Some questions about console-RO

[Kautilya]

Now that the price is down to 200 I am half-thinking about it.

(EDIT: Sorry for the half-finished post. See the post below.)

[FrustratedPoet]

EDIT:

*stupid me posted in wrong forum*

/me is an idiot. Please ignore him

[Kautilya]

LOL. Sorry for the mess-up. I was in the middle of writing the post when I had to do something else. I must have sent it by mistake.

Anyway the title of the thread should have been "Questions about Console RPG" ( can someone change it?)

The first sentence was supposed to be " Now that the price is down to 200 I am half-thinking of buying a PS2"

Basically I wanted information about PS2 RPG's especially Japanese RPG ; how good they are , which are the best titles etc?

[FrustratedPoet]

This post is actually supposed to be here.

Good RPG's for the PS2 (in no particular order):

1. Grandia II - I've played it and really enjoyed it. The combat system is the best I've seen since Shining Force 2 (which was a while back ). It probably isn't worth the full price, though, but it must have been out in the US for while now so it should have a discount in some stores. Check it out.

2. Final Fantasy X - I have only played the Demo 'cos it isn't out in Europe yet, but this looks like the first of the FF games that could match up to number 7. A lot of 'hardcore' RPG fans don't like Final Fantasy games, for all sorts of reasons, but I think they're pretty good and I'm looking forward to trying out FF10.

3. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. Nothing like the PC version of Baldur's Gate (which is a good thing for me, bad for others). It is loads of fun if you have a friend who wants to play it through with you, but I found the one player game to be lacking in comparison to the two-player version.

Others ... erm ... well all the RPG's that came out in the early months of the PS2's life were pretty poor, but the future looks brighter. Xenosaga and Genso Suikoden III are due out in the coming months ... dunno if they're gonna come out in the US or Europe (they'd better do ), but they both should be good updates of top-quality PSOne RPG's. If you like Japanese RPG's then you'll love those.

Also there is the looming prescence of Final Fantasy XI on the horizon. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of MMORPG's (check other threads in this forum ), but this game has got huge praise from the previews and looks to be pretty good. You'll need an internet connection (and a hard-drive??? ... dunno) for your PS2 to play it of course, but it could be the kind of thing you'll like.

I am a fan of the PS2, despite it's faults, but the GameCube is even cheaper - £130 in England, dunno what price is in US - and Nintendo have an AWESOME reputation of turning out good RPG's. The Super-Nes probably had the best library of RPG's of any console ever and even the N64 had a few. If you can't afford both then you might want to look into getting a GameCube.

I won't mention the X-Box because all it's good RPG's (when there are some) should also be available for the PC at some point soon afterwards.

[Kautilya]

Thanks for the info.

The original Playstation games are also playable on the PS2 right? What are the good RPG's on that?

"If you like Japanes RPG's..."
Actually I hardly play console games. But I have heard people like Snowfire rave about Japanese RPG which is why I wanted more information. What makes Japanese RPG special compared to PC RPG?

[FrustratedPoet]

Yeah the original Playstation RPG's are playable on the PS2. You'll need an original PSOne memory card, though 'cos the old games aren't compatible with the new memory cards.

Good PSOne RPG's:

Final Fantasy 7 and 8 and 9 (7 is the best of them IMHO, 8 the worst)
Genso Suikoden 1 and 2 (these are good, lots of secret characters and your completed saved game from #1 will unlock different things in #2)
Breath of Fire 3 and 4
Chrono Cross (I've never played it 'cos it ain't out in England, but it's predecessor Chrono Trigger - on Super Nes - was one of the best RPG's ever)
Valkyrie Profile (again, not out in England, but it got great reviews)
Vandal Hearts 2 (not the best RPG on the system, but good if you like a tactical turn-based battle system)
Front Mission 3 (ditto Vandal Hearts)
Final Fantasy Tactics (never played ... again ... but got good reviews)
Xenogears (half the RPG fans hate it, half of them think it's the best RPG ever ... i've never played it)

searching for reviews of these games on Playstation gaming sites should help you figure out what you'd like.
There might be more, these are just the ones I can think of of the top of my head.

[FrustratedPoet]

Some of the games I listed above, although good, will have pretty poor graphics 'cos most of them are several years old. Gameplay's the most important thing, of course ... I just thought I should warn you though. Final Fantasy 7 is probably my favourite game I've played from the ones listed above, but by today's 3rd Generation console standards they are pretty darn ugly.

What's special about Japanese RPG's (console RPG's) compared to PC ones? The console games tend to be more linear, which some people think is bad because they aren't free to do whatever they want, but other people (me ) think is good because it allows more of a focus on the story and stops you gettin side-tracked and lost in meaningless side-quests.

