What are your top 10 PS2 RPG's?

[Mason P.]

I am thinking of geting some and was wondering everybodys fav's for the system. Sorry if this has been asked before, I didn't find the post if it has.

[TurboGenesis]

Dragon Quest VIII
Star Ocean 3 Till the end of time
Atelier Iris Eternal Mana
Xenosaga I
Suikoden III & IV
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne


Those be some of my favorites.

[Daria]

Dragon Quest VIII
Phantom Brave
Atelier Iris
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

Those four are not only my favorite RPGs for the PS2, but also rank along with my top favorite RPGs for any system.

However the rest of my experience with the PS2 library has been kinda meh. As much as I liked Phantom Brave, for example. I'm sick of all the tactical RPGs being released for the system and really didn't get into Disgaea or La Pucelle as much as I had liked or even as much as the games probably desevered.

Ys, Dark Cloud 2, and Shining Tears also appear promising but I haven't had much of a chance to really get into either game, yet.

[Eternal Tune]

In no particular order...

- Suikoden III, IV, and Tactics
- Star Ocean 3
- Xenosaga Episode 1 and 2
- Wild Arms 3, 4 and Alter Code
- Dark Cloud 2
- Radiata Stories
- Grandia 2
- Kingdom Hearts
- Drakengard

[Poofta!]

just a word of advice, take EVERY suggestion here with a grain of salt. RPG is the most opinionated genre, what one person likes another wont. most of the titles here are actually strategy titles. and some others are heavy on cell-shading. some are rather kiddy and shallow.


i dont have a ps2, my roommate does, so far i beat only 3 RPGs. and a lot of the ones mentioned i hated.

i should add that Xenosaga has a very intrigueing story line, im playing it now.

i completed:
FFX
FFX-2
Front Mission 4

i recommend FFX and
Front Mission 4 (one of the more complex and adult games you can find in rpg form today)

[Lemmy Kilmister]

I personally think Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter is the best PS2 RPG. Yeah, that's right.. Breath of Fire V. It's challenging, there's a lot to find and explore, the game actually changes ever time you restart it, there's no lame soap opera story with blonde haired teenagers falling in love, there's no hour long cut scenes and it's fun and it's cheap. What more do you need?

Other then that.. Dragon Quest VIII and Y's VI are worth looking into.

[Poofta!]

I personally think Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter is the best PS2 RPG. Yeah, that's right.. Breath of Fire V. It's challenging, there's a lot to find and explore, the game actually changes ever time you restart it, there's no lame soap opera story with blonde haired teenagers falling in love, there's no hour long cut scenes and it's fun and it's cheap. What more do you need?

Other then that.. Dragon Quest VIII and Y's VI are worth looking into.


exactly why i think you should borrow/rent the games first, personally id rather play ET on the 2600 than BoFV

[Daria]

just a word of advice, take EVERY suggestion here with a grain of salt. RPG is the most opinionated genre, what one person likes another wont. most of the titles here are actually strategy titles. and some others are heavy on cell-shading. some are rather kiddy and shallow.

i should add that Xenosaga has a very intrigueing story line, im playing it now.

i completed:
FFX
FFX-2
Front Mission 4

i recommend FFX and
Front Mission 4 (one of the more complex and adult games you can find in rpg form today)

And all you could recomended were Square titles.... and Xenosaga.

[MightySlacker]

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Very easily my favorite RPGs of all time. Easily the best continuous storyline of any RPG or RPG series I've ever played. The other 8 I'd recommend:

Growlanser Generations (2 for the price of one!)
Stella Deus
Front Mission 4
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Digital Devil Saga
Atelier Iris
The Bard's Tale (hit or miss for a lot of people, but damn is this game funny)
Dark Cloud 2

Dave

[roushimsx]

just a word of advice, take EVERY suggestion here with a grain of salt.

Quoted for truth.

My favorites:

Star Ocean 3 - Sure, the voice acting sucks and it starts of on totally the wrong foot, but the game picks up reasonably quickly (once you crashland onto the planet). The music is some of Motoi Sakuraba's best work, the graphics are fantastic, and I absolutly loved the storyline from start to finish (fans of the series are pretty torn on this point). Also, the combat system has never been better, but the tutorial makes no fucking sense, so either be prepared to spend a few hours fucking around to figure it out or read a gameplay guide. Also, the invention system isn't documented at all...the tutorial they pretend to make you go through doesn't help, so you're forced to use a guide if you want to explore that aspect of the game. It's not required, but it makes the game a lot easier once you get the hang of it. Enjoyment isn't really dependent on having played previous titles in the series, so if it's your first Star Ocean game, you won't be missing out on any storyline events.

