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[PillowKnight]

I didn't say BK was superior, I said it was passable. FFX did nothing for me in either the characters or the story. BK similarly did nothing, and though I saw the plot twist coming a mile away, that they still did it wowed me like nothing else (temporarily, obviously). But it was passable enough for me to enjoy the gameplay, and the world was honestly nicely padded out with a lot of definition in small objects.



I don't want to turn the thread into a huge debate about Baten Kaitos, but this really doesn't make sense. These complaints seem specified at Origins (the armor one, the dumping cards) more than Eternal Wings, though you recommended Origins. I don't entirely understand what your complaints here are?

That is why I did not list my caveats with the game's story(Which I don't remember much of) even though there were a lot of moments that were 'fore-head-smack' worthy. The character development is horrendous to a fault. FFX does not suffer from this. The worst part though, is that it feels as if they wrote the story around the twists, which were, very good. The said twist is not good enough to make up for a poorly thought out story.

Nope, my complaints are all from the first game which I finished playing about a month ago. Origins fixes the card glut problem by allowing you to discard cards. It even goes a step further with something the original desperately needed, a deck saving feature.

Im sure our discussion will help the OP decide whether BK1 is a essential or not, so it is relevant.

BK: Origins' story puts the first game's to shame, so don't confuse the two OP.

 

[vanguardian1]

I really liked what I played of Origins (characters/story/music), but I just couldn't pull it together for the card deck, even with Dragona's advice.

 

[Tailzo]

Skies of Arkadia
Final Fantasy XII
Phantasy Star Online (multiplayer splitscreen still not detroned)
Dragon Quest VIII
Persona 3
Suikoden III (I don't get all the hate, sure it is dated, but the story is nice, and it's Suikden!)
and more...

 

[npm0925]

A lot of people are mentioning Nocturne. From what I've read there are something like 5 endings to that game. Is it possible to get the full experience, or close to it, of the game on 1 playthrough?

 

[ivysaur12]

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Baten Kaitos Origins
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Persona 3
Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devel Saga 2
Final Fantasy XII
Tales of the Abyss
Xenosaga Episode III

And even though they're not essential, other games I would recommend:
Baten Kaitos
Tales of Symphonia
Suikoden V
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Xenosaga Episode I

 

[Andy787]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII

Maybe the Persona games. Skies of Arcadia if you count DC.

That's pretty much it. Great games, but sure was slim pickings last generation for RPGs. Almost everything else released was completely uninteresting or extremely cliche/genric or entirely derivative, imo.

 

[Cataferal]

I've played pretty much all the major releases, but I'd only consider these 3 to be at the top of the pack:

Final Fantasy X
Skies of Arcadia (Legends)
Disgaea

It was a disappointing generation for me.

 

[Dr von plutt]

Skies of arcadia.

with sega and square out of the picture, there really wasnt much of interest imo.

 

[jeremy1456]

I've played pretty much all the major releases, but I'd only consider these 3 to be at the top of the pack:

Final Fantasy X
Skies of Arcadia (Legends)
Disgaea

It was a disappointing generation for me.

Compared to the generation before it, I would definitely have to agree.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

If there was just one title you had to take from me as the important addition to that list, it's Suikoden V.

Superb classic-styled RPG with a massive, charming cast and an intriguing-enough story of politics and war.

 

[WoWcraft]

Last Gen: World of Warcraft
This Gen: World of Warcraft

 

[nelsonroyale]

ffxii
DQVIII
Shin megami games
FFX

 

[vanguardian1]

Maybe the Persona games. Skies of Arcadia if you count DC.

You forget about the re-release on Gamecube, Skies of Arcadia : Legends (extra content, with lower encounter rates).

 

[Teknoman]

Pick up Romancing Saga then. Tons of replay value, kick ass battle themes all over the place, great graphics and voice acting is about as over the top as a Suda 51 game.

And the fighting system is nice once you learn the ins and outs of it. That, and though you usually fight the same last boss at the end, each character you start with can experience a totally different inbetween story.

