Recommend some great RPG's for the PS2

Y

Yuvie

Student Council President
I'm looking for some decent RPG games for the PS2, along the lines of Final Fantasy and with plenty of gameplay and a good story.

Also, if there're any that have an 'anime' feel to them would be nice.

I've only actually played up to Final Fantasy IX so I guess all the others after that are a good place to start but any non-Final Fantasy titles are welcomed too.
 
I know Kingdom Hearts is going to crop up, even if I haven't played them personally, I want to. Two games, I and II on the PS2. It's Final Fantasy x Disney.
 
Bah, took my options away..but hey will give them again.

If you can find them Kingdom Hearts is decent, and KHII does improve on the first a lot. I have the japanese one, Final Mix + which adds more to the game, so yeah, i do think it is good.

Erm, Persona 3: FES and Persona 4 are brilliant games that i'd recommend you pick up if you want PS2 RPG's. Both are brilliant games. The story for both is extremely engrossing, battle systems are great and it can take the better part of what...120 hours to complete all of Persona 3: FES(thats both the original game, 3[called the journey] and FES[The Answer]) and probably about 80 or so for P4. This isn't including the new game + bit either.

Erm..other RPGs...I had a couple more i was going to mention, but i'll have to get back to you on them. FFX and XII are worth playing. I enjoyed XII, but it just never came across as good as it could have been. Apparently there was an international version made for japan which adds to it, but we won't ever see it i expect, so thats kind of disappointing, but still, it can take a good while to play, there is tonnes to do in it.

AH, Disgaea. I'm not entirely sure if you'd classify it as a full on RPG, but that maybe worth looking into as well. 1 + 2 are on the PS2, and have/are getting a re-release on the PSP with more added to them as well.
 
P3 and P4, obviously.

Another favourite of mine is Suikoden V. What I like about the series is that the stories focus on regional conflict rather than globe-spanning adventure, giving the impression that there's a vast world beyond the boundaries of wherever the game is set. And it's a fantastic, epic story.

Then there's the recruitment. In Suikoden you can recruit dozens of wierd and wonderful characters, many of them useable in battle, and seeing your castle base gradually become populated is one of the finest experiences a JRPG geek can have. There's absolutely loads to do.

You'll want to avoid Suikoden IV, though.
 
Shin Megami Tensei - Lucifer's Call (aka Nocturne)
Shin Megami Tensei - Digital Devil Saga
Shin Megami Tensei - Digital Devil Saga 2
Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 3 FES
Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4
 
Oooo, so these Persona games I've heard mentioned are part of the Shin Megami Tensei series? Wish someone had said sooner, I've heard of SMT & seen some in shops, but never seen any Persona games.
 
Definitely agree with the recommendations for Persona 3 FES and Persona 4.

Also, something that strangely hasn't been mentioned in this thread, Dragon Quest VIII (The 8 isn't actually used over here though, it was the first DQ game to get a UK release), its a great game, large game world, and it essentially does the world map from FF as it should be done.
 
Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile 2 and FFXII are the best ones. Bear in mind I have put off playing either of the PS2 Personas (despite owning the Limited Editions of both) by the fact that people have hyped them up so much I'm worried they'll disappoint me.
 
Mutsumi said:
Oooo, so these Persona games I've heard mentioned are part of the Shin Megami Tensei series? Wish someone had said sooner, I've heard of SMT & seen some in shops, but never seen any Persona games.
Click to expand...

I see P4 in every Gamestation I go into, if that helps you.
 
Don't buy: FF:X, X-2 or XII. Also none of the Kingdom Hearts games. Oh and Star Ocean 3 as well.

Try Dark Cloud/Dark Chronicle.

EDIT: If you want anime ones then uh... import Tales of the Abyss? Could try Wild Arms also, although I don't really have much of a right recommending the series as I've only played and completed the fourth one which was yesterday. Also check out Otaku-san's thread on the GUST series.
 
Yuvie said:
Also, if there're any that have an 'anime' feel to them would be nice.
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I didn't even see this until Lupus mentioned something along these lines. The answer is:

Almost all of them.

The underlying point of the answer is:

Galaxy Express 999 is an anime. So is Puni Puni Poemy.