Disgaea - I had low hopes for this one since I hated Rhapsody (can you blame me? I didn't buy it expecting to get a SRPG for preteen girls), but I was extremely impressed. Amazing localization job on the part of Atlus...great voice acting overall and a combat system that works just perfectly. It was so fun that I didn't even mind grinding up levels just for the sake of grinding up levels. Really wacky and interesting storyline, too.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - This game is extremely slow moving and can be brutally difficult. Fair warning. I loved it all the same, though. Again, graphics and music were unique and fantastic, and it had a very dark/bleak storyline which felt like a breath of fresh air... depressing fresh air, but fresh air all the same :) At its most basic stripped down level, imagine if Pokemon required strategy. Don't feel bad if you haven't played the previous two SFami games, it won't affect your enjoyment of this title.

[DonMarco]

BoF IV: Dragon Quarter
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Gitaroo Man
Makai Kingdom
Romance of Three Kingdoms X
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Stella Dues

And because I'm short one, Metropolismania

[Austin]

BoF IV: Dragon Quarter
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Gitaroo Man
Makai Kingdom
Romance of Three Kingdoms X
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Stella Dues

And because I'm short one, Metropolismania

Git...aroo...man? O_O

I haven't played many on the PS2 yet, but I really enjoyed Disgaea, Growlanser Generations, and SMT: Nocturne.

I'm currently starting on Makai Kingdom, but I haven't played enough to really have formed an opinion.

[Tan]

kingdom hearts
front mission 4
baldur's gate dark alliance
bard's tale
shining force neo

[Nez]

I personally think Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter is the best PS2 RPG. Yeah, that's right.. Breath of Fire V. It's challenging, there's a lot to find and explore, the game actually changes ever time you restart it, there's no lame soap opera story with blonde haired teenagers falling in love, there's no hour long cut scenes and it's fun and it's cheap. What more do you need?

Other then that.. Dragon Quest VIII and Y's VI are worth looking into.

Ahh yeas I beat this game it was so freaking difficult, I'll never do it again.

Fun but HARD!

[Crush Crawfish]

These are my personal favorites:

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Dragon Quest 8
Suikoden 3
Makai Kingdom
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
.hack (series)

[zerohero]

Asking for 10 good ps2 rpg's is hard... Dragon Warrior/Quest is a must IMO. Grandia 2 is another good one, if you have a DC I'd get it for that system though.

[slip81]

I'm also on the boat of not digging BoF: V, just wasn't all that engaging to me. I did like Suikoden IV, it's slow, but I really go into it once the plot picked up.

FFX I could go either way on, it wasn't a bad game, but to me it didn't offer anything that spectacular. Kind of a common RPG.

[Amy Rose]

I detested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter when I first played it. One of my favourite games of all time is BoF II (I know, it's a bad game, but that's what makes it so great) and I've played the other games. If you're expecting a real Breath of Fire game, you will be disappointed. However, if you want a real challenge in a Jap RPG, this is the way to go. I am addicted to the stupid thing now, after finding it in a Cash Converters for $15(AUS) and throwing it in the corner for a long time, hating it. How dare they ruin my beloved BoF? Take it as a seperate entity and you'll have a blast with it.

Others:

Kingdom Hearts
Final Fantasy X & X-2 (not the greatest games, but if you find them cheap, go for it. They really compliment each other.)
Phantom Brave.

I personally hated Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, but apparently it doesn't get good until 5 hours (!!!) in. I didn't have the patience to get that far and it is currently shelved. I'll get back to it again at some point. And stay away from Ephemeral Fantasia! Awful game, very unforgiving and so badly made. UGH.

[roushimsx]

I personally hated Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, but apparently it doesn't get good until 5 hours (!!!) in.

I personally started loving it the second you landed on the first planet, which is a little under 2 hours in...but a lot of people seem to hate the first planet (HINT: THE PASSWORD IS 256). :( In comparison, I thought Tales of Symphonia was extremely generic and uninteresting for the first 20 hours (and afterwards only mildly generic and somewhat interesting).

The more I hear people talk about Breath of Fire V (both for and against it), the more I'm inclined to buy it and play it. It just sounds so interesting and unique that I simply must play it now, damnit.

On the other hand, I'll never understand the love for the Unlimited Saga games. Maybe since they're dirt cheap I'll pick them up and give 'em a whirl with a walkthrough, but from what I understand they're the "Bokosuka Wars" of this generation, heh.

[sirhansirhan]

I think Disgaea is not only the single best RPG for the PS2, but also the best RPG period since the SNES era. Aside from that one, I also like Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, Phantom Brave, La Pucelle Tactics, Radiata Stories, and Makai Kingdom.

[hezeuschrist]

God, I have some work to do. I went through my PS2 list and checked out what I've actually played of my nearly-complete PS2 RPG collection... and this is all I've actually done:

Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Suikoden III
Suikoden IV
Xenosaga
Xenosaga II

I'm a terrible person.

