Any classic console RPG fans?

[Stabwound]

Being born in the mid 80's, I grew up on NES and SNES RPGs for the most part, with a few CRPGs when we got out first PC. I'm still a big fan of the older console RPGs, but not much of a fan of newer ones (say, PS2 onward).

My favourite series is by far Dragon Quest (originally Dragon Warrior in North America) - I've played, and still play, the shit out of these games. I'd consider the series to be the Ultima of console RPGs, and actually Dragon Quest 1 was highly influenced by Ultima. I think that if there was one series of console RPGs that would appeal to fans of classic CRPGs, it would probably be the early DQ games (1-4, and possibly some of the later ones.)

Funnily enough, the console RPG scene is in just about as bad of state as console RPGs. The "golden age" of console RPGs is far over, and there have been very few actual RPGs for modern consoles that weren't total turds. Even the Dragon Quest franchise, which was almost absurdly dedicated to keeping its "old school" roots has now been rumored from a Japanese gaming mag to be becoming an "MMO-like" for Dragon Quest 10.

So, yeah, just wondering if there are any old console RPG fans here. I was surprised by the lack of interest on the Xenoblade thread, so maybe there aren't any here.

 

[Excidium]

The ones I liked the most were Shadowrun, Lufia, Earthbound and obviously, Chrono Trigger.

Can't say I'm a fan though, never finished any of those.

 

[Machocruz]

I like 'em. I'm currently playing Wizardry V on SNES, and finding it more immersive than any of the touted "immersive" RPGs we have now. Glorious soundtrack and nice monster art. Uncompromising, as Wizardry should be.

I also like/liked:
Final Fantasy V (job system is the best thing the Japs ever introduced into their RPGs)
Final Fantasy 1 still (the most "western" of the series, a lot of things derived from DnD)
Ultima 3 Exodus
Shadowrun (both versions)
Suikoden 1,2
Ys Books 1&2
Phantasy Star 1,2,4
Dragon Quest 1-6
Lunar

Only FF 1, 5, Shadowrun, and DQ 4-6 hold up to me.

 

[Vagiel]

This a list of games I really enjoyed and i believe many of you will enjoy too.

For the C&C crowd

1.Radiant Historia (Get this anyway you can, it has almost 0 anime influence, maybe the best protagonist in a game a non liner plot that actually spans two completely different timeliness. If you take one suggestion out of this thread please make it this)

2.Romancing SaGa (8 protagonist with unique stories and side quests that react to how you have played)

3.Tactics Ogre le us cling together (No anime serious plot with many political influences, again non liner)

4.Shin megami tensei nocturne

5. Super Robot Wars I am very smug about this issue.


For old school rpg fans

1.Kings Field 4 (Single handedly showing what a pointless term jrpg is)

2.Wizardry tale of the forsaken land (Great art style, bottomless dungeon, great use of the alignment)

3.SMT Strange Journey (Great dungeon crawl but a little easy if you are familiar with the series)

4. The Dark Spire (It is hard to get more old school than this)

5. Shining the holy arc (my introduction to these games so i have a soft spot for it)

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

There was an isometric dungen crawler on Megadrive/Genesis called Light Crusader. It impressed me a lot back in the day.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

I played most of the later staples apart from Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star series.

These days I check gamefaqs to see if grinding is a substantial part of the game before I even bother.

 

[Hobo Elf]

So, yeah, just wondering if there are any old console RPG fans here. I was surprised by the lack of interest on the Xenoblade thread, so maybe there aren't any here.

I think the lack of interest is caused by the lack of console RPGs being released. Compared to the SNES, PS1 and PS2 era when there were new ones coming out constantly, now only a few come out every once in a while, and mostly for hand helds. And most of them are kinda shit too. More than 50% of the crap released these days caters to the weeaboos and hikikimori manchildren with their creepy loli shit.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Shining in the Darkness was probably my first rpg. Fond memories. Never actually finished it though; at some point I missed a key item near the end and couldn't bear the thought of scouring the entire dungeon methodically to find the damned thing. No gamefaqs back in the day.

