Request for some decent PS2 RPGs

[Brickyard]

I've had a PS2 for quite some time, mostly for racing games (Gran Turismo, Need For Speeds, WRC game), and also for the two LOTR movie games (good hack-and-slash fun).

 

But with the lack of many decent PC RPGs lately, I was wondering if someone could kindly direct me to a few of the more decent RPGs for the PS2.

 

I did pick up Final Fantasy X over the weekend, but haven't really given it a try yet. I heard that Final Fantasy X-2 is pretty childish (heard it was designed for 14-year old girls from one person, and someone else completely agreed).

 

So, any other titles (and they don't have to be new, just "new to me") that people highly recommend for good storylines and decent fighting/leveling systems?

[Darque]

I liked FF-X2

 

I'm not sure what your tastes are, but you might enjoy Shadow Hearts.

[Oerwinde]

Well if you like JRPGs theres plenty. Suikoden 3, Xenosaga is good if you don't mind a LOT of cinematics(60 hour game, you play about 20-30 hours of it, the story is awesome though), Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is good, Kingdom Hearts is a good Action RPG. Theres also Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4, but I haven't played them so I can't reccomend them.

[Judas]

Play FFX. I loved that game - one of my favourite JRPG's ever. FFX-2 is so-so...I played thru it just because I wanted to finish the FFX story.

 

Xenosaga was really good as well - lots of cinematics, like Oerwinde said, but still really good. Just starting Xenosaga 2 right now, and it seems pretty good so far.

 

I really wanted to like Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but the frantic battle system and lack of save points really turned me off. Nothing like palying for over an hour with no save in sight, only to die and lose everything. I packed the game up after that little incident.

 

And another vote for Kingdom Hearts if you like action RPG's.

[mkreku]

Since you like racing games (or so it seems) and RPG's, I'd recommend a very obscure title that might be hard to come by: Road Trip Adventure.

 

It's a CaRPG

 

Actually, it's a very enjoyable game, once you manage to upgrade your car enough to make it controllable. When you start the game your car is so sluggish it's not even funny. After that, you'll be amazed at just how much the game has to offer. Football, golf, racing, hidden secrets, bundles of quests, pearl diving (!) and much much more. It's highly recommended by me.

[Brickyard]

Well I don't really know if I like JRPGs, to be honest, as FFX is the first one I've gotten (apart from all the Zelda's up to Ocarina of Time), and I've only really played the intro so far.

 

And yes, I do like racing games (most of my racing time has been spent on EA's F12002 and F1 Challenge and their multitude of mods on the PC), so a car-type RPG sounds intriguing.

 

Not sure if a mostly cinematic game is to my liking, but I'll keep it in mind.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Llyranor]

..... How about you play FFX first, then see how you like the genre?

[jaguars4ever]

...and if it turns out you don't like JRPG's - well, then you better look towards the XBOX & PC for your RPG fix.

[Plin]

Try to get Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (they have much, much more in common with CRPG's than any games in this thread). Forget what anyone else said in this thread. You'd be wasting your money if you take alot of their advise.

[Oerwinde]

Play FFX. I loved that game - one of my favourite JRPG's ever. FFX-2 is so-so...I played thru it just because I wanted to finish the FFX story.

 

Xenosaga was really good as well - lots of cinematics, like Oerwinde said, but still really good.  Just starting Xenosaga 2 right now, and it seems pretty good so far.

 

I really wanted to like Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but the frantic battle system and lack of save points really turned me off. Nothing like palying for over an hour with no save in sight, only to die and lose everything. I packed the game up after that little incident.

 

And another vote for Kingdom Hearts if you like action RPG's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I never had a problem with save points in Star Ocean. If I remember right you can save in every city, and theres usually at least 2 in each dungeon. My problem was money. Well... until you recruit enough good inventors to start pumping out moneymakers.

[Nartwak]

Buy Disgaea: Hour of Darkness! (w00t)

 

Edit: Or, in the hack-and-slash tradition, you might enjoy Champions of Norrath II: Return to Arms. X-Men: Legends is also decent.

Edited May 26, 2005 by Nartwak

[Jumjalum]

Are there better RPGs for Xbox? It doesn't seem like there's a huge amount of choice on Playstation apart from the Final Fantasy games.

[Brickyard]

Well I finally got my PS2 to be able to read "blue discs", so for the next few days I'll be playing Lego Star Wars (just plain stupidly simple, but SO MUCH FUN). After that, I'll seriously play some FFX, and then see what I think of it. If I like it, I'll take a list of the games given here and look for a couple.

 

Thanks again.

[Oerwinde]

Are there better RPGs for Xbox?  It doesn't seem like there's a huge amount of choice on Playstation apart from the Final Fantasy games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Xbox has like 4 or 5 RPGs. 3 of which are available on PC with better graphics(well, if you download mods for Morrowind it has better graphics). PS2 has tons of RPGs as long as you don't mind JRPGs. I personally own Suikoden 3, FFX, FFX-2, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time, Wild Arms 3, and Xenosaga. I want to buy Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4. I've heard good things about a couple others mentioned here, and FFXII is coming out sometime either around christmas or sometime next year.

[Archmonarch]

I believe FFXII comes out sometime next year as SE (Square-Enix) posted their scheduled releases for this year. Besides, I read somewhere they expect lessened sales from the release of the PS3 at approximately the same time.

[Drakron]

Considering the PS3 is backward compatible ... I doubt it.

