I agree about Suikoden. The PS2 games for me are lacking, but Suikoden I and II are terrific, especially II, which has the best plot and characterisation of the series.

The "Tales of" series all have Real-Time battles, they play similar to a 2D fighter wich really makes the battles less of a drag. Not allot of them were released outside of japan, and even less of them made it to europe.

Ones I know of that have been translated are
Tales of Eternia(PSP, PS1)
Tales of Symphonia(Gamecube)
Tales of the Abyss(PS2)
Tales of Phantasia(Snes, GBA)
Tales of Destiny(PS1 I think)
Tales of the world(PSP)

Only Symphonia and Eternia made it to europe, Phantasia came out over here on the GBA aswell I think.

Level 5 new game for PS3, White Knight Story, looks really interesting..
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/13330.html
What do u think?

I think I need to find a way to get rich fast. How else am I suppose to find the time to play all these games coming out? :P

How about Chrono Cross? anyone played it? how is it? - (trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAo7K4V4ntA

Front Mission 4 seams cool, I remember playing the 1st one .. it was cool for a while. - (short review) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuWkm...elated&search=

Chrono Cross is one of the few perfect 10s at Gamespot, if that's any indicator.

I tried it and couldn't get into it. It certainly wasn't as good as Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Trigger wasn't that amazing in itself. But I dunno- maybe you'd like it. It's well made.

Any special reason? (like bad story, awful gameplay ... something like that)

Am I the only one that played Ephemeral Fantasia :P ? - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ib1AknAdm0

The graphics looks distinctly PS1 , what's so good about this game ?! :)

Good? Probably just one minigame, the Guitar minigame (its where guitar hero was born :P )

Some people loved it (http://rr.ps2.ign.com/rrview/ps2/eph.../13594/63908/), some hated it (90%). Me? Hated it but then again.. my ex-girlfriend gave it to me .. free stuff.
Now i miss it, it was the 1st and only game that took me 1 year to finish (pretty difficult).

..by the way, it was the 1st RPG realesed for PS2 ;)

No wonder it still looks like it's from PS1 , probably finished for PS1 and realised that PS2 already came out and quickly port it to PS2. :D

Not a fan of guitar hero , so won't be interested anyway. 1 year ? I don't think i can play for one year , i would have dump it after a month at the most if it's proving too difficult.

Back to the topic , how about Saiyuki : Journey West for PS1 ? Currently replaying it again , a RPG/Strategy. Very much in the veins of Final Fantasy tactics (although not quite as good)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6yrphOLwAs

Well, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. The battles were pretty boring, and I got sick of how unfocused the story was. Specifically, I stopped playing when I realized that for some random reason I'd missed an entire character who I'd never be able get because of that. But that was just the last straw- I'd been unimpressed for hours already with how little of an interesting linear story it had.

More detail I can't give- that's all I remember.

The only FF tactics i played was for GameBoy Advance.. was cool but the plot was too simple.
If you like Strategy RPG's then try Fire Emblem, great game from the same creators of Advance Wars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0buy5NBIvuM

i liked ff tactics advance quite a lot, but the last boss kept killing me?
are there any good turn based strategy games for PSP, btw?

if you liked ff tactics advance you should try Tactics Ogre, same thing with more depth and a serious story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocFJOjvnz5Q

FF tactics for PSP will be released October (U.S and Europe), but you probably know that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxaqwkpe_Pw

...other than that, theres no other good strategy rpg for PSP that i know of.

Problem is , i only have PS1 and PS2 , Fire Emblem i believe is for neither system.

Doesn't Tactics ogre actually predates final fantasy tactics , i know that they have ogre battle & tactics ogre first , then final fantasy tactics afterwards in the PS1.

My favorite strategy RPG in the PS1 is actually

Brigandine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJS2RW1-YWs

They had a grand edition for the game in Japan which had anime cutscenes (you can see some of the clips on youtube) but that edition was never picked up for US which is damn shame as i liked this game. The graphics are perhaps outdated now but you can never beat the thrill of seeing your monsters get upgraded after leveling up, i.e your ghoul upgraded into vampire and then upgraded into vampire lord or your plain vanilla dragon turned into a fearsome fire dragon etc.

