RPG Game Suggestions?

pboreham · 08-03-2008, 12:04 PM

Really fancy getting trying some RPG games - not really my sort of genre normally, but worth a go! I've had Monster Hunter Freedom with my last PSP - and whilst it was 'ok', I found it a bit samey that you went out to the same places, killed the same things etc.

I'm not sure if I'll like MHF2...

Never ever played a FF game - so is Crisis Core a good place to start, or are the original FF games better for PSP?

Also been looking into Disgaea - but dont know a lot about it. Is there like upgradeable classes, gold to buy things etc.

Guess I'm after the same sort of play as Oblivion - lots of side missions, things to buy, items/magic to build on etc.

Anyone got any thoughts please?!

Widge · 08-03-2008, 4:39 PM

Crisis core looks quite action-y. I think its fairly mission based too, so think of a bit more of a linear FFXII. I don't think we'll know how it plays in honesty until it comes out. So far I think it sounds like it'll be episodic little bursts of missions rather than a 'world map' roamer.

Disgaea is basically a port of a PS2 classic. VERY hardcore tactics game with lots of emphasis on levelling to cope with some of it from what I read. Basically you have points around a map which you will go to as part of the story, each map point represents an arena where you will be able to battle with a squad of people. You take turns to move around the grid and attack. Tactics games can get quite tense as you sit back and watch the CPU take its moves, some of the battles get quite epic! Also check out Jeanne D'Arc for this kinda game.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth is meant to be pretty good in the same vein as a more traditional Jap RPG style game. Levelling, exploring etc.

As for Oblivion style games, I've not seen anything that is like a 3D free roamer but Obv is really quite unique.

A good tip is to get the old Custom Firmware on the PSP and dip into the older Final Fantasy games. FF7, 8 and 9 are always great to play. Wild Arms, while looking quite basic and starting off easy, gets real tough!

There is a MASSIVE gap for traditional Jrpgs on this system though....

pboreham · 08-03-2008, 5:16 PM

Thanks Widge!

Sorry, meant to say that by 'Oblivion' I wasnt expecting a 3D roaming type game from the PSP - just that kind of 'free-roam RPG' feel, whether 2D, Isometric, 3D whatever.

Found a thread on another forum about RPGs funnily enough - so anyone got any experience of these:-

Alien Syndrome (looks kinda RPGy with leveling up and stuff?)
Kingdom of Paradise/Key of Heaven - like a Kung-Fu RPG?
Bounty Hounds - Sci-Fi action RPG

Gonna check out some YouTube vids of Crisis Core!

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widge

Crisis core looks quite action-y. I think its fairly mission based too, so think of a bit more of a linear FFXII. I don't think we'll know how it plays in honesty until it comes out. So far I think it sounds like it'll be episodic little bursts of missions rather than a 'world map' roamer.

Disgaea is basically a port of a PS2 classic. VERY hardcore tactics game with lots of emphasis on levelling to cope with some of it from what I read. Basically you have points around a map which you will go to as part of the story, each map point represents an arena where you will be able to battle with a squad of people. You take turns to move around the grid and attack. Tactics games can get quite tense as you sit back and watch the CPU take its moves, some of the battles get quite epic! Also check out Jeanne D'Arc for this kinda game.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth is meant to be pretty good in the same vein as a more traditional Jap RPG style game. Levelling, exploring etc.

As for Oblivion style games, I've not seen anything that is like a 3D free roamer but Obv is really quite unique.

A good tip is to get the old Custom Firmware on the PSP and dip into the older Final Fantasy games. FF7, 8 and 9 are always great to play. Wild Arms, while looking quite basic and starting off easy, gets real tough!

There is a MASSIVE gap for traditional Jrpgs on this system though....

pboreham · 11-03-2008, 9:35 PM

Tried Disgaea and 'meh' dont really know what to make of it.

Just doing battles all the time isnt my idea of RPG - unless I have it wrong!

I prefer sort of free-wandering, doing quests that kind of thing.

I see Wild Arms xF is due out soon - is that similar?

Seen a fair bit of Crisis Core now on YouTube and pretty tempted to import. This seems more wandering and stat building etc?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widge

Crisis core looks quite action-y. I think its fairly mission based too, so think of a bit more of a linear FFXII. I don't think we'll know how it plays in honesty until it comes out. So far I think it sounds like it'll be episodic little bursts of missions rather than a 'world map' roamer.

