, so it may be worth checking out! The only major issue with the trilogy may be that each installment has a different battle system. :sd: Character designs also have a marked change after Episode I, but it's mostly for the better. They change again from II to III, but more subtly.

[Fencedude]

More ps2 games, both Ar Tonelico games, plus both Mana Khemia games. Oh, and there are the Altelier Iris (sp?) games, the first 2 were pretty good. Haven't finished the 3rd yet. It's ok, but so far less story focused, so not as good as the first 2.

Be advised, Ar Tonelico 2 recieved a horribly subpar localization. If the idea of having typos, grammatical errors, name changes, untranslated text, excessive translation liberties, or repeatable glitches in a game doesn't turn you off, then the fact that they omitted half the voices in both the English and Japanese options will.

That being said, its still a very good game, and the localization, while certainly subpar, is not the worst I've seen in an RPG.

The strength of the story manages to make it through all the flaws regardless.

[broodwars]

More ps2 games, both Ar Tonelico games, plus both Mana Khemia games. Oh, and there are the Altelier Iris (sp?) games, the first 2 were pretty good. Haven't finished the 3rd yet. It's ok, but so far less story focused, so not as good as the first 2.

Be advised, Ar Tonelico 2 recieved a horribly subpar localization. If the idea of having typos, grammatical errors, name changes, untranslated text, excessive translation liberties, or repeatable glitches in a game doesn't turn you off, then the fact that they omitted half the voices in both the English and Japanese options will.

That being said, its still a very good game, and the localization, while certainly subpar, is not the worst I've seen in an RPG.

The strength of the story manages to make it through all the flaws regardless.

Meh, I found Ar Tonelico 2 to be utterly boring, and the story basically comes down to two emo girls passive-aggressively competing with each other over who can be the bigger bitch (and thus earning the right to jump into the lead character's pants, which usually goes to the 3rd girl judging by the reactions on these forums). Oh, and the Fate of the World is in the Balance (TM), naturally.

[Fencedude]

Meh, I found Ar Tonelico 2 to be utterly boring, and the story basically comes down to two emo girls passive-aggressively competing with each other over who can be the bigger bitch (and thus earning the right to jump into the lead character's pants, which usually goes to the 3rd girl judging by the reactions on these forums). Oh, and the Fate of the World is in the Balance (TM), naturally.

While I still don't think either Luca or Cloche are all that individually, I found the story of the two of them together to be fantastic, and Jacqli's story was very nearly as good.

But I'd still take either of them over Aurica. Argh!

[pathos]

I'll throw a vote out for the Xenosaga trilogy for PS2. Be advised that they are all tied together and playing them in chronological order is highly recommended. It's a grand space opera, as much cinema as RPG.

The three games tell a very ambitious story, and at times it even seems like there's too much going on at once, especially in Episode II. (Much of this is due to the fact that Xenosaga was originally to be - I believe - a six part series, but it didn't turn out that way, so the story was condensed to three parts.) As I was playing through, I got fully pulled into the trilogy's world and invested a lot in the characters, to the point where I was sad to finally finish the games. The characters were developed sufficiently that I missed them when it was all over.

It's got a good story and some great voice acting and an excellent score, so it may be worth checking out! The only major issue with the trilogy may be that each installment has a different battle system. :sd: Character designs also have a marked change after Episode I, but it's mostly for the better. They change again from II to III, but more subtly.


Oh, I'd completely forgotten about Xenosaga.

+1 for that series.

The first game is a bit cut scene heavy, especially towards the beginning. Still very good.

Second game, the combat system took some getting used too, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Last game, my only complaint, is that you can really tell they had to condense the story down. Ending was a bit rushed. But, still probably my favorite of the 3, aside from the (ending relationship spoiler) fact that alan actually ended up with shion, when she'd ignored him completely for 2.95 games

[dunno001]

I am looking for some good RPG games to play, I just finished 'Skies of Arcadia Legends' for the Gamecube and really enjoyed it, and was wondering what other good games are out there?

Other RPG's Ive enjoyed are Persona 4, Dragon Quest 8, some of the Final Fantasy series, Arc the Lad, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Skies of Arcadia. My favorite game out of these was Dragon Quest 8, just because of the great story and amazing voice acting.

Im looking for RPG's that are on the following consoles:
Gamecube, PS2, PS3, Wii, or N64

I really like games that have good voice acting, good plot, and tons of great overall gameplay, thanks if you can help.

