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Console RPG recommendations?

B

brooklyngooner

Member
Hello all,

I really enjoy RPGs but have almost always played them only on PC, my favorites being Fallout2, Planescape, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, etc. But recently I have noticed quite a number of console RPGs on sale and would like to play more of them. I own three consoles (not 360, rather PS2, GC and Xbox) and am hoping you can offer some recommendations based on my tastes. I often work long hours and live with my girlfriend so game time is always limited.

What I like: new, interesting and useful loot, finite cast of playable characters, coherent storyline (even if it is cliche), interesting art design (I'm not any sort of expert, but I do appreciate visual style), challenging bosses, strategic but rather quick battles

What I don't: drawn-out cutscenes, too much anime-inspired stuff, mini-games, high difficulty (lack of time means playing certain scenes over and over makes me lose interest), length, drawn-out combat

Games I've played and liked (console): DQVIII, Skies of Arcadia, KOTOR

Didn't: Xenosaga (hated), Suikoden IV, Baten Kaitos, FFX

I suppose this equates to liking rather formulaic RPGs, and if this is the case, you can say so and my feelings won't be hurt.
 
GitarooMan said:
Grandia I + II (PS1 and PS2) Especially Grandia I if you can handle the dated visuals
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The PS2 version of Grandia II SUCXXX MAXIMUM BALZZ. Avoid at all costs!! Shit frame rate, terrible graphics, funky sound bleh. Get the DC version.
 
Doom_Bringer said:
The PS2 version of Grandia II SUCXXX MAXIMUM BALZZ. Avoid at all costs!! Shit frame rate, terrible graphics, funky sound bleh. Get the DC version.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I knew that but I figured since I don't think he has a DC he could get that version. I've only played the DC version, is it really that bad that you wouldn't get if you didn't have a DC?
 
I will never understand this boards fascination with Grandia.

Why? The stories are usually always nonexistant or terrible, and the damn games, especially the more recent ones, are some of the most repetitive stuff around.

Radiata Stories for PS2 has some of what you like: great visual aethetics, because of its unique art style, very quick active battles that you can issue commands to your co-fighters, and a storyline that goes from boring to interesting to awful (I mention this simply because the main characters are *fantastic,* so though the story ends something fierce, the main charactrs make up for it.) However, you mention finite characters - this one has like 110, so its a recruiter-type.

If you liked Skies of Arcadia, try Tales of Symphonia for the GC.
Again, its got a nice visual appeal (its animie based) and I felt the two games had a similiar feel, though ToS is active battle and not turn based.

Since you like PC games, if you like tactic RPGs then go with Fire Emblem for GC also. It's a goodie.
 
Gooner, have you ever played Final Fantasy Tactics? I think that would be right up your alley.


If not that, then try Fire Emblem.
 
I will never understand this boards fasination with Grandia.

Why? The stories are usually always nonexistant or terrible, and the damn games, especially the more recent ones, are some of the most repetitive stuff around.
Click to expand...

It harbors one of the best battle systems ever in a console RPG, and in the case of Grandia Xtreme, deep character/egg customization and huge dungeons. I could care less about the quality of the story/character fluff.
 
Front Mission 3, 4, and 5.
Final Fantasy Tactics
Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga
Disgaea
Metal Saga
Suikoen 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Everything else sucks.
 
I've never tried the tactical-based RPGs. I was checking out Fire Emblem, it seems to get good feedback here. What exactly is the battle system like?

Radiata Stories interests me. My comment about recruiter-type large casts is due to limited time, I feel as though I'd miss out on a great deal since there's little chance I'd replay it or do 70+ hours with it. Would that be a problem here?

I don't have a problem with active v. turn-based combat. I prefer the latter, but it's not an issue, really.

The thing about Arcadia for me is that it's not like aspects of it were spectacular, but everything was done well. I always gravitate towards that rather than, say, a title with fantastic art style with awful play mechanics.

Thanks for all the recommendations.
 
Im in the same boat as you. I love Fallout, Baldurs Gate I and II, Icewind Dale, Planescape. I also enjoyed DQVIII and Skies of Arcadia.

I played and beaten Radiate Stories and I hate that game (im a completest). The whole game centers around you recruiting the 100+ characters and that is where you spend most of your time. If they took that out, the whole game would be 20 hrs max. Not to mention the overworld, holy hell that was bad. Ever played Final Fantasy Mystic Quest? Thats basically the same overworld as Radiata Stories. I recommend renting it for a weekend and see if its for you.

Now, if you enjoyed Skies, I would definately recommend Tales of Symphonia, that game was awesome. Good characters, fun (albeit formulatic) story, good battle system, but the game is pretty long. Not DQ7 long, but its over 60 hours.

Myself, Im fighting on which RPG to play next. I have about 7-8 lined up :)
 
brooklyngooner said:
What I like: new, interesting and useful loot, finite cast of playable characters, coherent storyline (even if it is cliche), interesting art design (I'm not any sort of expert, but I do appreciate visual style), challenging bosses, strategic but rather quick battles
Click to expand...