Disgaea is basically a port of a PS2 classic. VERY hardcore tactics game with lots of emphasis on levelling to cope with some of it from what I read. Basically you have points around a map which you will go to as part of the story, each map point represents an arena where you will be able to battle with a squad of people. You take turns to move around the grid and attack. Tactics games can get quite tense as you sit back and watch the CPU take its moves, some of the battles get quite epic! Also check out Jeanne D'Arc for this kinda game.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth is meant to be pretty good in the same vein as a more traditional Jap RPG style game. Levelling, exploring etc.

As for Oblivion style games, I've not seen anything that is like a 3D free roamer but Obv is really quite unique.

A good tip is to get the old Custom Firmware on the PSP and dip into the older Final Fantasy games. FF7, 8 and 9 are always great to play. Wild Arms, while looking quite basic and starting off easy, gets real tough!

There is a MASSIVE gap for traditional Jrpgs on this system though....

Kube · 12-03-2008, 12:07 PM

Get Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (£9.99 on play.com) and import Kingdom of Heaven, both will be exactly what you are looking for.

xist · 12-03-2008, 9:03 PM

You could also look into Tales of Eternia.

pboreham · 14-03-2008, 7:50 AM

Cheers guys, will definately check them out!

Wild Arms xF looks good too... been reading some stuff on GameFaqs since its release on Monday and to be honest, I havent got a clue what they are going on about.

MP this and magica that! Seems I've come into the SPRG too old!!

Crisis Core looks pretty neat though as it looks less tactical, more roaming, so maybe thats the way?

But I'll definately look into these 3...

Widge · 14-03-2008, 2:23 PM

Wild Arms XF is another tactics game.

Disgaea, Wild Arms XF, Jeanne D'Arc, Final Fantasy Tactics don't have a free roaming world. You go to points around a map and battle in arenas much as you have seen in Disgaea. There are stories and there is the build up of characters. But not this close knit, just the 6 of you, that you get with something like a Final Fantasy.

The flip side of this, is the strategy of battle, nothing like setting up your pieces and seeing how it pans out. Getting an archer into high ground, providing a defensive line for your mages etc. Quite interesting and can lead to some epic battle. But if you miss the 'world map' roam-y ness of an RPG, don't go for the tactics games. So all of those mentioned should be out really.

Traditional (and good) games are few and far between. I mean you get the odd PS1 port like Valkyrie Profile (apparently quite good) and Breath Of Fire (which I found initially quite good, and then quite dull.... lots of levelling in boring areas required).

I'm not sure how Crisis Core is going to pan out you know? I guess we'll see once its in our hands.

Oh, I forgot to say, on the US PS3 store there is Wild Arms (PS1 Original), I don't know if this can be downloaded on PC? Wild Arms was actually rather good I found. Looked a bit SNES-y and felt rather easy at the beginning... but had a good ongoing story and got REALLY tough in fights and puzzles after the initial learning curve. Actually took a good combo of me and my dad to get through some bits of this game!

pboreham · 14-03-2008, 6:04 PM

Cheers Widge, thats helpful too

Watched some vids of these games today on YouTube:-

Valkyrie - Looked ok from what I could make out, but is bottom of my list at present.

Tales of Eternia - very interesting concept. The battling looked a bit 'messy' like a free-for-all, but from the reviews I've read, that calms down as you go on in the game and becomes quite a challenge of fighting, blocking and magic.

Kingdom of Heaven - Looks the most exciting to me. Looks free-roaming and the battles look ace. Like God of War, but more too it - graphics were very good too. But, the reviews arent all favourable, so I'm a bit confused!

Wild Arms looks better than Disgaea, but take your point about the battlefields and no roaming.

Thing is with these games, as I've come into them late, I really dont know how to play them! They look like there is so much to do with classes etc - but to me (from what I've played), you move about on the grid and attack the opponent until their HP is 0.

Doesnt seem to be a lot of tactics funnily enough

Are there any good resources to do some research, or shall I keep grinding through?

In a semi-reply to my own thread here - I've spent some time on Metal Gear Ac!d 2 in the last few days. This strikes me as quite a similar sort of game as SRPG? Really enjoying it - even though its card based - I like the tactics of forward thinking and that bit of luck that the cards deal.

More I see Crisis Core though, the more amazed I am...

Going to be a great game, no doubting...

DPT1976 · 14-03-2008, 8:22 PM

Brave Story: New Traveler might be worth a look as it is a more traditional rpg which sounds like what you are looking for.

http://uk.psp.ign.com/objects/815/815521.html

Don't think it had a UK release though so you will need to import but movietyme have it for £20.

achoudry · 16-03-2008, 6:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pboreham

Cheers guys, will definately check them out!