*temp hijack* Anyone know whats the best ways to boost the bonus gauge in Disgaea 1 early on in the game, say around Episode 2? Still trying to get my characters at least around level 10 and get good stuff at the same time.

 

[Cataferal]

Add Grandia III to my list. Greatest turn-based battle system ever qualifies it.

 

[darkjacob]

Xenosaga episode 3 - seriously best j-rpg last gen ever, despite how average the first two games are.
Final fantasy xii
Final fantasy x
Persona 3
Shin megami tensei : nocturne
Shin megami tensei : digital devil saga 1 & 2
Skies of arcadia
Dragon quest VIII

 

[vanguardian1]

Add Grandia III to my list. Greatest turn-based battle system ever qualifies it.

The battle system is definitely top notch, but the characters and story are just so bloody broken, I feel like I'm still waiting for several more chapters of the story even after beating it. Grandia II deals with the story and characters SO much better it's not funny. Grandia Xtreme was okay, but nothing special.

 

[robor]

RPGs for last gen:

 

[Brak]

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

yes yes yes

 

[Jirotrom]

I have this but it's in my backlog. I have played all of about five minutes of it because I picked it up at the same time as some other games. It lives up to the hype?

absolutlely not... Grandia 2 is ok, Im having much more fun with Grandia I.

 

[PolyGone]

GBA:

Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Boktai 1: The Sun Is In Your Hand
Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire 2
Final Fantasy 1 & 2: Dawn of Souls
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones
Golden Sun
Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age
Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past
Legend of Zelda - NES Classics
Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Lunar Legend
Mario & Luigi SuperStar Saga
Onimusha Tactics
Sword of Mana
Tactics Ogre - Knight of Lodis

 

[lastendconductor]

SMT: Nocturne
SMT: Persona 3
Disgaea
Disgaea 2
Dragon Quest VIII
Growlanser II
Growlanser III
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Grandia 2
Suikoden III
Valkyrie Profile 2

Probablly these too (still on my backlog)
Suikoden V
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
SMT: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Xenosaga?
Wild Arms 3, 4 & 5

PS2 is the best jRPG system ever.

 

[lastendconductor]

EDIT: DP WTF

 

[vanguardian1]

absolutlely not... Grandia 2 is ok, Im having much more fun with Grandia I.

I think Grandia II is quite good.

I haven't been able to play the first, although I do really want to.

 

[Cataferal]

Did Grandia III bomb in the end? I dont recall it getting a very big reception.

Quite a shamenobody really talks about it. The story may have just been a constant stream of character/setting cliches, but the battle system was so enjoyable...

 

[Eiji]

absolutlely not... Grandia 2 is ok, Im having much more fun with Grandia I.

Yep.

Grandia > Grandia II > Grandia III

That is how I see it. Grandia Xtreme you say? What the hell is that? Better to forget something like that.

PS2 is the best jRPG system ever.

QFT!

 

[Darkpen]

Well, I was going to come in here to say Final Fantasy X-2 (since it tends to not get the love that it deserves), but since that's on the list, I really can't say much else outside of maybe Disgaea 1 and 2, but you already said you hated their guts. If the way your d-pad navigated the isometric map was bothersome, you do know that you could change how it behaved in the configurations, right? Or was it something else about the cursor behavior that bothered you?

Star Ocean: till the end of time and Grandia 3 are more pass than anything, in my opinion, but I suppose they're worth playing to some degree.

Spoiler

the dude's mom in Grandia 3 is hawt

.

 

[Prine]

Last gen i played:
KOTOR
KOTOR 2
FF 10
FF X
Tales of Symphonia
Xenosaga
Jade Empire

Id reccomend playing:

KOTOR and Skies of Arcadia

Both have incredible stories to tell (Skies is very much like starwars strangley. Ending is poor though)

 

[Cataferal]

Yep.

Grandia > Grandia II > Grandia Xtreme you say? What the hell is that? Better to forget something like that.

Nope. Never happened. Just like Xenosaga Ep II was unfortunately never released.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I played Wild Arms 4 after getting it cheap from CC, and found it to be just tedious. Was 3 different enough that I may enjoy it?