GBA, Gamecube and Wii...You can always download a GBadvance emulator :7 :P

If you have a PS2 and you like Strategy RPG's then you should definitely play:

Disgaea - Best Strategy RPG's ever (they say, i agree :D ), Ive only played for a few hours (friend's house) and it can be pretty funny :P - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/974.html

La Pucelle: Tactics - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/1862.html

(both from Atlus, same guys who made Bringadine ;) )

I have both disgaea 1 and La Pucelle actually , i got bored of disgaea after a while as it took me ages to build up my character and my weapon with no end in sight , La Pucelle i only tried for a short while , hasn't really delve into it. Some day , i will probably sit down and try both again.

I see youve already played many RPG's :P
Played Grandia, Xenogears or Vangrat Story? If so, are they any good? whats good and bad? thanks ;)

I wanted Xenogears, but it was never released hither.

Sorry to say , never played Grandia , Vangrant story or Xenogears. :D

Wanted to try Grandia in the past but never really did it. They were made by the people behind the Lunar series so i wanted to try it after playing the fabulous lunar games.

One of these days , i'll definitely get it but for now , not yet.

Is Dragon Quest VIII worth getting into? How does it compare to games like Star Ocean III or the Final Fantasy games?

from IGN:
I remember someone telling me that the story is weak and theres alot of enemy encounters other than that its cool. (I never played it)

That's basically what I've heard about it as well. It's annoying that some games in this genre can take up to 15h before they get really good (FFX was like that for me) and since I no longer have "infinite" time on my hands I like getting opinions before deciding if I should bother ;-)

White Knight Story(PS3-RPG)
 

White Knight Story(see wiki) promotion video is released.
http://www.jp.playstation.com/movie/...shirokishi.asx

Level 5 (see wiki)'s latest game "White Knight Story" is a PS3 RPG game.
When the hero "Lenard" fight with huge monster, he can transform himself into white knight (which was diged up from the ruins and have its own mind) .

PS, this game has avatar character....humm...oblivion ??. This avatar character is a coworker of lenard and player can change its name, face, and body, freely. So, player's avatar can experiance a lot of adventures with Lenard.

Right now I am playing AR Tonelico form NIS America on the PS2 and I love it! Awesome games and similar to Atlus-based games, get it if you can find it. But unfortunately for some NIS America and Atlus games...they are expensive to get now. I purchased the "Digital Devil Saga 1" box set at Toy's R Us in Winter 2005 for $9.99 and now people are selling it pretty expensive. "Nocturne"...I can't believe people are selling for $100...should have picked that one up when I had the chance.

This week was supposed to be my "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3" week but it has been delayed until next week.

Anyway, as for Japanese RPG's, I pretty much buy a lot of them and if you are talking mainly what's on today's current gen and next gen consoles, aside from "Final Fantasy" games, here is what I recommend:

PS2: "Ar Tonelico", "Makai Kingdom", "Disgaea", "Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga", "Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne", "Dragon Quest", "Arc the Lad", "Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant"....too many to list! I enjoyed "Suikoden III".
GBA: "Summoner's Night 1 and 2"
PSP: Still playing "Riviera", "Popolocrois" and Tales, "Monster Kingdom" etc. but I'll reserve judgement on PSP games.

Awaiting the upcoming games for the XBOX 360...

kndy
DS: Currently playing "Etrian Odyssey"...will reserve judgement on this.

Ar Tonelico seams cool .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk2y7fQOUgk .. how is the story going so far? any good?
Played for a few hours Arc the Lad and it was ok ..
I would like to try Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne but the no voice thing really sucks .. :crazy: but playing as Dante from DevilMayCry would be pretty awesome :P
I played Riviera for GBA and it was ok 2 ..
Nobody at least tried Breath of Fire 5? if so, how is it?

