starleafgirl

There are just too many fantastic, life-consuming JRPGs/series out there to list (Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon, Wild ARMs, Suikoden, Star Ocean, Grandia, Chrono, Dragon Quest, Valkyrie Profile, Persona, etc.), and even some somewhat later gen (.HACK and Xenosaga spring to mind) have their moments, but if I had to go with my absolute favorite...

It'd be a toss up between Phantasy Star IV (Sega Genesis) and Final Fantasy VII (Playstation One). A close second would be either Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (Playstation One), which is one of the few games I've beaten. Then there's Breath of Fire III -- oh no, I've started listing! D: I'll just stick with the two top choices.

The latter's (FFVII) definitely the more life-all-consuming (I'm now addicted to anything even remotely related to FFVII for fun, lol), but the former (PSIV) is the first game I ever beat -- and the only game I've bothered to beat twice, maybe even three times (I'm not sure at this point how many times I've beaten it, but it was definitely more than once!).

Having said that, I can understand why JRPGs get a bad rap these days. It seems nowadays they're all the same random anime whatever; even the more modern entries in Wild ARMs and Suikoden franchises, just to name a couple, have fallen into that trap. It's not necessarily bad, for something to play every once in a while, but it doesn't have me rushing to the store to buy every single JRPG out there.

If we had to talk about Nier (and I'll do so briefly), I appreciate it for trying to do something different, and its soundtrack is absolutely AMAZING, but it's just too damn depressing/ugly for me -- there's not one single happy ending. At least it's something different, though! High hopes for Xenoblade Chronicles!

But, in short (too late), they're nowhere near as fantastic as the JRPGs of old which, while having some faults (especially if there were way, way too many random battles), were awesome fun.

@Video_Game_King said:

@starleafgirl said:

You know, I had fun playing Persona

HOW!?

LOL, I never said it was easy to enjoy. Just that I was looking for something old-school at the time and that did it. ;D I got a kick out of some of the options in talking to monsters, too.

@mordukaisaid:

@Video_Game_King said:

@mordukai:

Because I haven't played Dragon Age 2. Or 1. Or any other possible Dragon Age games.

Dragon Age Origins is a must to any RPG fan who grew up with Bioware/Obsidian/Black Isle games. Dragon Age 2 you can skip.

That's how I feel about it, too, based on what I've seen and read. :)

@eternitymemory:

Tales of Xillia looks interesting! Definitely on my radar. Not sure about Phantom Brave being my thing (my sister, who loves Disgaea, might have it, I'll have to check!), but I definitely liked the Suikoden games; think I have them all by now, lol.

And yeah, I won't even go near the Shin Megami Tensei games, for fear of the difficulty level. I know challenging games are great for the hardcore gamers who are always looking for that next back-breaking challenge, but that's not me. I still get the thrill of completing something (or beating someone in Street Fighter, lol), but I'm not looking for the most hardcore challenges ever. Like, I'll play FFVII and enjoy it back to front, picking up some hidden/secret stuff along the way, but I'm not going to hunt down and try again and again until I beat all the WEAPONs.

--

To everyone else, thanks for all the suggestions, some really good ones in there. :o

@Undeadpool said:

@starleafgirl: If you've still got a working PS2 (or PSP in a couple of cases) both Personas 3 & 4 are pretty much the best JRPGs I've played in the last two generations. Also since you're new to the site, and if you've already played Persona 4, check THIS out. It starts slow, but gets progressively better.

You know, I had fun playing Persona and Persona 2, but... when the game starts making it so that you have to shoot yourself in the head in order to summon your Persona, that's just getting waaaaay too creepy/disturbing for me. XD That and the difficulty level of P3 and P4 (read that they're especially great for hardcore gamers, which I haven't been in, like, a decade) means they're a pass for me, though that video is pretty neat. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

I liked FFXII, haven't gotten FFXIII yet but it seems like the kind of game I'd like. I'm pretty obsessive about buying FF and DQ games, think I've got 'em all by now.