Wild Arms xF looks good too... been reading some stuff on GameFaqs since its release on Monday and to be honest, I havent got a clue what they are going on about.

MP this and magica that! Seems I've come into the SPRG too old!!

Crisis Core looks pretty neat though as it looks less tactical, more roaming, so maybe thats the way?

But I'll definately look into these 3...

wild arms xf doesn't get great reviews on ign - http://uk.psp.ign.com/objects/851/851723.html

definitely looking forward to crisis core!

unlike widge, i couldn't get in to ff tactics...i just sold my copy actually!

Widge · 17-03-2008, 1:58 PM

haha! don't you just hit things until their HP gets to 0 in general in RPGs?

In Jeanne D'Arc I've had situations where I have had to defend a town from attackers. Some guys climb over the walls, while some hard knights bash in the main gate. I have bowmen shooting down from above, while having people run from place to place patching up holes in my defence. Also, once someone gets KO'd, thats it... no reviving them on that fight, so you really have to watch how you play. Have all your people close together and their defence is raised, this is at the expense of flexibility of movement around the field and exposure to area magic... also attacking enemies from different sides gives different percentages of attack success.

Some guys are counterers, and spearmen can attack over 2 squares, meaning they can keep their distance.

Jeanne D'Arc was really good. Got 9.0 on IGN I think. Wild Arms gets pretty much panned. As I say, best to hit the PSOne original instead.

Haven't played much of Valkyrie Profile at all, there is also a PS2 sequel I believe. I dropped it in favour of Jeanne D'Arc.

Widge · 17-03-2008, 2:00 PM

Metal Gear Acid sounded strange to my ears. Again a tactical based game, almost like card battling I thought. I may have to read up on it. I need to finish off Portable Ops at some point too... keep getting distracted by games.

Got Syphon Filter:Dark Mirror to polish off (amazing)... God Of War and Final Fantasy are descending soon. Plus I've put Final Fantasy 8 on the wee black slab and I need to finish that guy off!

pboreham · 17-03-2008, 2:09 PM

Think you are right about RPGs and I'm beginning to feel they arent my bag!

Crisis Core looks to be the closest thing to what I am after

As for the other games, personally, I'm struggling with Port Ops. Yea, its a technical master piece, but I find it all too clumsy to play - think the controls are very poorly done and its really harming my enjoyment of it.

Now Killzone, that is one hell of a game all round - looks great, sounds great, plays great!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widge

Metal Gear Acid sounded strange to my ears. Again a tactical based game, almost like card battling I thought. I may have to read up on it. I need to finish off Portable Ops at some point too... keep getting distracted by games.

Got Syphon Filter:Dark Mirror to polish off (amazing)... God Of War and Final Fantasy are descending soon. Plus I've put Final Fantasy 8 on the wee black slab and I need to finish that guy off!

Pontiac · 17-03-2008, 2:10 PM

Action RPG Lovers should take a look at the excellent Breath of Fire 3 for this system. It's a port of the PS1 version with extended fishing features. Definitely recommended!

Widge · 17-03-2008, 2:44 PM

Have you tried Syphon Filter, both of them are utterly fantastic. I also liked Burnout on this too.

RE: Breath Of Fire 3, I liked this to begin with, but I found you really needed to powerlevel in this game. Basically as you walk around, you get ? marks above your head and you get an opportunity to have a fight. You get stuck in a pretty much bland arena and you have to walk round and fight away. Anyone who has wandered round in circles catching chocobos or in the underwater seaplane in FF7 will know how griding can somewhat batter you morale. This game really does lump it on you. I found that at one point (where you have to cross the desert... not the most fun part of the game), the bad guys difficulty was just ramped up rather sharply. I was near the end and I just decided to give up anyway. This was after spending some good bits of time levelling too.

Extended fishing features?

I may give it a go again, or get BOF4 if it was a PSOne release.

I certainly recommend Wild Arms:

http://uk.psx.ign.com/objects/001/001875.html

As mentioned, this should be on the US PSN.

Also the GTA games are standard! Liberty City Stories is a touch basic to start with, but gets really good.

Widge · 17-03-2008, 3:04 PM

Breath Of Fire 4 (for CFW fans)

http://uk.psx.ign.com/articles/163/163551p1.html

Pontiac · 17-03-2008, 3:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widge

Have you tried Syphon Filter, both of them are utterly fantastic. I also liked Burnout on this too.