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1&2 -- it's calling for you!
Nocturne as well if you can cope with the challenging diffuculty and deep recruiting system.
 
- Shadow Hearts 1
- Shadow Hearts: Covenant (easily the best RPG this generation, in my humble opinion)
- Digital Devil Saga 1
- Digital Devil Saga 2
 
How about the Wild Arms series? I can get 3 for under 20 bucks, and I'm curious about the setting.

ToS I will certainly pick up then, thanks.

GreenNight: That was my concern with Radiata. I hated the fractured storytelling of Suikoden IV; I much prefer to develop and watch a small cast rather than deal with many and do the swap in-out combat.

If it helps I would say my favorite console RPG is FFVII. I can't say how it holds up as I haven't played it since I beat in way back when, but it's the one I remember having the most fun with.
 
Himuro said:
SMT's high difficulty disagrees with his prerequisite.
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If a game is that good I will deal with it. I guess I should say it's more cheap difficulty -- monsters who can kill you in one spell/swoop when you haven't been able to save for 45 minutes sort of difficult.
 
Well, in Radiata you dont have to do shit with the other 100+ characters. Personally I just blew most of them off. I found a good 3 characters that kick butt in battle and then told the rest to f off. The problem with this is that the harder to get characters are better in battle. Oh, and the story doesnt give a crap about what characters you have in battle. Sometimes there are extra dialog but for the most part it really doesnt matter
 
brooklyngooner said:
I've never tried the tactical-based RPGs. I was checking out Fire Emblem, it seems to get good feedback here. What exactly is the battle system like?

Radiata Stories interests me. My comment about recruiter-type large casts is due to limited time, I feel as though I'd miss out on a great deal since there's little chance I'd replay it or do 70+ hours with it. Would that be a problem here?

I don't have a problem with active v. turn-based combat. I prefer the latter, but it's not an issue, really.

The thing about Arcadia for me is that it's not like aspects of it were spectacular, but everything was done well. I always gravitate towards that rather than, say, a title with fantastic art style with awful play mechanics.

Thanks for all the recommendations.
Click to expand...

While I agree with Green that Radiata is around 20 hours if you dont try to recruit everyone, you said yourself you didn't have a lot of time, and the 20 hours spent with
characters like Jack and Ganz was well worth it - for me at least.

Hell, I think I beat the game in around 40 (my limit with standing RPGs) and I got maybe 80% of the characters. You don't really get rewarded for getting all of them, so I don't bother.

3/4 through the game you have to make a decision that changes the other part of the game COMPLETLY, and changes your ending, so to get every character you'd essentially have to play the 2nd half twice... I'm not into that, so I only took one path. Anyway, I just loved the art and characters, hence my recomendation.

Good, glad to see your getting ToS - good choice, get the GC version as its the original, the PS2 was a port.

For Wild Arms, the only one I really liked was the original, which I did enjoy, for the PS1. I think they just remade it for PS2, right? Isn't Alter Code F a remake of Wild Arms 1? That may interest you if you can get it cheap - its like an RPG, turn based, with a Wild Western feel to it - I always felt.
 
He said he hated FFX. Its understandable. ToS > FFX just because the battles are under 30 seconds as opposed to many minutes
 
John Harker said:
I will never understand this boards fascination with Grandia.
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Grandia is my favorite game of all time, and I've been playing games for about 25 years now.

Kinda simliar to what MoxManiac says, story is not everything in an RPG and I'd go far as to say people who think RPGs are about story are smoking, because all of them are pretty lousy. The only Grandia with nonexistent story is Grandia Xtreme, and it's not a traditional RPG at all. The stories in the other Grandia games are no worse than what other RPGs offer. In fact, the innocence of the first Grandia is quite charming.

Grandia oozes with personality in each of the towns and locales you visit. You can spend an hour just talking to all the citizens of towns to hear everything they have to say, wrapping you in a living breathing world. You can bump into things. You hear everything in a surround-kind of audio, incredily impressive for the 32 bit generation. The free rotating camera allows for some neat dungeon exploration with items that are hidden unless you do play with the camera.

And the battles...

Grandia is the most evolved form of console RPGs. Everything from the elimination of tedious random battles to the complex, yet simple battle engine shows that RPGs can actually be fun to -play- and not just read. Grandia's entertainment comes from understanding how timing plays a huge role in the battles. Every move you make, whether it be to attack, cast a spell, or use an item has a warmup time and an execution time. For instance, when you cast a spell, it requires a certain duration of time for you to chant the spell before you cast it. In that chanting period, you are at your most vulnerable point. Therefore, if an enemy hits you, it could potentially delay your spell or even cancel it entirely! That's the crux of Grandia's engine, the ability to affect people's turns based on timing.

For the original poster, there's nothing I could recommend more than Grandia. In fact, because of Grandia, I can't really play most RPGs anymore. It ditches all the outdated aspects that many jRPGs still cling to, and instead forges a path of what modern RPGs could be. It's fast, strategic, and there is a level of polish that is unrivaled. You can tell that GameArts loved what they do.
 
