PSX RPG recommendations

[LiquidAcid]

Hey there,

I'm still playing Xenogears (just finished disc 1, woah!) but I'm already doing some planning which game to play next.

Requierements:
- It's a Playstation (1) game
- It's a RPG/RPG-style game

My list of games I know and have played (or am playing):
- Chrono Cross (love this game and how it connects to Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers)
- Final Fantasy 7 (in fact I played the PC version, but it should be identical)
- Final Fantasy 8 (also PC version here, IMHO part 8 is weaker than 7)
- Final Fantasy 9 (gave up somewhere on disc 2, I didn't feel any motivation to continue)
- Xenogears (still playing this, but woah.... this is one hell of a story)

I already compiled a list of games that I might take into consideration:
- Legend of Mana
- Vagrant Story
- Grandia
- Star Ocean: The Second Story
- Legend of Dragoon
- Wild Arms 1 + 2
- SaGa Frontier
- Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
- Alundra
- Persona 1 + 2

I enjoyed the Mana series on the SNES very much, so 'Legend of Mana' is probably my first choice.
Not sure about 'Vagrant Story'. I read that it's heavily puzzle-based and that isn't really what I'm looking for. I'm not that much of a Zelda-fan, where dungeon puzzles play an important role.

I put a strong emphasis on story, music and gameplay. From the music POV I should probably go with Grandia. Oh yeah, I've played the Grandia 2 version on the PC and IIRC enjoyed this game a lot. I don't think that part 1 and 2 have anything to do with each other, right?

Star Ocean... I know that the first SO is on the SNES. I'm hesitating here because I presume that I should play SO1 first before taking a lot at this one.

Wild Arms: No idea what kind of game awaits me there, despite the wild west theme and the fact that the music is awesome.

I don't have any clue about the other games, they just popped up when searching the net for PSX RPGs. Alundra possibly doesn't even classify as RPG, but AFAIK it has some elements.

Any recommendation you guys (and gals) can give? Again, my main focus is on story

[razakin]

VS isn't puzzle-based much, few dungeons do have slight puzzles but it's more action-oriented.

And why no Suikoden I and II on the list? Best RPG's for Playstation.

And other games from those list what you should play are Wild Arms, Star Ocean 2 (just to enjoy the horrible but awesome dub ), Alundra and Grandia. And Legend of Mana was a huge disappointment for me for some reason.

I'd skip Legend of Dragoon, couldn't finish it. Mediocre plot, somewhat nice battle system but just so boring to play. And if you have PSP, get the remake of Persona 1 instead of playing the original, so you get full game.

[Myrkul]

I will not list all the RPG that you can find on PS1, but here's the few that i played to the end and that are not on your list, that i can recommend without hesitation:

Suikoden I & Suikoden II (definitely a must-do)
Breath of Fire IV
Valkyrie Profile
Tales of Phantasia
SaGa Frontier II

If you like Tactics-RPG games, PS1 have (at least!) 2 must-do-in-your-life tactics RPG:
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Final Fantasy Tactics


Also you did not mention if you are able to play (read/understand) Japanese games/RPG, because a lot of great RPG have never been localized..

[Dag]

Suikoden I+II may be what you are looking for, good story, music and nice gameplay.

Vagrant Story is a love or hate game, not a regular RPG or Zelda game. The story, presentation and music are incredible but the gameplay may drive you mad.

Valkyrie Profile is excellent, but semi action. So-so plot that focuses more on the characters but great style and music.

Persona 2 IS/EP are pretty good with a great modern mystery story but a bit hardcore. Persona 1 is terrible, skip it.

Wild Arms 1/2 are dated but fun. The story in 2 was pretty original.

Legend of Mana is a love or hate game with not much of a main story. Not really like the Snes games.

Legend of Dragoon was a super plain RPG with a coat of hype.

Grandia I found it too plain, same with 2. Both are similar, story unrelated.

Alundra is like Zelda.

Star Ocean 2 sucked: lame plot, boring pseudo-action battles, ridiculous item creation crap... The first one isn't required but I liked it way more.

Not many can enjoy the insane awesomeness that is SaGa, but maybe you are one of them. Expect bizarre subsystems, unfinished plots, crazy battles against your odds. The overarching story in Saga Frontier 2 (spanning many years) was very cool.

If you want to try tactics rpgs, yeah Tactics Ogre and FF Tactics are a must. TO particulary since many similar games miss the 'tactics' part. Great story too but pretty tough game.

[Teioh]

I would put Star Ocean 2 on the top of that list. I thought the plot was alright, it had lots of customization, lovely backgrounds (some of which look straight out of FF7) and some of the best Sakuraba music. It's one of the few PSX games I actually played to the end.

Tales of Destiny II or Dragon Quest VII are to be put on your list if you've enjoyed another game of these series but with focus on story you can as well skip them.

I would also put Lunar (both games) before Grandia. By far my favorite Iwadare music, epic story (especially if you play the games in order).