Anyways, of those that I've played I think Suikoden III is my favorite, but I also thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy X. X-2 is a cheap cash in on a name while not having to actually do much because it uses all of the exact same assets. Thumbs down, square.

Suikoden IV, meh, this game is the definition of bland. It wasn't really bad, but it certainly wasn't as engaging as other entries in the series have been.

Xenosaga, what can I say. This could have the best plotline of any RPG game ever, but we'll never really know because they're axing the last 3 entries in the series, it went from 6 parts to a Trilogy. The first one has a far better battle system than the second one and the second one was quite frustrating at times.

[drewbrim]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Ah yes, the most popular and highest selling rpg of all time. :hmm:

Anyhoo, I've only played a couple but I did enjoy Dragon Quest 8 and Kingdom Hearts. My favorite would be Grandia II but I've only played it on the Dreamcast so it doesn't feel right to count it here.

[Daria]

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

My favorite would be Grandia II but I've only played it on the Dreamcast so it doesn't feel right to count it here.

Especially considering that the PS2 version is suppose to be a really really bad port of the game.

[Nature Boy]

I'm going to mention .hack since nobody else has.

I haven't had the time to actually complete the first one, but I've really, really enjoyed it. Maybe I'm just a MMORPG wanna be who is living vicarously, but I've enjoyed the immersion and story line immensly.

I've played bits of FF X and FF X-2, Suikoden IV, and Xenosaga I, and only Xenosaga intrigues me enough to go back and actually play it through. Suikoden isn't bad but I've never gotten into the series (one thing to always be aware of when taking peoples opinions, IMO, is to know how much they enjoy the series before they go on about it's latest incarnation).

I'll probably still pick up Dragon Warrior though, as I've never played a game and it intrigues me.

[unwinddesign]

Final Fantasy X, X-2, and Kingdom Hearts are the only RPGs I owned for PS2. They were all fantastic in my opinion. FFX-2 was a bit too girly and over the top for my tastes, but I never really delved into the battle system/story fully. It's as deep or as shallow as you want it to be.

All these strategy RPGs really aren't my bag.

[drummy]

I'm going to mention .hack since nobody else has.

I haven't had the time to actually complete the first one, but I've really, really enjoyed it. Maybe I'm just a MMORPG wanna be who is living vicarously, but I've enjoyed the immersion and story line immensly.

I've played bits of FF X and FF X-2, Suikoden IV, and Xenosaga I, and only Xenosaga intrigues me enough to go back and actually play it through. Suikoden isn't bad but I've never gotten into the series (one thing to always be aware of when taking peoples opinions, IMO, is to know how much they enjoy the series before they go on about it's latest incarnation).

I'll probably still pick up Dragon Warrior though, as I've never played a game and it intrigues me.
Isn't .hack not too MMORPG since it goes into an entering battle sequence? I enjoyed games like Fable and WoW, which just went into direct attacking whenever enemies were nearby. But those aren't PS2. And my favorites were Kingdom Hearts and Atelier Iris. Pretty much because those were the only RPGs I've played for the PS2.

[Nature Boy]

Isn't .hack not too MMORPG since it goes into an entering battle sequence? I enjoyed games like Fable and WoW, which just went into direct attacking whenever enemies were nearby.

I've never played on MMORPG so what do I know? It feels like a MMORPG to me though and that's what counts, since that's what it's *supposed* to do somewhat. That's the whole point of the story after all.

[hezeuschrist]

Isn't .hack not too MMORPG since it goes into an entering battle sequence? I enjoyed games like Fable and WoW, which just went into direct attacking whenever enemies were nearby.

I've never played on MMORPG so what do I know? It feels like a MMORPG to me though and that's what counts, since that's what it's *supposed* to do somewhat. That's the whole point of the story after all.

The only thing it has in common with MMORPG's is the RPG. It's not massive, it's not multiplayer, and it's not online.

Oh, and it has a point, unlike ever MMORPG ever.

[poe]

Isn't .hack not too MMORPG since it goes into an entering battle sequence? I enjoyed games like Fable and WoW, which just went into direct attacking whenever enemies were nearby.

I've never played on MMORPG so what do I know? It feels like a MMORPG to me though and that's what counts, since that's what it's *supposed* to do somewhat. That's the whole point of the story after all.

The only thing it has in common with MMORPG's is the RPG. It's not massive, it's not multiplayer, and it's not online.

Oh, and it has a point, unlike ever MMORPG ever.

They do a passable job of making it seem like an MMO, which is really the intent given the story. If you're going to criticize it, I'd start with the fact you get 1 1/2 games worth of content spread across 4 games (my big gripe), some of which are difficult to find.

