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After years of swearing that I'd never go back to consoles, I've finally tired of half-finished PC games that never get patched and/or tend to crash my system. So now I'm going back to console gaming, and I figure I'll go with PS2, since Playstation seems to still be the king of RPG's.

So what are the better titles to look for? What new games are good, what sequels to popular games (Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill) are good and what ones were massive wastes of money, etc.

flair

dragon quest VIII
grandia III
tales of legendia

Those are the ones I'm playing currently or just beat. I havent been playing many RPG's this generation before the winter, but DQVIII really got me into them and I've been on a kick lately.

dom56

Kingdom Hearts is a must have.

Can't wait for Kingdom Hearts 2.

Joe Molotov

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2

I'm playing through part 1 currently, and it's pretty fun.

Blitz6Speed

Final Fantasy X
Kingdom Hearts
Dragon Quest 8
Grandia 3
Wild Arms 4

That should get you started =) And enjoy some of the greatest games ever!!! I also suggest God Of War as a insanely awesome action title, it is seriously a step beyond what video gaming was.

PixyJunket

If you enjoyed the RPGs of days gone by (NES, SNES era) you MUST get Dragon Quest VIII. Fantastic game. I'm enjoying Tales of Legendia a lot right now.. it's got some rough edges but overall I think it may be my favorite of the US released Tales games. Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter I thought was insanely cool, a nice break from practically all RPG conventions.. but in the same, it's not for everyone (not for many apparently) but can be found on the cheap brand new. Grandia III sounds like it has a amazingly awesome battle system but I've heard from more than a few people that anything outside of battles is pure torture. Star Ocean III and Radiata Stories are on my "to try" list based on action-based battles but they've someone slid under my radar too many times for me to get in a panic about.

Final Fantasy X I've tried to play twice now and have given up before getting an hour in it was so bad. A lot of people are saying it's the best modern Final Fantasy game but I just can't get passed how horrible the start of the game is to see what people are talking about. X-2 has gotten some praise from old-school FF fans for it's job system, mission based structure and focus on gameplay but you have to get over the fact that the entire game plays out like a Spice Girls concert.

Kingdom Hearts is the best PS2 game ever (that is, until March 28th).

RocShemp

I really want to get Dragon Quest VIII. The demo alone was so much fun.

Final Fantasy X is better than Final Fantasy VIII (but that isn't saying much) but I found the characters in Final Fantasy IX more endearing.

Final Fantasy X-2 is a lot of fun but you have to check in your brain at the door, with regards the story. For all its faults (for starters, Tidus was an ass), Final Fantasy X had a rather compelling ending which Final Fantasy X-2 completely negates.

I adore Kingdom Hearts and anticipation for Kingdom Hearts II is what has kept me from spending my limited funds on other games I want to get.

fujishig

Hmm... lots of turn-based rpg fans, but not too many tactical RPG fans? no nippon-ichi love?

If you like tactical RPGs, there are also a ton of good ones:

La Pucille Tactics
Disgaea
Phantom Brave
Makai Kingdom
Disgaea 2 (not out yet)

For action RPGs, an incredible one that is often overlooked is Dark Cloud 2. Much, much better than the original, cell-shaded graphics, and I think the same team went on to work on the incredible Dragon Quest VIII.

As a fan of the Suikoden series, I enjoyed Suikoden 3, though the battle system was a bit flawed. 4 was lambasted, but the upcoming Suikoden V (to be released on the same day as Kingdom Hearts II?) looks to be great.

Since you mentioned RE in your initial post, RE4 is a must-buy if you're a fan of the series.

RocShemp

The first two Arc The Lad games (the second in particular) are fun strategy RPGs. Although I've never played the actual game, the demo for Front Mission 4 made it seem like a fun game.

I too recommend Resident Evil 4. It's one of the best games ever made. Even non-RE fans should play it. But since when is any Resident Evil game an RPG? Or Silent Hill...

SiberianLlama

Haven't seen this mentioned but Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a great RPG that breaks with the standard fantasy RPG elements.