I haven't enjoyed a Tales game since the PS2... not sure they're for me anymore. Creepy lesbian groper, though? Lolz. I looked it up and you're right, that's just so creepy/silly/wtf. Put Tales of Vesperia on my list, looks more like something I'd like, thanks for the suggestion.

And thanks to others for the other suggestions. GiantBomb is a great resource for looking up info on these games...

EDIT: I'm checking consoles' individual game forums now, pretty much every forum has a topic about RPGs, yay.

@Dagbiker said:

Also, welcome to the site.

Thanks! :)

@LordXavierBritish said:

I need more than this or I'm going to tell you to play Radiant Historia and you will have to play it. That is how it works.

Lol, I have it already, thanks. XD

And thanks to others for the info.

I'm basically looking for the best/most entertaining RPGs (I like ones with good stories, preferably) for any console, from the last few years or so recently, so that I don't miss out on something good just 'cos I don't own that particular console yet. Good RPGs, particularly non-Western ones, don't come across very often anymore, so I thought I'd keep a list for future use. Xenoblade Chronicles, for instance, is going on this list even though I don't have a Wii and don't plan on owning one in the near future (might wait for Wii U).

The Mass Effect trilogy (or possibly just the last one) is high on my to-buy list, as well. I make an exception for sci-fi RPGs, since there aren't many worth playing.

Hi, are there any lists that are good for RPGs? I tried searching by the genre Role-playing, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Basically, I'm looking for any sort of info on RPGs in current consoles and handhelds.... I just want to look up a bunch of RPGs to file away for possible future purpose. Between WRPG and JRPG, I prefer JRPGs. Willing to look into tactical RPGs or action RPGs as well.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Does Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII count as "this generation"...? If you liked FFVII -- and maybe even if you didn't -- I'd suggest it. It's not open-world, in fact the gameplay is mainly mission-based, but you can wander around a few locations sometimes (ShinRa Headquarters, Midgar) that had me nostalgic for FFVII. Not to mention the cutscenes were awesome.

For recent JRPGs: I had fun playing Hexyz Force lately. It's a little cutesy-ish, and not anything amazing, but it was fun and had a decent story. Got more wandering around than Riviera: The Promised Land, which was also entertaining and anime-ish. Other than that, the new RPGs I've been playing on the PSP are mainly tactical RPGs.

Lost Odyssey looks really good, but I don't have an Xbox 360. I'll put it down for a possible future purchase if I get one, though, so thanks for the recommendations in this thread.

digivolved -- that doesn't really seem like it should count, 'cos it's not a real word... strictly speaking. XD

Thanks for replying. ^^ So it's major enough to warrant its own page? Or is this more of a "note on the main Dissidia page about the release" thing...?

The two pages in question:

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

Dissidia: Final Fantasy Universal Tuning

So there's this Universal Tuning "international version" of Dissidia that's got not only its own page, but a Release on the original Dissidia page. My question, which came to me as I was adding a bunch of original Dissidia stuff to the page, is whether a Universal Tuning entry is really needed. Is it different enough to warrant its own page? It's got the original Dissidia stuff, for sure, but is there anything additional?

Without question, it's a re-release that includes stuff that got added/fixed in the Western version. As for anything else...

It's a Japanese release, so I don't have it, but this site says...

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http://www.siliconera.com/2009/08/23/what-is-dissidia-final-fantasy-universal-tuning/

Update: As expected Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning is an “international” version of Dissidia: Final Fantasy . The revised game includes the arcade mode Square Enix added for the Western release, over 100 extra character tuning options, and English voice acting with Japanese subtitles.
Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning will be released as a retail game and a downloadble title on the PlayStation Store. Previous save data (i.e. save data from the Japanese verison) can be transferred to Universal Tuning .

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I played and beat the original game and I'm not sure what they mean by tuning... I guess it's translated from the Japanese for character customization in Dissidia.

In any case, I just wanted to consult someone who knew for sure rather than ignore something that might be better off deleted or combined. It's not a new game, but if that site's right, it's got a mode and English voice acting from the Western release and new character options.

Obviously, unhelpful Wikipedia just says it's a direct port of the Western version. I know, I'm not trusting Wikipedia, just sayin', lol.