It's a very cool game and I'm now about 10 hours into it. It will be very different than any Japanese RPG game that you have played because it's an RPG game that incorporates:

a. alchemy aka grathmelding (where RPG's you level up, earn money and find better weapons, clothing and accesories), you meld things together that you get after beating an opponent(s)

b. Then there is the Japanese dating simulation aka DIVING. Not a major in-depth dating simulation like other Japanese games but nevertheless, a unique way of enjoying the storyline. The game introduces "Reyvateils". These are women who have the power to sing and each song can either heal or cause destruction. For the main character Lyner, he meets two Reyvateils. Misha, someone from his past who he doesn't remember and Aurica, a D-grade Reyvateil who has no confidence in her skills. Aside from the main RPG story, you have to develop your relations with these two young women. Try to talk with them, boost their confidence and along the way have these Reyvateils develop awesome healing and destructive abilities.

c. Insertion - This is going to be interesting because it seems like a sexual way of a Reyvateil and a human to bond. But it's not. Basically, in past RPG's...you can incorporate certain accessories or jewels to enhance a weapon. Same thing with insertion...but in "Ar Tonelico", the dialogue sounds kinky ie. "You need to insert your crystal into my (Forgot what she calls it)", "I heard it hurts when you push it in", "We don't have to do it, unless you're ready...", "I want you to be my first"...you get the picture. But mainly insertion is inserting a certain type of crystal which allows you to combine abilities to the crystal that has been inserted to the Reyvateil. As for the insertion...no, it's not anywhere kinky.

d. No traveling. No walking long distance to get from place to place. You have a map and in the map are locations where you battle and you can transfer from place to place after you conquer that area. This allows you to enter a village easily by just clicking on that village or forest on the map and easily get some business done.

Fortunately random battles are not as bad as some RPG's but in "Ar Tonelico", you can easily escape a battle and choose not to fight. But in this case of the game, you want to fight most of the time to earn money to buy things for grathmelding, earn DP points which are needed when you DIVE and building a reyvateil's confidence.

As for the RPG storyline, it's very well done. It's touching, it's hilarious and you can enjoy it both in English or in Japanese which is great.

"Ar Tonelico" is a very good game that I think you will love. Unless you want a challenging RPG.

But what are the main negatives?

a. Easy - Easy because Reyvateils are very powerful. You'll have tough enemies but you can have a Reyvateil do an amazing killer offensive mood and build it and then unleash during battle. Although, your characters can die in battle, after you win the battle, everyone's HP is back to full.

b. Save points are easy to find.

There are many characters to meet and will join your party. Something I enjoyed about the old "Suikoden" games.

The game and music is beautiful and I'm so stoked to see both languages offered as a choice.

The game came out in February 2007 but because this is an NIS America/Gust game and came out as a box set (comes with art book), many stores don't order many and the game are delisted and can't get it anymore. Hopefully you can find it at a Gamestop, Software Etc. or EB but I would get it now while you can because certain NIS/Gust and Atlus games tend to shoot up in price or never go down in price (even for a used copy).

A reply to the post...

"Shin Megami Tensei" games are good because they are dark and modern. My favorite are the "Persona" games. If you can find "Persona 2" for the original Playstation, go for it. But "Persona 3" comes out next Tuesday. Was supposed to come out this Tuesday but the art book had problems, so next week it will be released. Now, here's the thing... not sure how many places will get these because of the new pre-order rules that software game companies have (before they would send many copies because employees could pre-order but now a store can only pre-order so many games per month for their employees). So, "Persona 3"... I think this is a case where pre-ordering is important because stores don't order too many of these type of games.

As for "Riviera", it came out on GBA but it was re-released on the PSP last week as an enhanced game with voice, choice to select Japanese or English voice and much more.

I have not played a "Breath of Fire" game since the old Playstation days.

Literally what I'm doing now is trying to find and purchase all NIS America/Gust and Atlus RPG games on the PS2 and a few on the PSP and DS. Talk about expensive.

kndy

I enjoy "Grandia"...Well Grandia II is cool and you can find this cheap. Actually the first two Grandia (Grandia II and Grandia Type F I believe it's called...) games on the PS2, you can find under $20 (used) with only Grandia III currently at $26.99 used.

"Vagrant Story" and "Xenogears" is very cool but I hope they re-release these games for the PSP enhanced (not just downloadable) from the store.

Now "Xenosaga" 1-3 are cool but not the best.

I really liked all BoF games except the 1st one. The 2nd(my 1st RPG) and 4th one were very cool ;) (never played the 5th)
Yup...The challenge of it is really important to me.
.
.
Played .hack games? :P loved the story (never played the G.U. series)

At the moment I'm playing 'Enchanted Arms' which is very similar to the Final Fantasy series! I'm even finding the random battles fun!