The Japanese syle of RPG tends to be more cute and cartoon-like (eg. Final Fantasy 9) than the more mature and realistic style of PC RPG's (Baldur's Gate, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights). Again, different people prefer different things, I'm kinda partial to both styles in their own way.

Sorry, gotta go now 'cos the Football's on TV.

[FrustratedPoet]

There's a preview at IGN of a new Japanese RPG for the PS2 - details are sparse, but it looks kinda promising and is set for a US release.

Link:
Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time

[FrustratedPoet]

The graphics are pretty sweet too:
(sorry if they take a long time to load)

[SnowFire]

Well, it seems I've been summoned... darn you Kautilya, I've got a final due at 4:00 today, so this will be short. I'll be back though.

Pretty much the best thing I can say about console RPGs is that if you're not sure you'll like them, try downloading a SNES emulator and some of the classic RPGs for that platform. It'll be free and if you like the style without the massive eye candy improvement RPGs got later, then you'll know you like the genre. Foremost among SNES RPGs are of course the Square ones: Final Fantasy II/IV, Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana. You've probably heard about it already, but Japanese Final Fantasies 2, 3, and 5 never came out in the States until recently, which is why the numbering got screwed up. I would link you to a site, but it'd probably be against the TOS: e-mail me if you're interested, I'd be happy to just send some files on over.

As for Final Fantasy VII, it brought a ton of people into RPGs and is probably one of the reasons why the console RPG market flourishes in the States now while platform/shooter type games are dying. However, you can pick up the PC version for maybe 15 dollars, and it'll have the grammar cleaned up as well. There's an FF8 PC port as well, but the port quality was terrible. Grandia II was originally a Dreamcast title, and it was ported both to PS2 and PC. From what I hear the graphics of the PS2 port are horribly choppy, which is kind of silly since the PS2 is more powerful... the PC version is slightly better, but still not as good as the Dreamcast version. Still ultimately irrelevant, because it's a great game, one of the best battle systems ever created. When Final Fantasy XI comes out, that'll have a PC port right off the bat too, that way you don't have to buy a silly PS2 harddrive.

The most notable PS2 games so far are all sequels. FFX is the obvious one; of the upcoming ones, Xenosaga (to Xenogears), Grandia X (a side-game on the Grandia line: the Grandia battle system is ported to a Diablo style game); Wild Arms 3; and Star Ocean 3. But those last 4 aren't out yet. Hmm.

Oh well. As for good PS1 RPGs, some comments and additions to FrustratedPoet's list, in a semi-ranking style:

Final Fantasy 7 and 8 and 9 (8 is very idiosyncratic; I enjoy it but I'm not sure it's a great game to sell somebody on console role-playing with. Great characters and a change of pace, but a bizarre difficulty level; very hard and boring if you don't understand the Junction system, ridiculously easy if you do)

Final Fantasy Tactics (An all-time classic game. Unusually challenging and fun battle system. One of my personal favorites.)

Valkyrie Profile (Great game! Fun button-mashing battle system that is quite different from your average RPG, and the setting is rich as well- they use Norse mythology fairly well, I thought.)

Star Ocean 2 (to which Star Ocean 3 is the sequel of. Made by same people who did Valkyrie Profile. Cruddy plot and voice acting, rulership battle system and challenge level)

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (Simplistic battles, and simple "base" for a plot, but extraordinarily well done, with excellent, likable characters. A translation that occasionally has too much fun for its own good, but still great.)

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (If you liked Lunar.)

Xenogears (Perhaps the ultimate test to find out if you like these Japanese-style plots. On the downside, there's a somewhat simplistic battle system that isn't really good enough for the game's length, some annoying dungeons, and a Disc 2 that falls apart a bit gameplay wise. On the bright side, one of the most bizarrely interesting plots to be seen in a game. I liked it, myself, but your mileage my vary.)

Front Mission 3 (Very good strat RPG, but play FFT first.)

Chrono Cross (A good and yet flawed game. Not really the sequel to Chrono Trigger it should have been, although some people worship the game. Play CT first, anyway.)

Genso Suikoden 1 and 2 (Suikoden I is far better than Suikoden II. Suikoden I is a good bargain game for 10 bucks after you've finished everything else on the list. Myself, being something of a fanatic, still haven't gotten around to it, so this review comes somewhat courtesy of my roommate who has gotten through more games than I)

Vandal Hearts 2 (never played)

Breath of Fire 3 and 4 (give them a pass. Too average and boring. The series was better in its SNES days with BoF1 and 2.)

[Kautilya]

"Well, it seems I've been summoned..."
I didn't think I was that obvious. Thanks for an excellent summary of the games out there; just what I wanted.

Thanks FP, again, for the screenshot and link.