Personally, I'm a big fan of older games myself, and that list of systems doesn't really tie in too well to those. (And there were what, 2 RPGs for the N64?) But the one I would recommend, despite it not having any voice acting, is FF4: The After Years from WiiWare. The game has a great plot, and boy, did that gameplay suck me in! The entire game will run you about 3700 points, but the playtime I got out of everything gave me about 2 hours to the dollar.

As for other games, on PS2, some people have been mentioning the Shin Megami Tensei games (from Nocturne to Digital Devil Saga to Devil Summonner), which I will easily agree with. Other PS2 games that are good calls would be Eternal Poison, Growlanser (any one of them), and Suikoden. Just as a quick note with Suikoden, though- don't start with 4, as it is the weakest in the series. 1 or 2 (on PS1) make the best starting ground, but using 3 or 5 is also fine. Suikoden Tactics is a game that stands alone from the rest, and, as implied by the name, is, well, tactical! :P

I don't own a PS3, but there's one RPG that keeps getting hype on it- Demon's Souls. You say that you've already played it, though, so I guess I can't say too much more for that system. (Just like the N64, except there actually are a few other RPGs for it. I guess if you REALLY want another N64 game after Ogre Battle 64 (or the price on that seems to scary), the next one would be Quest 64, but in all honesty, it's not that good.)

Gamecube was also a tad short on RPGs. You've done Arcadia and Fire Emblem, and the Baten Kaitos series has been mentioned. Based on your list, I'm not sure whether Paper Mario would appeal to you or not, but Tales of Symphonia might. Though the entire Tales series seems to be hit or miss to people, Symphonia is one of the cheaper ones to find these days. If you do like it, then go ahead and grab other ones for the PS1/2, just know that some of them will get pricey. (Destiny 1/2 are the worst offenders.)

Unfortunately, the Wii retail games seem to be fairly tough also. Many of the good ones are sequels to the Gamecube, namely Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (which again, you've done), Super Paper Mario, and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Phantom Brave isn't really too bad, but I think the best games are tucked away in the VC offerings. But this post is already getting long, and I don't know how old you want me to go with those, if at all...

[bleachjoj]

Ps3- Demon souls

[grgspunk]

More ps2 games, both Ar Tonelico games, plus both Mana Khemia games. Oh, and there are the Altelier Iris (sp?) games, the first 2 were pretty good. Haven't finished the 3rd yet. It's ok, but so far less story focused, so not as good as the first 2.

Be advised, Ar Tonelico 2 recieved a horribly subpar localization. If the idea of having typos, grammatical errors, name changes, untranslated text, excessive translation liberties, or repeatable glitches in a game doesn't turn you off, then the fact that they omitted half the voices in both the English and Japanese options will.

That being said, its still a very good game, and the localization, while certainly subpar, is not the worst I've seen in an RPG.

The strength of the story manages to make it through all the flaws regardless.

Meh, I found Ar Tonelico 2 to be utterly boring, and the story basically comes down to two emo girls passive-aggressively competing with each other over who can be the bigger bitch (and thus earning the right to jump into the lead character's pants, which usually goes to the 3rd girl judging by the reactions on these forums). Oh, and the Fate of the World is in the Balance (TM), naturally.

It'd probably be a lot less boring if half the script wasn't mute.

[Fencedude]

It'd probably be a lot less boring if half the script wasn't mute.

Amazingly we managed to make it all the way to 2000 with complete unvoiced RPGs, so I doubt that that is the problem.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

Ending was a bit rushed. But, still probably my favorite of the 3, aside from the (ending relationship spoiler) fact that alan actually ended up with shion, when she'd ignored him completely for 2.95 games

Yeah, Episode III is probably my overall favorite as well. Each installment has their good points, though. For instance, in Episode I you have Magical Girl MOMO. That just floored me. :bigsmile: There was also Sherry Lynn as MOMO, and I couldn't help but think of Sasami every time she spoke in Episode I. MOMO's VA for Episodes II and III was equally cute, too. Also, I preferred Shion's VA in Episode II just a bit more than in I and III (both of Shion's VAs are good, though), and I enjoyed Shinji Hosoe's synthesizer BGM quite a bit. Episode III probably had the best battle system and balance of cutscenes to game engine narrative, but the prize for that installment goes to MOMO's character design (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/xenosaga/images/3/31/Momo3.jpg).

