Any good RPG's in the last year or two?

[casualsax3]

I haven't played a game with a really good story in a long time, and it's been forever time since I've played a halfway decent RPG (action or traditional). Mass Effect 1 & 2 and Fallout are the only ones on the current generation of systems that have managed to hold my interest through to the end. I managed to get about four hours into Star Ocean for the 360 before getting bored.

Any recommendations for other games that's have out in the last year or two? I suppose we could go back farther too, as I didn't play anything on the PS2 past FFXII.

Everything I've read seems to indicate that most of the high profile ones (FF13?) have been lackluster, so I'm hoping there are a few gems that are just flying under my radar. Reading through the "What are you playing" thread I've seen a few things like Resonance of Fate and Lost Odyssey pop up, but the reviews I've found for them don't have anything good to say about the stories.

[Agozer]

Resonance of Fate
Agarest: Generations of War
Eternal Sonata
Mana Khemia / Mana Khemia 2
Odin Sphere (?)
Rogue Galaxy
Persona 3 FES / Persona 4
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 1/2
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters

[badinsults]

I played through FF 13. Not the greatest game (there is a lot of filler at the end that forces you to grind), but I did get all the way through it.

[magitek369]

Bioshock, no question. I've also heard good things about Dragon Age, though I've yet to pop it in myself, and if you liked Fallout then you'll probably like Oblivion as well (think same game, fantasy setting).

[diminish]

Bioshock is very climatic and all, but not really an RPG (closest to RPG is getting new plasmids/upgrading health or EVE capacity).

[magitek369]

I think that it's story-driven enough to qualify, and that seems to be what he's after most; a good story. It reminded me a lot of Dark Corners of the Earth, for the original Xbox, which I highly recommend as well.

[sweener2001]

i enjoyed lost odyssey a lot. way more than last remnant (which i may give another try on pc, after i force myself to get the last achievement on 360).

on ds, quite a few solid rpg's have dropped. recently, FF:4 heroes of light and golden sun 3. the two shin megami tensei titles are also very good.

on ps3, i'd recommend folklore. it's older, like near ps3 launch, but it's pretty good stuff.

on 360, DA:O is pretty good. also on pc. the release of the ultimate edition is very worth it. the tales game that came out a couple years ago is supposed to be good, as well. going back a bit further on pc, NWN and the witcher are both excellent games. you could also hit up gog, they have the entire atari-hasbro catalog of classic D&D rpgs (baldur's gate, icewind dale, planescape).

if you can wait a bit, the last story on wii looks promising. you could also try monster hunter.

for me, it really seems like most jrpg's have been falling flat lately. over-convoluted stories, and forced grinding are not throwbacks.

[magitek369]

on ds, quite a few solid rpg's have dropped. recently, FF:4 heroes of light and golden sun 3. the two shin megami tensei titles are also very good.

for me, it really seems like most jrpg's have been falling flat lately. over-convoluted stories, and forced grinding are not throwbacks.

I agree 100%. With games like Golden Sun still being very much enjoyable though, I can only conclude that the genre just does not work in a 3D environment.

[Gil_Hamilton]

i enjoyed lost odyssey a lot. way more than last remnant (which i may give another try on pc, after i force myself to get the last achievement on 360).

Yeah, from what I hear, Last Remnant is actually almost a good game on PC.

on 360, DA:O is pretty good. also on pc.

Don't get the 360 version. It was neutered to hell.

[snkcube]

I think that it's story-driven enough to qualify, and that seems to be what he's after most; a good story.

The endings pretty much sucked. All that work for that?

[magitek369]

The endings pretty much sucked. All that work for that?

Endings might have sucked, but everything leading up to it was awesome.

[Gil_Hamilton]

on ds, quite a few solid rpg's have dropped. recently, FF:4 heroes of light and golden sun 3. the two shin megami tensei titles are also very good.

for me, it really seems like most jrpg's have been falling flat lately. over-convoluted stories, and forced grinding are not throwbacks.

I agree 100%. With games like Golden Sun still being very much enjoyable though, I can only conclude that the genre just does not work in a 3D environment.

Yup, that sure is the problem with JRPGs. It's all the fault of the visual presentation. If only they'd just make all the graphics out of hand-placed pixels instead of hand-placed vertices and textures, it would resolve all the issues the genre is facing.

We all know that a more nostalgic graphical presentation would immediately fix all the problems currently plaguing the genre. Problems like bad writing, uninteresting or actively hate-inspiring characters, poorly-designed gameplay that exists only to create a new bullet-point due to an obsession with advertising a new engine every game full of bizarre quirks to make it different, and publishers afraid of doing anything interesting lest they offend the die-hard fans as all their talent flees to form new companies or hire on with western developers would all disappear overnight if they used sprites and tiles instead of polygons.