Wild Arms 2 looked professional, had great music but it was so easy I did not have any motivation to continue. I love easy games, but this one was a joke.

Aside from these you could check out Koudelka with music by Hiroki Kikuta, a cool horror setting but kinda slow gameplay.

And an amazing western one: Shadow Madness. Can't say much about the plot though because it's on my personal list of games to play (and likely never will).

[LiquidAcid]

Originally Posted by Razakin

VS isn't puzzle-based much, few dungeons do have slight puzzles but it's more action-oriented.

By action-oriented you mean the focus is on the battle system, or something else?

Originally Posted by Razakin

And why no Suikoden I and II on the list? Best RPG's for Playstation.

Oops, looks like they slipped under my radar. Wasn't Suikoden the series with the huge amount of characters? Where you could even import your characters from old savegames?

Originally Posted by Razakin

And other games from those list what you should play are Wild Arms, Star Ocean 2 (just to enjoy the horrible but awesome dub ), Alundra and Grandia.

So SO2 uses a lot of FMV? I must say that most of the FMV in Xenogears are just terrible. Maybe it's my emulator but the dubbing is just soooooo bad and that's not because of AV-sync issues...

Originally Posted by Razakin

And Legend of Mana was a huge disappointment for me for some reason.

Care to explain? I read a bit on the Wiki and it looks like the story is the weak point this time, in the sense that it's not really consistent / lacks a 'red thread'.

Originally Posted by Razakin

I'd skip Legend of Dragoon, couldn't finish it. Mediocre plot, somewhat nice battle system but just so boring to play. And if you have PSP, get the remake of Persona 1 instead of playing the original, so you get full game.

What do you mean by 'full game'? Does the PSX version lack anything?

[razakin]

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

By action-oriented you mean the focus is on the battle system, or something else?

Yeah, focus is on the good battle system.

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Oops, looks like they slipped under my radar. Wasn't Suikoden the series with the huge amount of characters? Where you could even import your characters from old savegames?

Yeah, every main Suikoden-game does let you recruit basically 108 characters to your side. And there's save import function from Suikoden > Suikoden 2 which nets you one bonus char in Suikoden 2 and old returning chars do have slight bonuses (like different armor, upgraded weapons etc).

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

So SO2 uses a lot of FMV? I must say that most of the FMV in Xenogears are just terrible. Maybe it's my emulator but the dubbing is just soooooo bad and that's not because of AV-sync issues...

Not much FMV, but there's battle voices :D This sample of main char's voice clip does show the gloriousness of the dub.

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Care to explain? I read a bit on the Wiki and it looks like the story is the weak point this time, in the sense that it's not really consistent / lacks a 'red thread'.

Well, LoM does have 3 distinct storylines what I can remember, but the game just felt disappointing for me, but can't blame after the brilliance of Secret of Mana and somewhat good Seiken Densetsu. Maybe it's same issue as I have with Suikoden Tierkreis and Suikoden IV; they're ok games, with meh plots, but they're not Suikoden-games for me.

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

What do you mean by 'full game'? Does the PSX version lack anything?

Well, it's missing optional sidequest called "The Snow Queen" and one character did actually transformed from white guy to a black guy. For some odd reason. :D

[Xenofan 29A]

Originally Posted by Razakin

Well, it's missing optional sidequest called "The Snow Queen" and one character did actually transformed from white guy to a black guy. For some odd reason.

Well, that was back when they felt that Americans wouldn't want to play a video game set in Japan with Japanese characters, so the setting was changed entirely. Even the main character's appearance was changed.


DO NOT play Dragon Quest VII. I slogged through all 70 hours of that game, and felt I had wasted the majority of it.

Vagrant Story is an odd one. I love it, but you may hate it. It does have one of the best soundtracks in VGM history, though.

[Jormungand]

How about tactical RPGs?

Based on the merit of story before anything else, I would recommend the following:

1. Vagrant Story (battle system is like Parasite Eve if you've played it--you and the enemies move around in real-time, but actions are turn-based; and it's certainly not heavy in the puzzle area--honestly the cutscenes and atmosphere are so compelling you'll quickly forget about what 'genre' the game is supposed to fit into)
2. Final Fantasy Tactics
3. Tactics Ogre
4. Breath of Fire III
5. Breath of Fire IV
6. Vandal Hearts
7. Vandal Hearts II
8. Parasite Eve

Incidentally, all have excellent music as well.

And then when you're done with those, go read Perfect Works, then replay Xenogears. Because as much as I love the stories of all of the above, XG is still the best.

I enjoyed the Mana series on the SNES very much, so 'Legend of Mana' is probably my first choice.

Tragically, LoM is the first of the series to rip the heart out of everything that made SoM and SD3 such exceptional games. Just like how it's best to forget everything that happens after the film Aliens, it's also best to pretend the Mana series ended with SD3.

[jdkluv]

Yep, Xenogears is still the best.