As for your spoiler, I'll never forget at the begninning of Episode II when the bumbling Allen stepped on Shion's glasses. How dare he remove her meganekko status! Fortunately, Shion looks good even without them. Still, I wanted to smack him for doing that! :sd: Clearly, Miyuki is the one truly meant for Shion.

[Fudce]

Get yourself a copy of Suikoden from the PSN store, for it's six dollars you wont regret it.

[AbeChinchilla]

PS2:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From the New World

In that order.

[Talyn]

PS2:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From the New World

In that order.

I third this recommendation... be forewarned. finding the first two is possible but open your pocket book... from the new world can be had for $20 at most places...

[grgspunk]

It'd probably be a lot less boring if half the script wasn't mute.

Amazingly we managed to make it all the way to 2000 with complete unvoiced RPGs, so I doubt that that is the problem.

None of them are anywhere near as heavy on the visual novel aspects as AT2. I'm pretty sure none of those other RPGs would have been recieved very well if they contained significant segments where had you spend 99.99% of your time doing nothing but reading line after line of text with nothing else to accompany it. I'm pretty sure cutting out significant portions of Japanese voices from a game that's nearly 40% visual novel would piss off a lot of the fans that might potentially enjoy it for the VN aspects, especially when you take into account that almost all of them are anime fans that demand at least a sub track for their titles.

[Draneor]

I'm pretty sure cutting out significant portions of Japanese voices from a game that's nearly 40% visual novel would piss off a lot of the fans that might potentially enjoy it for the VN aspects, especially when you take into account that almost all of them are anime fans that demand a sub track for their titles.

The only problem with this line of thought is many best selling visual novels were originally unvoiced and yet it didn't seem to effect their sales. Like Kanon, Air, Fate/Stay Night, Clannad, Higurashi, etc.

[Fencedude]

I'm pretty sure cutting out significant portions of Japanese voices from a game that's nearly 40% visual novel would piss off a lot of the fans that might potentially enjoy it for the VN aspects, especially when you take into account that almost all of them are anime fans that demand a sub track for their titles.

The only problem with this line of thought is many best selling visual novels were originally unvoiced and yet it didn't seem to effect their sales. Like Kanon, Air, Fate/Stay Night, Clannad, Higurashi, etc.

Exactly.

I can fully understand why someone may not like Ar Tonelico (the target audience for the games is pretty...specific), but the audio track problems aren't an issue except to the people who were already predisposed to like the game.

Also broodwars prefers dub tracks anyway.

[broodwars]

I'm pretty sure cutting out significant portions of Japanese voices from a game that's nearly 40% visual novel would piss off a lot of the fans that might potentially enjoy it for the VN aspects, especially when you take into account that almost all of them are anime fans that demand a sub track for their titles.

The only problem with this line of thought is many best selling visual novels were originally unvoiced and yet it didn't seem to effect their sales. Like Kanon, Air, Fate/Stay Night, Clannad, Higurashi, etc.

Exactly.

I can fully understand why someone may not like Ar Tonelico (the target audience for the games is pretty...specific), but the audio track problems aren't an issue except to the people who were already predisposed to like the game.

Also broodwars prefers dub tracks anyway.

How'd I get dragged back into this? ^_-

But yeah, the sea of never-ending text-on-static-backgrounds that comprises most of the game's storytelling was a real turn-off for me. It wouldn't have mattered if it was voiced or not (and there is quite a lot not voiced, even in the dub), all that text with literally nothing happening on-screen got so boring by the 3rd Phase (I think that's as far as I got, anyway) that I just put up the game and never looked back. It certainly didn't help that most of the text in that game is literally much ado about nothing, just random nonsense that happened to pop into the writers'/localization team's heads.

At least in Phoenix Wright (even more of a digital novel than Ar Tonelico is), you usually get to do something interactive more than once every 10 minutes besides hitting the "next page" button.

[bleachjoj]

Demon's souls- great rpg with great gameplay, onling co-op, pvp, and the boss battles are the best I ever played. It just very challenging http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14242310.html

[Betenoire]

Demon's souls- great rpg with great gameplay, onling co-op, pvp, and the boss battles are the best I ever played. It just very challenging http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14242310.html

Trying to stuff the ballot box (http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showpost.php?p=1700026&postcount=18)? :devil:

[bleachjoj]

Demon's souls- great rpg with great gameplay, onling co-op, pvp, and the boss battles are the best I ever played. It just very challenging http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14242310.html

Trying to stuff the ballot box (http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showpost.php?p=1700026&postcount=18)? :devil:

oh no nothing like that.:P

[dunno001]

PS2:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From the New World

In that order.