And Mason P., everybody here can go on for pages about RPGs on the PS2; it is *the* system for the genre, especially with backward-compatibility for PS1 games. If you can narrow down specific gameplay types you like (Action RPG, sim, non-linear, etc.) you'll get 3 or 4 great suggestions, otherwise you're going to hear everything from Champions of Norrath (diablo-clone), to Thousand Arms (dating sim/RPG). If you just want to go through lists, I suggest heading to RPGamer (http://www.rpgamer.com), where every entry in the lists also links to some screenshots, so you can see a few of these for yourself.

[davepesc]

Of the ones I've played enough to rate:

Good:
Xenosaga Ep. 1
Final Fantasy X
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
La Pucelle
Disaster Report
Kingdom Hearts

Meh:
Legaia 2: Dual Saga
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Dark Cloud

Stay Away:
Xenosaga Ep. 2
Final Fantasy X-2
Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color
Suikoden 3

[Mark III]

Best RPG's on the PS2:

1. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

That is all

[Nature Boy]

They do a passable job of making it seem like an MMO, which is really the intent given the story. If you're going to criticize it, I'd start with the fact you get 1 1/2 games worth of content spread across 4 games (my big gripe), some of which are difficult to find.

Well said. I personally think RPGs are too long in the tooth so the length doesn't bother me one bit, but it's something I should've pointed out.

(As far as scarcity goes, I purchased each one up front to be certain that I wouldn't miss any, as I've never really seen them for sale used. Plus buying 'em new also guaranteed I got the Anime DVDs with 'em, which I also enjoyed).

[Mason P.]

I like all kinds of RPG, but I am fond of ones like Final Fantasy 1 on the NES. I would like to pick my pary and adventure, but can't seem to find a PS2 game that lets me do that.

[rhiohki]

1. Dragon Quest VIII
2. Dragon Quest VIII
3. Dragon Quest VIII
4. Dragon Quest VIII
5. Dragon Quest VIII
6. Dragon Quest VIII
7. Dragon Quest VIII
8. Dragon Quest VIII
9. Dragon Quest VIII
10. Dragon Quest VIII
11. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
12. Digital Devil Saga: Part I & Part II
13. Disgaea
14. Final Fantasy X-2
15. Suikoden III
16. La Pucelle
17. Atelier Iris - yes I did enjoy this game...even though I hated most of the voices...

[hezeuschrist]

I like all kinds of RPG, but I am fond of ones like Final Fantasy 1 on the NES. I would like to pick my pary and adventure, but can't seem to find a PS2 game that lets me do that.

I'm sure you won't find anything like that on the PS2 (unless you're playing FF Origins), but in terms of classic oldschool goodness your absolute best bet is Dragon Quest VIII.

I thought I was going to be sucked into this game hardcore, but I played for a little bit, got to the first cave and realized I needed to grind to even go through there... I certainly intend to give it another shot but I had more pressing matters come up (X360).

[SEGA-SAMMY]

Heres my list:

1.Suikoden
2.Suikoden 2
3.Earthbound
4.Final Fantasy VII
5.Suikoden 3

I think those are all I have played through from start to finish. :angel:

[Hams]

If you just want to go through lists, I suggest heading to RPGamer (http://www.rpgamer.com), where every entry in the lists also links to some screenshots, so you can see a few of these for yourself.

Thanks for the link 'Poe', great rpg resource

[Aussie2B]

Since my experience with PS2 RPGs is limited and I don't care to just repeat the same titles that have been mentioned multiple times over, I'm going to mention one game that nobody else will: King's Field: The Ancient City.

Lots of people HATE the King's Field series, I know, but any issue you had with the PlayStation games such as choppy frame rate or simplistic graphics that make everything look the same is not present in King's Field 4. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, and while the King's Field games have always been heavy on atmosphere, this game takes it to a new level with the PS2's abilities. The gameplay is perfect, refined King's Field through and through, and it's just as demanding and challenging as ever. You won't find any other game like it on PS2, that's for sure. Definitely at least worth a try, especially at its low price point.

[esquire]

not in any particular order

Atelier Iris Eternal Mana
Growlanser Generations
Dragon Quest VIII
Radiata Stories
Wizardy
Magna Carta
Disgaea
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance
Champions of Norrath
Stella Deus

Honorable Mention:
Ys The Ark of Napishtim
Grandia 2
Champions Return to Arms
Baldurs Gate II
Makai Kingdom
Phantom Brave
Shining Force Neo
La Pucelle Tactics
Suikoden IV
Bards Tale

The Worst:
Ephemeral Fantasia
Orphen: Scion of Sorcery
Grandia Xtreme
Ever Grace
Eternal Ring
Arc the Lad: End of Darkness
Legaia 2
Nightmare of Druaga
Legend of Alon D'ar
King's Field Ancient City