I'm 22 hours into "Ar Tonelico" and wow... a very fun game that draws you in (especially if you are an anime fan). Now, things get a bit tough but how difficult the game is depends on your skills as an RPG player.

For me, I'm a person who will fight and build my character for hours, accrue a lot of money and fill up on healing items. So, further in the game, I can say that if I didn't do this...I would have been restarting over and over.

I beat the second phase and the credits rolled and I was like..whoah! Ended in a cliff hanger but lo and behold, after the credits are over it gives you a chance to end the game and get an ending or to play phase 3 (third chapter). And I'm on that right now...

As mentioned before, there is some ecchi (perverted) humor in this game, especially as the female reyvateils vie for the main character (Lynart) but nothing to nasty. Although, I found it interesting that one of the reyvateils (think white mage and black mage as one) has one uniform that is her best and for some reason it's her wearing a towel. Perverted developers. Hehe..

Nevertheless, the story is enjoyable. I think you will enjoy it. Again, it's easy..but maybe it's easy for me because I enjoy RPG games and I'll build and build for hours. But I definitely recommend checking it out!

kndy

I saw yesterday the review of the new Shin Megami Tensei game, Persona 3, and it looks cool.

Gametrailer's Review - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23708.html

.. Im thinking of buying this but i want to know how is the story, any good? (anyone played it?)

btw when will it come to Europe? :crazy:

Funnily , i have just started playing the first persona on PS1 , incredibly dull opening that made me gave up playing the game years ago. But I got pass that now and it gets slightly more interesting later. Still getting the hang of the game though.
Anyone who has played the first one know how long will the game take ?

Oh, "Persona 3" is awesome! I loved the second game but the third is really interesting because it's totally unlike any RPG's that you have played. The game goes by days on a calendar and on each day, your main character attends school. At school, you can study, join clubs and meet other friends. By having friends, you start building relationships that lead to awesome personas.

Personas are like supernatural beings with powers. You can fuse 2 or 3 of them to create another supernatural being and so forth. But how that relationship that persona is with you is by how you conduct yourself in your personal life.

So, as a guy...you encounter girls. Do you want to walk them home, flirt with them, stay away from them. With the guys, develop friendships, join a club or the Student Body. Visit shopping areas or temples to develop other attributes and also to purchase items.

Now, that's during the day time but at night...once the clock hits midnight, that's when you enter "after hour". The period of time when the monsters come out and play and human beings are encased in coffins (don't ask). Because the monsters are now getting out of hand, it's up to you and your friends to stop them. But these monsters are powerful, so it's up to you to choose your personas wisely and build them. But to do that...you need to build your relationship/friendship with others that you come across with in your personal life and even with others may it be on a MMORPG game (yes, you can spend your day playing MMORPG).

"Persona 3" is deserving of the great reviews it has received.

My gosh... there are so many RPG's out this month for the PSP. "Tales of the World", "Brave Story", "Riviera", "Jeanne d' Arc", "Dragon's Aria"....the list goes on.

I'm going to be broke this month.

kndy

Crisis Core looks great (guess it isnt turn-based, oh well) :

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24144.html

so kndy, you recommend Persona 3 then ;)

I'm playing Blue Dragon for the 360 at the moment. Same director as for the Final Fantasy 1-10 games, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and the same guy (N. Uematsu) who did the music for the Final Fantasy game (1-10). I'm a little dissapointed, it's to much manga for me. The voices are not that good (I'm playing with english voices), but the soundtrack is awsome. The gameplay is a bit to repetetive, but it's fun to play in small doses a day :)
It's much easier compared to it's big brothers Final Fantasy 6 and 7... It's more about exploring and finding treausres rather than preparing for the next boss. For example, there was a boss in a ghost swamp. I prepared like hell for this guy, since the monsters in the forest were pretty tough. However, after 2 rounds (8 hits) they boss was dead. So a little too easy.

I was expecting a bit more from Blue Dragon. "With Sakaguchi and Toriyama this game will be great" i thought. :crazy:
Review - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24333.html

..Not expecting much from Eternal Sonata.