I third this recommendation... be forewarned. finding the first two is possible but open your pocket book... from the new world can be had for $20 at most places...

For me, locally, Covenant is the easiest to get. The 3 closest Gamestops to my house all have used copies for $20. From the New World (at $15) is a little harder to get. But yes, prepare to pay for the first one.

[broodwars]

PS2:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From the New World

In that order.

I third this recommendation... be forewarned. finding the first two is possible but open your pocket book... from the new world can be had for $20 at most places...

For me, locally, Covenant is the easiest to get. The 3 closest Gamestops to my house all have used copies for $20. From the New World (at $15) is a little harder to get. But yes, prepare to pay for the first one.

Same here. I've never had a problem finding copies of Covenant, but New World requires a bit of a drive or online hunting if I want it.

Of course, there's no point to picking up any of those games if you don't have a fully-backwards compatible PS3 or PS2. Covenant and New World are both completely unplayable on my 80 GB PS3. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll either have to pick up a PS2 ("Broodwars needs money...badly") or wait until they might arrive someday on PSN.

[Talyn]

Same here. I've never had a problem finding copies of Covenant, but New World requires a bit of a drive or online hunting if I want it.

Of course, there's no point to picking up any of those games if you don't have a fully-backwards compatible PS3 or PS2. Covenant and New World are both completely unplayable on my 80 GB PS3. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll either have to pick up a PS2 ("Broodwars needs money...badly") or wait until they might arrive someday on PSN.

maybe I need to move... it's the complete opposite here...:sd:

[Betenoire]

Same here. I've never had a problem finding copies of Covenant, but New World requires a bit of a drive or online hunting if I want it.

Of course, there's no point to picking up any of those games if you don't have a fully-backwards compatible PS3 or PS2. Covenant and New World are both completely unplayable on my 80 GB PS3. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll either have to pick up a PS2 ("Broodwars needs money...badly") or wait until they might arrive someday on PSN.

maybe I need to move... it's the complete opposite here...:sd:

Hmm...Mad town isn't that far a drive from me...

[Talyn]

Same here. I've never had a problem finding copies of Covenant, but New World requires a bit of a drive or online hunting if I want it.

Of course, there's no point to picking up any of those games if you don't have a fully-backwards compatible PS3 or PS2. Covenant and New World are both completely unplayable on my 80 GB PS3. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll either have to pick up a PS2 ("Broodwars needs money...badly") or wait until they might arrive someday on PSN.

maybe I need to move... it's the complete opposite here...:sd:

Hmm...Mad town isn't that far a drive from me...

The Gamestops here... really aren't all that great... we have PrePlayed but damn, every obscure game I want except to reclaim my Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts Covenant game.... (ex-wife took all my pc games and part of my rpg collection... and wasn't supposed to..)

[Betenoire]

The Gamestops here... really aren't all that great... we have PrePlayed but damn, every obscure game I want except to reclaim my Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts Covenant game.... (ex-wife took all my pc games and part of my rpg collection... and wasn't supposed to..)

Have you tried some of the pawn stores that have been popping up like weeds lately? Some will buy anything...I saw a faux wood Atari 2600 (with original box) and a bunch of games for $50 (if my later version 2600 didn't still work I might have been tempted a little)-the pawn places will take games GS and others won't in some cases.

[Isuzu Inugami]

PS2:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From the New World

In that order.

The first two Shadow Hearts games are fantastic (and need to be played together if at all possible.) Somehow the third kind of fell by the wayside for me... in spite of having Frank the Ninja, a goth-loli vampire, and a lead female who is a blonde Native American magical girl (don't try to make sense of it), complete with racy transformation sequences...

...

What the hell's wrong with me!?

Ahem, anyway, all the Suikoden games save 4 (but I haven't played the DS one) are excellent, althogh Tactics goes some way toward redeeming 4 (some of the characters carry over, although the game itself stands on its own), although it's a TRPG, so I don't know if those count for you as RPGs. If they do, you have to get Valkyria Chronicles!

The Xenosaga series is good, although the combat system for the second game nearly kills it for me. It's noteable for being a pure science fiction RPG.

Mana Khemia is a lot of fun, and supposedly the sequel is on par with it or better.

Okami is a gorgeous Zelda-style RPG (or is that just an action-adventure game? :sweat: )