Yes, sir, OLDSCHOOL GRAPHICS is the cure for whatever ails you!

</sarcasm>

[Johan_H]

Hasn't all of that almost always been typical to JRPGs, rather than just being current plagues?

[magitek369]

/sarcasm

Oh shush. I just meant that when the gameplay and graphics were simpler then the games were more enjoyable, maybe because they had to catch your eye with a decent story rather than dazzling it with pretty visuals. All the problems that you listed are valid, and I agree 100%, but I think that the core problem is that the genre just failed to innovate when they made the switch. You have to invoke a certain sense of nostalgia while still providing enjoyable game; all they did was make things prettier. Why do you think that Mario survived the transition but Sonic not so much? Pinball mechanics just don't work as well in a 3D environment.

Western RPGs have always been more about exploration and individual character development than some linear story-based level grind, and providing a more open environment has allowed them to thrive in comparison. Most players expect a decent story regardless of genre, because it makes the game worth getting interested in. Maybe the problem is that when you give the game a third-dimension, players expect to be able to use it. I might not have played a Final Fantasy game since the PSX, but I don't remember you having the freedom to jump around buildings or start fights with random townspeople.

I'm probably doing a less-than-ideal job at defending my point here, but I just woke up and my brain has yet to reach 100%.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Hasn't all of that almost always been typical to JRPGs, rather than just being current plagues?

They used to TRY. The obsession with bullet-pointing the new "play system" really only came about partway through the PS1's life.

Oh shush. I just meant that when the gameplay and graphics were simpler then the games were more enjoyable, maybe because they had to catch your eye with a decent story rather than dazzling it with pretty visuals.

Really? You mean Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger and Lunar: Eternal Blue and Valkyrie Profile and Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny and Super Mario RPG and Phantasy Star and Final Fantasy 1 and so on and so forth weren't all trying to be pretty games?

Take the rose-colored glasses off.

All the problems that you listed are valid, and I agree 100%, but I think that the core problem is that the genre just failed to innovate when they made the switch.

It's a genre where the visual presentation is largely irrelevant. It doesn't matter if it's 3D or 2D, the play is the same.

You have to invoke a certain sense of nostalgia while still providing enjoyable game;

Why do you have to invoke nostalgia? More often than not, the nostalgia angle is a cop-out to avoid making a decent game that can stand on it's own merits.

all they did was make things prettier. Why do you think that Mario survived the transition but Sonic not so much? Pinball mechanics just don't work as well in a 3D environment.

Because Mario is a stronger brand and Sega is incompetent?
Sonic Adventure is a better game than Mario 64, in my opinion. The fact that it's all downhill from there has more to do with incompetence than difficulty "converting."

And Super Mario 64 didn't adapt anything. It threw everything, going all the way back to the original Donkey Kong. The only exception is general aesthetic sense.




But again, the JRPG(or western RPG, for that matter) has never been a genre that's been bound by graphics. The less action-oriented and consequently slower-paced nature of the games has allowed them to do things that other genres couldn't get away with.

Western RPGs have always been more about exploration and individual character development than some linear story-based level grind, and providing a more open environment has allowed them to thrive in comparison.

Linearity is not inherently bad. I will rank the SegaCD version of Lunar 2 as one of my favorite games ever, despite it being incredibly linear for 95% of the game.

Most players expect a decent story regardless of genre, because it makes the game worth getting interested in.

I always thought that first and foremost, the game should be fun to play. I'll take a good game with a bad story over a bad game with a good story any day. Hell, many of my favorite games have NO story.

I've seen plenty of games where the story completely killed my interest in the game.
Massive text dumps at the beginning and an extended intro where you're not doing anything but running where you're told and clicking through text boxes are a plague that has visited the game industry and refuses to leave.
Fuck, even first-person shooters were getting in on the action for a little while(Hi, Doom 3!).

Maybe the problem is that when you give the game a third-dimension, players expect to be able to use it. I might not have played a Final Fantasy game since the PSX, but I don't remember you having the freedom to jump around buildings or start fights with random townspeople.

Jumping is only possible with polygon graphics? This is news to me.


Also: I hate 3D platforming. Lacking any reasonable depth cues, it becomes an exercise in frustration most of the time, and the times it DOESN'T... usually the camera reverts to classical top-down behavior.

VERY few games have managed to create a decent 3D platforming experience without reverting to 2D or making all the jumps short and platforms wide to compensate for the difficulties involved in simulating 3D space on a 2D display with non-infinite resources.

I'm probably doing a less-than-ideal job at defending my point here, but I just woke up and my brain has yet to reach 100%.

Maybe when it DOES reach 100% you'll realize you were being an idiot?