Lufia 2 ranks up there with chrono trigger for me, though my all time favourites are saga frontier then valkyrie profile. Played through all 3 multiple times. Most of the breath of fire series I enjoyed a lot as well, except 4. Couldn't get into that one for some reason.

FF series kinda fell off a cliff as far as gameplay goes after 7. 8 had insane mechanics for level scaling and grinding spells for stat junctions, and a retarded limit break system that let you spam them non stop by keeping someone at critical health. And they nixed fucking equipment. 9 had a horrid art style, was hardly better on the equipment front, and in general there was fuck all to customize about your party. 10 actually had a pretty cool levelling system, and the battle mechanics were excellent; turn based with fine grain time units so units could get multiple turns, different actions taking different amounts of time, abilities to delay enemies' next turn, limit break system was cool too, good variety in what they did and how it could get built up. Too bad everything else about the game sucked ass. Atmosphere, story, characters, sidequests, so many fucking horrid minigames, most fights too trivial for the combat mechanics to matter. Ugh. 12 is where I finally stopped trying to play them. Though they finally got a setting I can enjoy, the characters are very bland, inappropriate, and once again the gameplay is horrid. Combat is stupidly balanced with limit breaks ending entire boss fights in a single turn, equipment and character growth management are both pretty retarded, and you spend most of the game walking around places that aren't worth exploring.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Action RPG:

LandStalker.

 

[Azalin]

I grew up with the NES and SNES,I dont remenber any important rpgs in the NES but I loved the rpgs of the SNES(wich was my last console btw)
My favourites were

FF6 Great story,great characters,loved the world and the fact that there is no central/hero character

Chrono Trigger It doesn't give the hard done it seem to give most people but it was a great game for its time

Earthbound Loved it like many people here

Secret of Mana I actually enjoyd this hack n slash unlike Diablo and its clones.Pretty revolutionary co-op back then

Ronasing Saga 3 Eight different characters to begin and a pretty open world unlike most jrpgs

1.Radiant Historia (Get this anyway you can, it has almost 0 anime influence, maybe the best protagonist in a game a non liner plot that actually spans two completely different timeliness. If you take one suggestion out of this thread please make it this)

I checked out this game and the premise seems interesting,can you suggest a good emulator so I can play it until Deus Ex comes out here in Eurabia?

 

[Vagiel]

From what I gather no$gba is the most recommended.

 

[Bruticis]

Consoles were those silly things I played while I waited for my floppies to finish formatting. I never saw a reason ever to play a console rpg over a PC rpg. That said, I do recall enjoying Phantasy Star 1-2 and Dragon Warrior but those are all serious grind fests now that I look back on them.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

These days I check gamefaqs to see if grinding is a substantial part of the game before I even bother.

Emulator speed-up function takes care of that for older games.

The Star Ocean and Tales of [something] series are generally good fun, if only because it's the rare kind of jrpg where you don't groan whenever you get a random encounter. Characters tend to play differently from each other, too.

 

[deuxhero]

Played Till The End of Time and Symphonia, not impressed with either. The combat's greatest weakness is it is repetitive not that it is slow.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The combat is fast enough that the repetition doesn't bother me that much. Try SO 2, I was thinking mostly about it when I wrote the above. I didn't finish it though, there was a point where I didn't know what to do in a volcano, iirc (not sure if I was just supposed to grind a little or it it really was a place meant for a higher level party)

On a side note, I found a guy nearby selling Gamecube's Skies of Arcadia in mint condition, I'm thinking about buying it.

 

[jazzotron]

Shining Force I & II

 

[Vagiel]

The combat is fast enough that the repetition doesn't bother me that much. Try SO 2, I was thinking mostly about it when I wrote the above. I didn't finish it though, there was a point where I didn't know what to do in a volcano, iirc (not sure if I was just supposed to grind a little or it it really was a place meant for a higher level party)

On a side note, I found a guy nearby selling Gamecube's Skies of Arcadia in mint condition, I'm thinking about buying it.

How much does he sell it for? It is somewhat expensive, at least in Europe, so if its around 20-30 dollars grab it.