That is to say:

Which "anime" do you want them to feel like?
 
avoid any of the PS2 FF games, seriously not worth your time.

Most of the games i would reccomend have already been mentioned but i'll add some personal opinion.

Shadow hearts and Shadow hearts covenant has one of the best and saddest stories of a JRPG i've encountered. It's very different from the majority of JRPG's and contains a lot of adult themes and is also pretty gruesome (search for the opening to the first game to see what i mean). The characters are interesting and fun and as for the setting, well it's set in the real world. You actually travel to london,wales,paris,rouen to just name a few places. If you havent realised by now, then i definitely reccomend this game.

If you want a game which makes you feel like an adventurer then you can't go wrong with the wild arms series, really fun series in a wild west setting. If your a fan of trigun then this is the perfect game for you since it's heavily influenced in parts by it, the music is also amazing and makes you feel right in the game world. Overall a very fun series, it declined heavily with the 5th game IMO, but pick up the 3rd if you can because IMO it's easily the best.

SMT is not for everyone but if you don't mind a challenge and are looking for an interesting plot then pick up any of these games as they always offer something different from the norm. I'm not a big fan of persona 4 though. I feel it tries way too hard to play up to a youtube generation of people, plus teddy will make you want to turn the game off.

If you can import then you might want to try chrono cross. Everyone bashes the **** out of this game but i honestly don't understand why. It has amazing music, a really fun battle system and a very engrossing story. Also made by squaresoft back in their hayday. It's usually very cheap as well brand new so pick it up if you can.

Lastly i would like to throw in breath of fire III and IV, both PS1 games but both are really fun games which are hard not to enjoy, III is the better of the two IMO but still both are really good.

Alright i'll shut up now, sorry for the mega long post but if it helps out in anyway then i'll be happy.
 
Lupus said:
EDIT: If you want anime ones then uh... import Tales of the Abyss?
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Funny you mention that since, I saw on an Amazon.com review that someone mentioned that it was no where near to the other "Tales of" series.
My mate was quite disappointed with ToS:Dawn of a New World. Part of that was the character persona's, but also the short shelve life (about 20hours or so). But the graphics and detail to the characters far surpasses the previous.

One thing our mate and I noted was the different actor for Lloyd Irving. Instead having Scot Menville, which is the most distinct, they replaced him with some other plank. We're both like "Oh God, don't speak" to which he replys in a skit "I Have nothing to say" :lol:
 
Hmm, some interesting titles mentioned, I'll probably look for the Shadow Hearts & Persona games, they seem most up my street and there's plenty of others there to check out.

It's been a long ol' time since I followed what was going on in the gaming world, I notice the PS2 Final Fantasy's aren't getting a lot of love. Why's that so? I always thought that you couldn't go wrong with Final Fantasy. I guess I am a bit out of sync then.

I guess some of these are gonna be hard to find. I've scoured the shops in the pre-owned sections today and couldn't even find a largely popular title like FF, let alone any of these.
 
ilmaestro said:
Yuvie said:
Also, if there're any that have an 'anime' feel to them would be nice.
Click to expand...
I didn't even see this until Lupus mentioned something along these lines. The answer is:

Almost all of them.

The underlying point of the answer is:

Galaxy Express 999 is an anime. So is Puni Puni Poemy.

That is to say:

Which "anime" do you want them to feel like?
Click to expand...

Or maybe the technique in how the video game is rendered. for example FF and Drgon quest 8 are both from the same publishers, but the latter uses cell shading or "Toon Shader" as the programing term can be called. More a less it has border detection and bold colours, so to say it's like comparing artwork of Masamune Shirow to Poyoyon Rock.

anyhow i've found a befitting list to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cel-shaded_video_games
 
.hack is probably one of the most obviously 'anime' styled series out there... I'm stiff gutted about G.U. not coming out here. ;_;

Grandia 2 - the graphics are a bit meh but the fight system is awesome - a personal favourite. :-D

Also quite like the Suikoden series (only 4+5 are on PS2 over here, 3's only in America), but not sure if they're as highly regarded.

PS2's got a solid range of RPGs - there are a lot of hidden gems. :-D
 
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