Also: Parasite Eve. Xenogears disk 1. Grandia. Grandia 2. Panzer Dragoon Saga. Radiata Stories.
I can find you some awful sprite-based JRPGs too, if you'd like.

There is NOTHING WHATSOEVER about polygon graphics that makes JRPGs bad or sprite/tile graphics that makes JRPGs good.
The fact is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the graphical presentation, and everything to do with incompetent development.

Sprite/tile graphics won't make the writing better. They won't make the obnoxious characters more likable. They won't make the steaming pile of feces that's being passed off as gameplay any less crappy.
They'll just make it a shitty SNES or PS1 RPG instead of a shitty XBox 360 or PS3 RPG.

[magitek369]

tl;dr

Having fun up there in your tower are you?

[sweener2001]

more like a step-stool. he didn't have to get very high to stomp your point into the ground.

Hasn't all of that almost always been typical to JRPGs, rather than just being current plagues?

i don't know if you're being stupid, or my sarcasm meter is failing, or what. i'll just say that there is a difference between complex, and convoluted.

[magitek369]

I'm starting to remember why I stopped posting here in the first place. You're all just a bunch of elitist pricks.

You can chalk it up to whatever the fuck you want, but my point is that the genre was better 20 years ago than it is today.

Now unless Hamilton would like to derail us by being a sarcastic dick again, can we please get back on topic?

[sweener2001]

it's not elitism. it's deep knowledge. your argument was completely wrong.

i agree with the idea that the genre was much better back then. at least high-profile titles delivered. your reasoning, however, is severely lacking. you'll note that i don't bother offering a reason. my belief is that the genre is collapsing under its own weight, and i don't know what it's going to take to bring it back. but what do i know? i liked FFVIII, after all.

also, since we're apparently dying to get back on topic: DQIX

[Gil_Hamilton]

I rather DO like my tower. Got a sweet-ass telsecope, and they're installing the MASER cannon next week.

I'm starting to remember why I stopped posting here in the first place. You're all just a bunch of elitist pricks.

No, we just have little tolerance for idiocy.

Now unless Hamilton would like to derail us by being a sarcastic dick again, can we please get back on topic?

I wasn't being sarcastic in the second post.
Dick yes, sarcastic no.
And it's a qualified dick, as you had it coming. Idiocy like that doesn't so much as INVITE abuse as OBLIGATE it.
It's, well, much the same kind of idiocy that believe 4chan retardedness like "tl;dr" EVER has a reasonable usage other than furthering your own retardedness.

Also: you started this derail, so why are you blaming it on me? No one here is dumb enough to be confused by that... well, almost no one.

[Johan_H]

Hasn't all of that almost always been typical to JRPGs, rather than just being current plagues?

i don't know if you're being stupid, or my sarcasm meter is failing, or what. i'll just say that there is a difference between complex, and convoluted.

It's a non-rhetorical question asked by someone not very well informed, so no sarcasm. I don't play that many JRPGs, but looking at the old and the new ones I've played and read about, it doesn't seem to me like things have changed a lot:
Fun childish stories and characters, battles with more spectacle than strategy, usually very high production values, dungeons with the occasional block puzzle or similar.
With some exceptions, now just like then.

But yeah, the last main series FF I played was IX, and after that I can't think of much more than Dragon Quest VIII and 4 Heroes of Light that I've actually played much.

[grinvader]

Odin Sphere (?)

what the fuck does this (?) mean D:<

[Agozer]

Odin Sphere (?)

what the fuck does this (?) mean D:<

I wasn't sure if Odin Sphere was the type of game that he was looking for. I listed it because it's awesome.

[casualsax3]

I picked up Odin Sphere, but was super irritated by the constant planting and inventory management. Does that get better as the game goes on?

[grinvader]

I picked up Odin Sphere, but was super irritated by the constant planting and inventory management. Does that get better as the game goes on?

Planting and pumping materials into phozon-loaded potions is the bone of this game. You can expand the amount you can store by a huge load, but you have to keep eating stuff else you'll be outmatched later on (well, depending the character).
It's a circle, really. Build materials, produce high yield potions, output phozons, grow plants from them, eat plants, get stuff to build materials, all while levelling hp and atk. Mid game relies more on crazy napple binges with yogurt, and late game is pooka recipes raep.

Of course, I usually did all the item boogie -after- battles and not during, which would be fairly hardcore. Just remember that accessories and rare potions are the only stuff you should not throw away. Troll molars, too. Rarest shits ever. Not like you'd find any without trying.
Anyway you literally get flooded with the various seeds, fruits, 'goras, bones and materials, and nothing prevents you from redoing some battles if you need cash (you shouldn't need to do that if you don't waste money, mind you).