Incline Codex's Best DS RPGs

[felipepepe]

Yeah, Way of the Samurai is like the japanese Age of Decadence, I would be surprised if Vault Dweller never played it at all.

Heard a lot, wanted to play, but I don't play console games often (almost never). So, should I play it? If yes, which one?

It is really the closets game to AoD I know, so you should probably give it a try, even if just as a curiosity. I only played the PS2 games, but I like the first one the best.

 

[yes plz]

As a storyfag for JRPGs, Lost Odyssey was the only real stand out for me. Star Ocean 4 and Tales of Graces f weren't completely horrible, though the weeboo would have to be strong in you to really be able to enjoy either at all, as both are pretty animu-y. Only other JRPG I played for last gen was Enchanted Arms, which was... weird and not particularly good.

Haven't played Tales of Vesperia yet as I kept hoping that the expanded PS3 version would get an English release but that never happened. A fan translation is in the works but god knows when that'll be done. I've heard really mixed things about Tales of Xilia, though the fact that they pumped out a sequel for it not even a year after the first one makes me think both were rushed and cheaply made, which seemed to be one of the chief complaints for the first one.

 

[Stabwound]

Wow, this made me realize how JRPGs are all but dead these days. I've been a JRPG player since NES up until the PS2 era, and completely lost interest after that because of how JRPGs mostly died, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Weren't the PS3/Xbox out for like 8 years, and people are struggling to name even 5 games without naming things like Dark Souls and Demon's Souls for two of them.

 

[Machocruz]

Wow, this made me realize how JRPGs are all but dead these days. I've been a JRPG player since NES up until the PS2 era, and completely lost interest after that because of how JRPGs mostly died, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Weren't the PS3/Xbox out for like 8 years, and people are struggling to name even 5 games without naming things like Dark Souls and Demon's Souls for two of them.

Also consider how many of the better games are SRPGs, not 'traditional' JRPGs. I can't really tolerate simplistic JRPG combat anymore anyway, and I think many people here feel the same.

 

[Whisky]

1. Dragon's Dogma
2. Demon's Souls
3. Valkyria Chronicles
4. Nier
5. Xenoblade

So few RPGs this generation.

 

[yes plz]

Ah, shit, I forgot Xenoblade. Only got like twenty hours into it, though. Didn't really like it much -- I liked the plot and the world but found the cast incredibly dull, and didn't particularly care for any of the gameplay mechanics, especially the shitty MMORPG quests.

And, yeah, this was a pretty shitty gen for console RPGs. I think the only way we're going to get any decent JRPGs for this new generation of consoles is if someone takes a chance a some sort of budget line of JRPGs and it catches on; don't think we'll ever get another real Suikoden otherwise.

 

[Machocruz]

I think the JRPG is going to have to wholesale **TRIGGER WARNING*** evolve to include more robust and interactive NPC...interaction. And most of the traditional, party based games still don't let you see your equips on your in game model. It's like they think RPG evolution ended with Ultima 3.

 

[spekkio]

Wow, this made me realize how JRPGs are all but dead these days. I've been a JRPG player since NES up until the PS2 era, and completely lost interest after that because of how JRPGs mostly died, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Weren't the PS3/Xbox out for like 8 years, and people are struggling to name even 5 games without naming things like Dark Souls and Demon's Souls for two of them.

At the same time, NDS and PSP got a lot of jRPGs / action japRPGs / strategy japRPGs from different devs. Of varied quality of course.
So, the japanese developers simply took into consideration that PS3 / X360 are different platforms (targeted at different gamers) than previous gen of "big consoles" (esp. PS2).
Sadly, same thing seems to be happening to the nextgen mobile consoles: 3DS & Pita have like 10 good "RPG" games released so far...

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah, consoles jRPGs now are either those japan-only RPGs, or blockbuster stuff like Final Fantasy. The DS & 3DS still have a solid line-up though, but clearly the glory days are long gone.

The lack of feedback don't help as well, Dragon's Dogma is a excellent game, but went totally unnoticed. Skyrim gets 10/10, while DD got like 7/10 on most reviews... not that it was worthy of a 10, but it makes it look like a poor-man Skyrim...

BTW, we still got one slot to go, any suggestions?

 

[agentorange]

Demon's Souls and Nier are the only ones I played soooo (unless you wanna count the Armored Cores and Dead Rising as rpgs..).

 

[felipepepe]

Sorry, we already have few voters, they all need to give 5 votes.

Chaotic_Heretic , Captain Shrek , deuxhero , SCO , anyone interested in filling the last spot?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

1. Valkyria Chronicles
2. Way of the Samurai 4
3. Way of the Samurai 3

Are the Empires games any good? I was thinking of trying one of them.