 

True that FF IX have lower sales but I blame more the game (that was a classic FF title after 2 non FF classics that were all PS One titles) that it was released at the same time as PS2 launch.

 

Besides FF XII have been delayed, it sould have come out about a year ago but considering the radical departure of some FF mechanics its no suprise.

 

Another thing to consider is that the PS2 market is far greater that the PS One market was, the PS3 is not that much a improvent over the PS2 (unless you are a graphic whore) as it was the change from PS One to PS2, there are several games that are going to be released around the time PS3 launches, not to say PS3 might sell as "hot cakes" but its not going to be near PS2 numbers.

[jaguars4ever]

Xbox has like 4 or 5 RPGs. 3 of which are available on PC with better graphics(well, if you download mods for Morrowind it has better graphics). PS2 has tons of RPGs as long as you don't mind JRPGs. I personally own Suikoden 3, FFX, FFX-2, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time, Wild Arms 3, and Xenosaga. I want to buy Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4. I've heard good things about a couple others mentioned here, and FFXII is coming out sometime either around christmas or sometime next year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He actually has to like JRPG's though...and they can be an acquired taste. Excluding that of the JRPG variety, the PS2 has about 1 or 2 decent RPG's which doesn't really make it worth it...unless he likes JRPG's of course! ^_^

[Oerwinde]

Xbox has like 4 or 5 RPGs. 3 of which are available on PC with better graphics(well, if you download mods for Morrowind it has better graphics). PS2 has tons of RPGs as long as you don't mind JRPGs. I personally own Suikoden 3, FFX, FFX-2, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time, Wild Arms 3, and Xenosaga. I want to buy Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4. I've heard good things about a couple others mentioned here, and FFXII is coming out sometime either around christmas or sometime next year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He actually has to like JRPG's though...and they can be an acquired taste. Excluding that of the JRPG variety, the PS2 has about 1 or 2 decent RPG's which doesn't really make it worth it...unless he likes JRPG's of course! ^_^

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

And chances are he has a PC, since he's on the boards here, which leaves 1 or 2 on the Xbox so unless he likes JRPGs, he's SOL.

[Judas]

PS2 has tons of RPGs as long as you don't mind JRPGs. I personally own Suikoden 3, FFX, FFX-2, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time, Wild Arms 3, and Xenosaga. I want to buy Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4. I've heard good things about a couple others mentioned here, and FFXII is coming out sometime either around christmas or sometime next year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How was Wild Arms 3? I played the first one waayyy back and remember liking it...I didn't even know that WA3 was out for the PS2 (or WA2 for that matter...) - I saw it for dirt cheap but picked up Xenosaga 2 instead. I was tempted to try Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter as well, which was also available for an absurdly cheap price.

[Oerwinde]

PS2 has tons of RPGs as long as you don't mind JRPGs. I personally own Suikoden 3, FFX, FFX-2, Star Ocean: Until the End of Time, Wild Arms 3, and Xenosaga. I want to buy Xenosaga 2 and Suikoden 4. I've heard good things about a couple others mentioned here, and FFXII is coming out sometime either around christmas or sometime next year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How was Wild Arms 3? I played the first one waayyy back and remember liking it...I didn't even know that WA3 was out for the PS2 (or WA2 for that matter...) - I saw it for dirt cheap but picked up Xenosaga 2 instead. I was tempted to try Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter as well, which was also available for an absurdly cheap price.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Theres a reason Dragon Quarter is absurdly cheap. I'm just glad they left "5" out of the title so there might be a possibility of there being a Breath of Fire 5. Dragon Quarter is like if you take a Breath of Fire game, and take everything you liked about the first 4, set it off to the side, then think of the one story and setting that could drive away whatever fans of the BoF games still remained.

 

Wild Arms 3 was ok, but its waaaaaaay too simplified. You only get 4 characters through the whole game, which I guess allows for more character depth, but they don't bother with that. The game follows the formula of: Go to town > Go to Dungeon > Go to town > Go to Dungeon. Over and over. Wild Arms 2 is the best of the 3, but they're remaking Wild Arms 1 for the PS2, so it will be interesting to see what they add to it.

[Brickyard]

And chances are he has a PC, since he's on the boards here, which leaves 1 or 2 on the Xbox so unless he likes JRPGs, he's SOL.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yup, I have a PC, and I also have Morrowind, KOTOR and KOTOR 2, which I think are 3 of the "4 or 5 RPGs for XBOX", so XBOX isn't really an option. And for Morrowind, I've got like 100+ mods installed. Don't consider Morrowind a "good RPG", but do consider it a really good adventure/exploration game. I really like the game, but not as an RPG.

 

So FFXI, would that be "typical" of JRPGs? If I like that game, chances are I'll like many of the others?

 

And the Zelda games, those are or are not "typical" of JRPGs? I've played them all through Ocarina of Time, and really liked them, especially Ocarina.

[Archmonarch]

FFXI is an MMORPG, and thus distinctly different from the rest of the FF series. I'd try one of them first before deciding if you like the franchise.

 

As for Zelda, while they have some RPG qualities, they are at heart Adventure games and therefore do not fit the JRPG mold.

 

Also, I liked Kingdom Hearts (a collaboration of SE and Disney), which is definitely a JRPG.

[Brickyard]

Yeah, I meant FF 10, not 11. Was thinking of 11, since a friend plays that one (I don't), sorry.

[Bytor]

Anyone know anything about the release of FF 12??

 

Especially in he UK

[Archmonarch]

Well based on the fact it hasnt been released in Japan yet, there is little way of knowing an American or European release date,