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Name the best turn-based RPG on GameCube and Wii.

Baten Kaitos: Origins is a brilliant game, although I do think you get a lot more out of it if you play through the first game, which is much clunkier and has quite a few flaws.

Skies of Arcadia Legends on Cube is also phenomenal if you never played the DC version. A fantastic cast of characters (and villains!) and an unparalleled sense of adventure. The combat is pretty basic and encounter rate is high, but everything else is wrapped up in such a great package. Flying aboard a massive airship with a recruitable crew is the highlight.
 
Baten Kaitos Origins is easily the best RPG for the GC and my personal favorite of all time.

Should definitely play Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean first..It makes BKO that much more enjoyable.

Also props to the people mentioning Gladius you da real mvp.
 
Skies of Arcadia Legends is one of the best RPGS ever, definite must play. Also enjoyed Arc Rise Fantasia, even the horrible voice acting was pretty entertaining.
 
Turn based?

Gamecube

I'd say Baten Kaitos Origins (which is the prequel..forget the other game unless you just really want to spend the entire game wishing you could punch the main protag in the face).

Skies of Arcadia Legends is great, if you don't mind a really high encounter rate. It has a wonderful exploration angle where you make discoveries in a relatively open world.

Then of course there's Paper Mario Thousand Year Door which is fantastic, just do not go into the final battle under leveled. Paper Mario will eat you alive.

For Strategy RPGs, Fire Emblem is the best, if you can find Path of Radiance and want to spend a lot of money.

Wii

Sequel to Fire Emblem, this one called Radiant Dawn is also really good and will also eat you alive.

Not sure what else to recommend here for Wii. It has two of my all time favorite RPGs - Xenoblade and The Last Story, but neither are turn based.
 
Most of the suggestions here are solid. Baten Kaitos, Thousand Year Door, Fire Emblem, and Skies of Arcadia especially, but I really wouldn't waste your time with Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. It was incredibly dated the day it released with its highly frequent random battles and glacial pacing combat system. Each fight can easily last several minutes. Getting through Moria was an endurance test and the exact opposite of fun.



Should probably mention that this one comes with a pretty big "but..."

You can turn off the voice acting in ARF. I don't get why this is a big deal, once the VA is off it's not really different from playing any of the multitudes of classic JRPGs that don't have VA at all.
 
Baten Kaitos: Origins is a brilliant game, although I do think you get a lot more out of it if you play through the first game, which is much clunkier and has quite a few flaws.

I got to the big plot twist in the first game and never got around to finishing it. Origins sunk its teeth in and never let go. It was so much better than the first.

Edit:

Just checked my save file for the first game. Haven't touch it since October of 2006. Maybe I should go back and finish it up. I need a synopsis. =P
 
Opoona.
Well at least it's the one with the best original soundtrack.
Really a charming game though.

RPOJC8.png
Only played it for an hour, but loved the OST.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOSBb_8K5M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXr5V6umW6U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7lPh4dch6U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0fQlDmSSvY
 
Skies of Arcadia Legends on GC and wii has... uh, Opoona I guess?

Xenoblade, Last Story, and Pandora's Tower (more action RPG tho) for Wii

Baiten Kaitos, BK: Origin, Paper Mario: TTYD, and Skies of Arcadia for Gamecube,

Enjoy!!!
edit: Arc Rise Fantasia is great too once you get the hang of the battle system. Make sure you get that Fire spell that doubles your HP as it is crucial to survive the last half of the game.
 
Im 3 hours in Paper Mario and it is great.

i don't get some of the gameplay mechanics thou, sometimes the audience will throw things at me and i dont know how to deal with that.
 
I've only played Baten Kaitos, it was really good, I almost finished it and that say a lot considering I don't finish many games.

Also take a look at Path of Radiance, tactical turn based RPG, not exactly what you asked for, really good, my favourite GC game.
 
Paper Mario : Thousand Year Door / Xenoblade respectively (xenoblade is active with skill cooldown as opposed to turnbased though)

Other good ones (I'll list FE games too in case you also like SRPG's):

GC
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Baten Kaitos
Baten Kaitos Origins
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

I have a personal soft spot for Evolution Worlds too. Tales of Symphonia is very popular, though it's not one of the Tales games I personally like - it's not turn based though, standard Tales combat.

Wii
The Last Story (not turnbased)
Arc Rise Fantasia (dub is horrible though)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Not much good that's turnbased now that I look at it...
 
Skies of Arcadia on GC.

They are SRPGs, but FE: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn on GC/Wii are great too.

None of them are cheap these days.
 
Im 3 hours in Paper Mario and it is great.

i don't get some of the gameplay mechanics thou, sometimes the audience will throw things at me and i dont know how to deal with that.

Didn't you play the battle tutorial? I can't remember if it's skippable as it's been too long.

Anyway, X to dodge harmful audience stuff. Some will throw good stuff that you don't avoid though, which I assume you've seen by now
 
I'm having a hard time choosing between Baten Kaitos Origins and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Gamecube.

On Wii... does Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World count? It's not exactly turn-based.
 
Opoona.
Well at least it's the one with the best original soundtrack.
Really a charming game though.

RPOJC8.png

It's a great game and I do highly recommend it (fantastic music and atmosphere), but it's definitely not turn-based. Especially later in the game, it can be downright frantic since you have seconds to navigate spell menus before you get wiped out in some battles.
 
It's a great game and I do highly recommend it (fantastic music and atmosphere), but it's definitely not turn-based. Especially later in the game, it can be downright frantic since you have seconds to navigate spell menus before you get wiped out in some battles.
Always wanted to play this but the nunchuk only controls kinda made me skeptical and kept me from tracking a copy down.
 
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