Also, you might want to check out Xenosaga I and II. A lot of people complain that the game suffers because there are so many movies, but if you're ok with that, the story for Xenosaga is amazing.

MovieExchange

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I bought my PS2 tonight, and believe it or not... I didn't buy a single PS2 game to go with it. Why? Because the employee at Gamestop knew of my love for RPG's, and told me that they had Final Fantasy 4 / Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 5 & 6, and Final Fantasy 7 in the back, and the guy they were holding them for never picked them up. So currently I have a PS2 and 3 PS1 games to go with it. Can't help it, I love the Final Fantasy series.

My first PS2 game will probably be DragonQuest 8. I've only heard one bad review and that was a friend of a friend didn't like the game. Not exactly reliable.

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I almost bought a copy of that and Resident Evil 2 (why am I buying all the games that I owned back when I had my first Playstation?), but both games were pretty scratched up. I don't burn through games like many others do, so there would be a good chance of me not finding a skip on the disc until well after the return date had passed.

Baron Of Hell

dark cloud 2

Chris_D

Silent Hill 2 is incredible, very psychological story, loved it. My favourite game of the series. Silent Hill 3 is a very worthy follow up to Silent Hill 1 continuing the story (although it's not entirely obvious at first), and an overall extremely polished game. Silent Hill 4, I've had real trouble getting through, currently about 30% in. I'd leave that one for last or avoid it entirely.

I preferred FFX to FF9, but did like 7 and 8 more. The voice acting in FFX is very grating though..

Enjoy your PS2!

PixyJunket

Good luck with those PS1 copies of the SNES Final Fantasy games and Chrono Trigger.. you'll need it (especially if you've played them on the SNES). But since you bought those and have a vested interest in Dragon Quest VIII I'd recommended picking up Final Fantasy IX at some point. It's sort of a throw-back to the classic games with the new-school graphics (and over use of cut-scenes!). The graphics are still ass but the gameplay is VERY solid, the story is less convoluted than the other modern FFs and most importantly, the characters aren't annoying brats.

If you're hunting for PS1 games still and happen to come across Tales of Destiny or Tales of Destiny II, pick them up! If you're into the "old-school" style RPG they may be right up your alley and they both have excellent 2D graphics. The battle system is choice though, especially ToDII (and even more so if you add a second player to the mix). ToDII probably has the best 2D graphics on the PS1 as a matter of fact. The music on both sucks though.. and I liked the characters and story to the first one a LOT more than the second.. but the second can't be beat for gameplay.

Lunar and Lunar 2.. look, they were ground-breaking on the Sega CD.. but I just couldn't get into them on the PS1. God knows I've given the game several chances but I can't get more than about 10 hours into either before I get bored and forget about it. Not sure why to be honest.. they were old favorites of mine.

nemein

um... I guess a good place to start is what do you consider to be an RPG? Personally some of the games listed above I would count as "adventure" games but not RPGs. To me an RPG usually consists of at least some sort "leveling"/experience system and some sort of skill matrix.

As far as recommendations I would say the Baulder's Gate series, the Champions of Norrath series and the X-Men Legends series. All are essentially dungeon crawlers though w/o much in the way of puzzles to solve. LotR: Third Age was decent enough but I sold it as soon as I finished it since it has very little replay value IMHO.

jah2004

I have only been into RPGs for a couple of years but I recommend the following:

Kingdom Hearts (My favorite game ever, and KH2 looks like it will top that)
Final Fantasy VII (PS1) (My other favorite game. Excellent story, gameplay and characters made this one of the best gaming experiences ever for me)
Final Fantasy X
Parasite Eve (PS1)
Final Fantasy Anthology (PS1)
Grandia II (haven't found the first one yet)
Digital Devil Saga (I have it, haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I have heard awesome things about it)

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Kingdom Hearts: Bought it yesterday
Final Fantasy 7: Used to own it when I had a PS1, bought it when I got my PS2.
Parasite Eve: Beat it when I had a PS1. Didn't make it through the Chrysler Building at the end, but that was such a pain in the ass that I don't plan on buying the game to go through that headache again.
Grandia 2: Considering it. I know I played the first one, but can't remember how it was.