Sure, if you used a summon, but otherwise I suppose its no longer than whats typical. Of course I think typical battle length in RPGs are much longer than they should be. Unless Im playing SRPG that is.
 
I didn't hate FFX, there was a lot to admire, it's more that I don't like the feeling of playing a movie -- it felt too much like going from one cutscene to the next. I didn't get the sense anything I did affected anything since all I had to do was live through a battle to move to the next plot point. It may be that I didn't give it enough time, but I wasn't really digging the characters much either.

Xenosaga is the only one I've actively hated.
 
Well, it has been quite a while since I played it. My memory can definately be fuzzy at times. Maybe I was thinking of another game *shrug*
 
The original Grandia's story is quite good actually. Grandia II's story is mediocre and Grandia III"s story is just outright awful.
 
Final Fantasy Tactics is a game everyone should play at least once. Also, Disgaea is crazy fun, and the original Suikoden's for tactical RPG's. I also liked ToS and Grandia, and the original poster obviously has good taste since he had DQVIII in his liked list.
 
tsutaya10yq.jpg
 
I know you said you don't care for minigames, but get dark cloud 2 if you're looking for an awesome ARPG.

Even if you completely ignore the fish raising, fish racing, spheda (golf), fishing, photography, inventing and maybe other things I'm forgetting, you're still going to get a 50 hour fun as hell game for <$20
 
Yeah, I was wondering about Atelier Iris as well. And Magna Carta.

I've thought about DC2, and will likely rent it, but usually ARPGs aren't my thing. I wasn't overwhelmed by Wind Waker and (I'm not sure what it's considered) Fable was fun for about three hours and then was just too repetitive and far too linear for my tastes.

What is Nocturne like?
 
I own Nocturne but have yet to play it. According to people on GAF it has a pretty high difficulty and that there is alot of recruiting. I have heard one person say that its like pokemon but with devils.
 
brooklyngooner said:
Yeah, I was wondering about Atelier Iris as well. And Magna Carta.

I've thought about DC2, and will likely rent it, but usually ARPGs aren't my thing. I wasn't overwhelmed by Wind Waker and (I'm not sure what it's considered) Fable was fun for about three hours and then was just too repetitive and far too linear for my tastes.

What is Nocturne like?
Click to expand...

Magna Carta's battle system isn't that great, in my opinion. I found it needlessly complex (in that it goes through several steps to be original, but at the expense of streamlining).
 
brooklyngooner said:
What is Nocturne like?
Click to expand...
pokemon style gameplay (don't get confused it rocks), awesome battle system very strategic, great art direction some of the best ever in fact, awesome and subtle story there aren't many cutscenes but the story is original and pretty good, great soundtrack and well the game is challenging is not going to be an easy walk don't know if you view that as a negative or positive.
 
The only RPG that I've ever played that feels remotely like "playing a movie" is Xenosaga and its /frequent/ 30 minute cutscenes. FFX isn't even close.

I have over 500 hours on my FFX save file... not even 1% of that is cutscenes.
 
Gonna also put forth a recommendation for the Shadow Hearts games - well, the second one can be 40-50 hours long if you do all the subquests, but they seem to fit all your other categories to a tee. And dare I say that SH2 is the second best RPG this generation...
 
I highly recommend Shadow Hearts Covenant too... I'm playing through this right now and its easily the best RPG on PS2 imo

Ateiler Iris is ok... Light-hearted traditional RPG but something is missing...
 
Digtal devil saga 1 and 2. It had one of the most gripping stories ive ever played through. it also has a very quick and enjoyable combat system. You dont have the long attack sequences which gives the game a better pace.
 
I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm going with Final Fantasy X-2 and Paper Mario.

Just kidding.

I picked up Tales of Symphonia, Wild Arms 3, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant for around 50 bucks on eBay. I will keep my eye on Fire Emblem and will try to pick up Grandia II used.
 
brooklyngooner said:
I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm going with Final Fantasy X-2 and Paper Mario.

Just kidding.

I picked up Tales of Symphonia, Wild Arms 3, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant for around 50 bucks on eBay. I will keep my eye on Fire Emblem and will try to pick up Grandia II used.
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I'd seriously consider Paper mario 2 if i were you./ Its something completely different. If you like mario, you cant help but fall in love with it.

Ive only played one of the game you have picked up, which is ToS. The game is good. the story is quite cliche in some parts, but its still an enjoyable plot. The voice acting just terrible, but good music will make up for that. ToS shines for its highly enjoyable combat system. Its a break from the usual turn based action and you wont get bored of it quickly.
 
has anyone recommended xenogears yet? well, i would go for that one. the battles to me have more of an active feel than xenosaga(although ive only played the first saga)and much less cut scenes. that, and the mecha have awesome designs

also, if you like the smt series, you should try to find persona 1 and 2 for the ps1. its smt with an american name
 
Paper Mario for the Gamecube was an Excellent game. I don't have much for my GC at home, but I don't have any stinkers for the Cube either.
 
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