WA4 is an abomination. WA3 is awesome.

 

[Hadji]

.hack//infection
.hack//mutation
.hack//outbreak
.hack//quarantine
.hack//rebirth
.hack//reminisce
.hack//redemption

and of course the Shadow Hearts series with the exception of SH3...

and Suiko 3+5...

and ToA...

yeah...

 

[dream]

Not sure where you can get Baldur's Gate these days, brocke, but I guarantee it will run perfectly on your laptop.

 

[bengraven]

Morrowind
KotOR

There are no others. I'm sure this thread is 90% jRPGs and I'm ignoring all that; I can't remember a decent one I played in the last 5 years.

 

[Kyoufu]

FFXII, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Tales of Destiny Remake.

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.

 

[Zoso]

Essential? That's highly debatable. There are PLENTY of incredible RPGs from last generation, but these are the only ones I'd personally consider "essential":

Dragon Quest VIII
Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XII
Persona 3
Morrowind
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

 

[MrHicks]

THIS

 

[joelseph]

These threads always turn into favorite lists and do nothing but illustrate people's wildly different taste. What makes it worse some people go so far as to put down other people's choices in favor of their own. Ridiculous.

 

[Barrett2]

If you never played this game on the PS1, you now have no excuse. Buy the PSP remake.

 

[callous]

and here we have a thread that lists every rpg of last gen. kudos

Ha, exactly.

I won't even list any of my suggestions as the thread's already been ruined.

 

[RickA238]

Nocturne
DDS 1&2
Persona 3
FFX
Xenosaga
Suikoden 3

 

[djtiesto]

I'm no Tongo, but here is my 'essential selection' out of all the games I've played and enjoyed. There may be a few I'm missing because I haven't gotten to them yet (Digital Devil Saga 2, Fire Emblem: POR, Suikoden 5, Wild Arms 3+, Persona 3, etc).

DC:
Skies of Arcadia
Grandia II

PS2:
Dragon Quest VIII
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria
Final Fantasy X
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Digital Devil Saga 1
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim
Tales of the Abyss
Phantom Brave
Dark Cloud 2
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

GC:
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Baten Kaitos: Origins
Tales of Symphonia

Xbox:
...

My top 5 RPGs of last gen:

1. DQ8
2. Skies of Arcadia
3. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
4. Baten Kaitos: Origins
5. Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria

 

[WoWcraft]

Ha, exactly.

I won't even list any of my suggestions as the thread's already been ruined.

Only the one I listed matters.

 

[zoukka]

Was this the "post all last gen-RPG:s" thread?

I have played Skies of Arcadia now for about 6 hours and it definately belongs here. I was really sceptical, but there is something weird about this game. I think I'm loving it!

DQVIII also gets my vote. Traditional JRPG at it's finest.

 

[DoubleTap]

Super Robot Taisen: OG and OG2 for GBA. Get them while you can.

 

[Urban Scholar]

Buy SMT:Nocturne at least. It's the best RPG of last gen.

Words were taken out of my mouth!

 

[Monroeski]

absolutlely not... Grandia 2 is ok, Im having much more fun with Grandia I.

I thought my ears were going to start bleeding only 20 or 30 minutes into the first Grandia. I'm generally very tolerant of bad voice acting, but Grandia hit a really, REALLY bad note with me. Game breakingly bad.

 

[Cataferal]

I thought my ears were going to start bleeding only 20 or 30 minutes into the first Grandia. I'm generally very tolerant of bad voice acting, but Grandia hit a really, REALLY bad note with me. Game breakingly bad.

Yeah. It seemed just about bearable a decade ago. But now standards have definitely improved in this area, and its pretty tough going back.

 

[maiza]

 

[rykomatsu]

Venus & Braves (JPN only)
Ar Tonelico I (JPN & US)
Ar Tonelico II (JPN only so far)

 

[beef3483]

I just read this thread and came to the conclusion that absolutely every RPG made last gen is essential.