DW7 Empires is a superb game (massive DLC deluge aside), the real carrot is that the Empires games have been refining the way you can interact with the world beyond battles. DW7 Empires is currently the latest one, and so far the most complete experience. DW5E previously had a two-and-a-half directional morality system (but it only applied to the player), but DW7E introduces a Fame system that does no less than six different values that vary between characters and are influenced by almost everything you do (highest value is improved by things like battles too, so losing the primary Fame type in favor of another does require active effort). Sure, there's some rather odd choices with pre-set fame types (Lu Bu for example has Brave as the dominant one instead of the much more befitting Evil fame), but more important is that the custom character creator allows you to fully set the preset fame for your own creations which adds a nice additional layer.

Another new thing was that DW7E built on the vagrant-officer-ruler system for the PC from DW6E, improving it considerably. This time around the meat of the game is actually in being an officer in service of a ruler, not being a ruler yourself. Additionally the system of letting you get yourself a set of sworn dudebros and a waifu is back from DW6, with improved cutscenes and functionality. It's a minor feature overall, but a nice touch of RoTK feel.

But really, bottomline is that you have to enjoy the beat em up horde gameplay of the franchise or you'll just grow infuriated.

 

[felipepepe]

C'mon Vaarna, I need a 4th and 5th games...

 

[DragoFireheart]

C'mon Vaarna, I need a 4th and 5th games...

Blue Dragon.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Hey felipepepe maybe you should put this off for a few months so people can play these other games. Right now it seems like a lot of the divided opinions are because people haven't played a lot of the games other people are suggesting. Like how you keep saying how good FFXIII-2 is but you seem to be the only person whose actually played it here.

 

[SuicideBunny]

everybody should play last story (with auto attack disabled)

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

C'mon Vaarna, I need a 4th and 5th games...

Well I haven't played it, but if it's somewhat similar to Dark Souls I'd probably put Demon's Souls at #5, and Yakuza 3 as #4.

 

[SCO]

everybody should play last story (with auto attack disabled)

Action rpgs are a cancer on consoles.

 

[felipepepe]

Hey felipepepe maybe you should put this off for a few months so people can play these other games. Right now it seems like a lot of the divided opinions are because people haven't played a lot of the games other people are suggesting. Like how you keep saying how good FFXIII-2 is but you seem to be the only person whose actually played it here.

Fair enough, I want to check Disgaea D2, Way of the Samurai 3/4 and FF XIII-3 Lightning Returns as well...

Here's the current results:

This list should be interesting enogh by itself for those reading this thread, and this article is adjourned procrastinated. In the future we do a nice full restrospective.

And Vaarna, go play Dragon's Dogma, you're the only one that didn't vote for it. :3

 

[SCO]

A list with 15 games, of which 2 are turnbased and one phase based

is this what it has come to

 

[felipepepe]

Not a single FPS, so I guess is still better than the Codex's own Top PC RPGs list...

 

[Anthony Davis]

I didn't get this notification till just now. If we are only doing the most recent previous consoles I will have a hard time filling the list without cheesing it (Red Dead Redemption!)

1. Dragon's Dogma - For me, hand's down the best console RPG for me was Dragon's Dogma (which only gets better with Dark Arisen). I have sunk hundreds of hours into this game.
2. Xenoblade - I have not had the time to finish it, but aside from so dumb combat mechanics, I really enjoy the world population interconnection and seeing the ramifications of completing quests or discovering secrets and how it affects their relationships.
3. The Last Story - Another one that I have not had time to finish, but again for a JRPG is pretty good. Here are some reviews: http://www.gamerankings.com/wii/988055-the-last-story/index.html


I would have added State of Decay, but that got released on PC.
I started off liking Nier, then hating it, so I would not put it on my list. I can see why people might enjoy it though.


Again though, without including other generations, the RPG choices are pretty light, forcing me to pick JRPGs. I don't own a PS3 so I cannot choose Ni no Kuni, which I have heard great things about, or Valkyria Chronicles which is also supposed to be pretty darn good. If I can include PS2, the list gets really long really fast.

When we do the handheld version of this, boy, there are a lot of good ones out there on the DS permutations and the PSP permutations.

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah, a DS version of this would definitely be interesting, especially now that emulation low prices allow for anyone to play the games.

Should we do it now, since the console list was postdated?

 

[Crooked Bee]

You should totally get Anthony Davis on board for a DS retrospective!

Heck, if you're gonna to do a DS retrospective, I'll hop on board too.

 

[felipepepe]

Okay, so DS retrospective it is!

Same rules, list 5 games, each will get a number of points based on how high it ranked. Since more codexers have played DS games, I think we should allow up to 20 bros to vote, and then according to how the results come in we decide on how to present the retrospective.

Here are my votes:

1 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
2 - Pokémon SoulSilver
3 - Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
4 - The Dark Spire
5 - Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

All turnbased, happy now SCO?