The BEST ps2 rpg?

[fullmetal_alchemist027]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

Star Ocean FTMFW. Pick one, they're all amazing.

[Cyrenics]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

Oh yeah, I had memorable times with the Shadow Hearts series. Some of the most fun I've had playing an RPG next to Dark Cloud/Disgaea.

[dragon890x]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

Wow, I have a lot of buying to do. o.o;;

[Squeek]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

Dark Cloud 2 is boring. It's designed for completionists who can't help but make everything. It's also ridiculously hard and requires a lot more than just "moderate" level grinding. Be prepared to cycle through the same map dozens of times to prepare you for the next one.

Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are boring unless you absolutely love hitting nothing but X to beat a game. And the cutscenes are so great that they included a skip feature in the sequel, which I used thoroughly.

Final Fantasy X is boring and easy as hell, but I wasn't expecting much from a Final Fantasy game. Never played 12 but it's a cheap attempt at real-time combat that falls short.

Star Ocean 3 is absolutely dreadful. The entire game is centered around combat, which isn't very good to begin with. The story is atrociously bad and it's far too easy of a game.

Disgaea 1 and 2 are golden. Even I, someone who hates turn-based RPGs and someone who really hates SRPGs fell in love with this franchise and dropped over 300 hours on these games.

Persona 3 is another diamond in the rough. Better if you actually like Japanese culture or dabble in anime, but even the average person can enjoy it for what it is. Persona 4 is supposed to be better, but I haven't dropped the cash for it yet to find out.

Tales of the Abyss is the greatest RPG I've ever played, let alone the best on the PS2. The combat is done right, showing FF12 how real-time is meant to be done even before FF12 came out. The story is engaging and unsurpassed by anything else on the market. It's a great game from start to finish and you will want to play through it several times, guaranteed.

But hey that's just me.

Edit: I post this every time I talk about TotA. Even though it's not the best video, especially with the annoying text written in, it's still a great example of how awesome the game is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXGA-fmrQ7Q

[Zybanthia]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

Dark Cloud 2 was far from overly hard. I got through with a couple replays of maps here and there, but no grinding at all. The thing is, considering there's things like Spheda (which was sometimes really fun and sometimes downright annoying), you'll want to repeat the map once or twice anyway, so it's no big deal at all.

FFX was overly easy though. Any game in which you can purposely avoid the leveling system is probably too easy... and given the fact that people definitely clear FFX without ever touching the sphere grid, it could have been a lot harder. I hate really hard games, but challenge is a good thing.

I'm STILL meaning to play Tales of the Abyss, but on the rare occasions I go to someplace like Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, etc, I never see it there.

[Squeek]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

You will never see it at a rental store. I'm almost 100% certain on that.

And five days isn't enough to beat the game.

[dragon890x]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

lolz, seeing RPGs in a rental store is funny. It's sad if you check out an RPG, I'd rather just buy it so I don't have to spend all of those 5 days playing those games non stop and can enjoy it when I actually have time.

[Gun92]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

All the suggestions here are great, but get Persona 3 and 4, they are excellent.

[dragon890x]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

What ever happened to 1 and 2? o-O;;

[Redorigami]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

FFX and X-2 were fun IMO.
X-2 and XII require absolutely no work to beat though, especially XII. Gambits fight the battles for you.

Wild Arms 3 is always fun 8D
And I spent a lot of time playing Wild Arms 5
Don't even bother with the 4th.

[Squeek]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

What ever happened to 1 and 2? o-O;;

They were on the original PlayStation, but nobody really cared back then.

Besides, the PS2 games are better. You can trust Atlus as a company that retains quality as the number following the title of the game increases. You know, unlike Square.

[Zybanthia]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

You will never see it at a rental store. I'm almost 100% certain on that.

Yeah, I'm beginning to accept that... but I've never seen a bad review of Abyss, period, so I'm thinking I'm going to buy it.

lolz, seeing RPGs in a rental store is funny. It's sad if you check out an RPG, I'd rather just buy it so I don't have to spend all of those 5 days playing those games non stop and can enjoy it when I actually have time.

Who said you have to beat it if you rent it? Considering many of us have tales to tell about out 180+ hour files on games, beating an RPG isn't really the point of renting it; some of us actually want to try the game out before we buy it. I've rented a number of pretty bad games, but I was glad I didn't buy them.

You can trust Atlus as a company that retains quality as the number following the title of the game increases. You know, unlike Square.

AMEN

[Phynx]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

You're forgetting Dark Cloud 2.

Yeah the intro music was pretty meh, but the customization, invention system, monster transformations, and little sneaky extras, hidden carefully around the game's world, make it a true top 10 for any RPG buff's PS2 collection. WARNING: Does require moderate levelgrinding, beware.

And hurry up and get Persona 3/4...

Dark Cloud 2 wasn't as fun as 1 in my opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed 1.

You should get FFVII if you can find one, it plays on the PS2, but you'll just need a PS1 memory card.

PS: FFVII is expensive as fuc

FFVII still remains my favorite RPG of all time. I would also recommend it, it is for some people (unlike Squeek) a very captivating experience. The storyline really grabbed me as it does so many others so I would definitely invest in it.

P.S. - haha, Virus, I have an original packaged FFVII with it's original guide. Lol, I can sell it for $200 to the right people around here... that's insane for a game to raise it's value like that...

Eh, FFX was okay but nothing great imho. At least not compared to Tales of the Abyss.

At least it will be cheap.

FFX and X-2 sucked total ass in my opinion. To my eyes, they weren't part of the Final Fantasy series. They were utter crap to me. Storylines were bogeyed at best. And the rest of the systems, battle, the ****ing orb **** you have to fill the grid with, that all was so lame. I love the traditional level up system. It keeps the classic side of the Final Fantasy in the game while they can make everything else different and it would still be fun for me. I love the pleasure of watching players level up and become strong as fuq. I hated that skill orb whatever bull****.

[ShAiOnEi]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

But hey that's just me.

Oh ok. Don't listen to squeek he's absolutely discouraging because he's too bent up on the same game and thinks that tales of the abyss is the only gem in action rpgs.

If you want to know if something is worth your time don't trust someones view when they are hellbent on a single game because I personally played tales of the abyss and thought it was pure **** in design and story.

If I did have to bring my opinion on the best rpg for the ps2 I would have to nominate star ocean till the end of time I've had a much more enjoyable experience with this game than any other rpg. I personally think it's a much better action rpg than tales could ever be mostly because of the tweaked less buggy battle system and great story.

EDIT:No offense Squeek but I really don't like your beloved Tales game at all and I hope you can take this without writing a 300 word essay on why the game is held so high on your list.

[Squeek]

Re: The BEST ps2 rpg?

I always love how people discredit my opinions, yet fail to notice the list of people who agreed with me once they gave Tales a chance.

There's only one flaw with Tales of the Abyss, and that's load times on Overworld battles. Simple solution is to not get into overworld battles.

Also, as always, you didn't read my post. I said Disgaea, Persona, and Tales are all fantastic RPGs on the PS2. So, nice try on slandering me.

Neglected to mention another one I own: Odin Sphere. It looks gorgeous but it's just boring. The first time you beat it, it's great fun. Then you start character #2 and you're doing everything all over again. It's still kinda fun. Then character #3 and you realize it's just not fun anymore and you still have two characters to go before you even get close to the end of the game. The story is also pretty 'meh' so all in all I give it a negatory on the purchase.