RE: Breath Of Fire 3, I liked this to begin with, but I found you really needed to powerlevel in this game. Basically as you walk around, you get ? marks above your head and you get an opportunity to have a fight. You get stuck in a pretty much bland arena and you have to walk round and fight away. Anyone who has wandered round in circles catching chocobos or in the underwater seaplane in FF7 will know how griding can somewhat batter you morale. This game really does lump it on you. I found that at one point (where you have to cross the desert... not the most fun part of the game), the bad guys difficulty was just ramped up rather sharply. I was near the end and I just decided to give up anyway. This was after spending some good bits of time levelling too.

On the contrary, I found as with most RPGs BOF3 near the beginning can be quite difficult as you are just setting out and don't have enough money to buy the best weapons/armour etc so levelling is necessary here, but after that I found it wasn't really for the rest of the game. If you think levelling in bof3 is necessary, try something like Dragon Quest 7 (another of my top RPG picks) where it is ESSENTIAL to level up and even then you will find yourself getting squashed by random battles really easily!

In bof I like how your characters have the ability to "steal" special movies off random and boss enemies so that you can learn new abilities just by observing them in battle! This proves very useful. Not to mention the "master" system whereby you can shape your characters future spells and abilities by having them study under different types of characters, whether they be fighters, wizard type characters etc you can study under them so causing your characters to learn there abilities.

Also, I found the numerous fishing areas throughout the game a great diversion from the monotony of random battles which are of course the mainstay of many an RPG! These fishing spots really helped to unwind I found when battles and levelling might be getting on top of me (just like real fishing might!) and the great thing is you can fish for special items and armours which will help your characters out even more.

I'm playing through again right now, trying to get all the items and secrets that I may have missed before (I completed it about a year ago). Youtube has a great video guide for this game that can be found by searching for VGG breath of fire 3 on the tube, it isn't complete by far but gets you through the very early stages and gives you a few tips how to play.

Breath of fire 4... also a classic and highly recommended, again I love the fishing modes and the great ability of being able to do "combos" with magic to produce amazing spells.

Widge · 18-03-2008, 9:29 AM

Breath of Fire 3, I managed to breeze it pretty much up until the bit where you have to plod endlessly across a desert. I got to the other side and suddenly everything was nails!

Sound familiar?

I may give it a go again, once I get everything else out of the way. I really want to get through Vice City at some point too!

Kube · 18-03-2008, 10:06 AM

Im playing Valkyrie Profile Lenneth at the moment, superb game, weird but superb.

MCHardmanUK · 20-03-2008, 6:45 PM

Have a look at Monster Hunter 1 or 2.

I had a look at it on my cousins PSP and it looks good, collecting and fighting.

I love RPG'S just haven't got round to buying any games yet, the PSP seems ideal for RPG's to play on the way to work.

pboreham · 21-03-2008, 9:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCHardmanUK

Have a look at Monster Hunter 1 or 2.

I had a look at it on my cousins PSP and it looks good, collecting and fighting.

I love RPG'S just haven't got round to buying any games yet, the PSP seems ideal for RPG's to play on the way to work.

Yea, I got MH2 in the end from Games second hand rack. Like it, lot of depth!

Widge · 21-03-2008, 3:28 PM

Monster Hunter 2 good?

pboreham · 21-03-2008, 4:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widge

Monster Hunter 2 good?

I've not got that deep into it yet, but seems alot to it. To be honest, it seems to me to be VERY much like MH1 - even the same tutorial missions, so thats disappointing.

I'm hoping it improves/changes away from MH1 as I get further into it.

But with Crisis Core and my new found love for Baseball (THe Show 08) I havent got much spare gaming time!

MCHardmanUK · 21-03-2008, 7:14 PM

Only thing I don't like about MH2 is I can't sve when I want to or maybe I can but haven't worked out how to.

If you liked FF7 then FF1 and 2 are pretty much the same, battle system, layout and the music. I love it, there's no map so have fun.

xist · 21-03-2008, 8:45 PM

Avoid Final Fantasy 2 as it's terrible! It has the worst possible experience/level system known to humanity!

achoudry · 25-03-2008, 12:07 PM

what are the monster hunter games like? never heard of them!

Widge · 26-03-2008, 2:24 PM

Can't find much IGN info on it. Viewpoint wise, its sparking memories of Ocarina Of Time though. I wouldn't be expecting party based, turn mechanics here.