Topic: Lesser known RPGs (Read 31690 times)

WhatImFightingFor · « **Reply #50 on:** 23 Apr 2007, 20:03 »

Chrono didnt use that?
what are you talking about?

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #51 on:** 24 Apr 2007, 19:28 »

He said Chrono did use that, insofar as Combination attacks goes. The weapons looked different in CT, but they had in other RPGs before. I still say that even with those features Legaia was crap.

WhatImFightingFor · « **Reply #52 on:** 24 Apr 2007, 19:33 »

chrono didnt use that kinda combination.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #53 on:** 25 Apr 2007, 15:34 »

I don't know what you're talking about, then, because Chrono Trigger most definitely had combination attacks.

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #54 on:** 25 Apr 2007, 16:07 »

Yes they were called "Techs." You could also use "Dual Techs" and eventually "Triple Techs". That system was awesome.

M4 · « **Reply #55 on:** 18 May 2007, 00:47 »

With the exceptions of the Final Fantasy games, Xenogears is possibly the greatest RPG for the PSO.

Do not dispute me.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #56 on:** 18 May 2007, 07:59 »

Xenogears was awfully cool, but I don't think you'd find many who agree with you.

Scytale · « **Reply #57 on:** 18 May 2007, 08:47 »

I dunno how many of these are lesser known but these are a few of the RPG's I really enjoy on the computer, some of them are pretty old now:

Ultima Underworld
Gabriel Knight (I dunno if this is strictly an RPG, great game though)
Arcanum
Wizardry 8
Neverwinter Nights + expansions (especially Hordes of the Underdark) - best D&D based game I've played.
Legends of Lore (old Westwood game pretty hard to get a copy of)
Lords of Magic (Kind of like a combination of Turn Based stratergy, empire builder and a RPG, used to multiplayer it with a mate, takes months to finish)
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (WoD/VtR is another table top RPG I play, game is really well done)

There's a really good one I can't remember the name off. It was one of the first RPG's I got into when it I played it on our first computer (386) it was made during the cold war and you were a spy inside the USSR, I think it was made by Microprose, gah I've probably still got it on a 5.4' disk at my parents house, it was really good...

There's another one where you were a hacker was kind of Cyber punkish pretty old too gah all these old games I've forgotten about

Johnny C · « **Reply #58 on:** 18 May 2007, 11:24 »

COVERT ACTION!?!?

Man I loved that game so much.

rasufelle · « **Reply #59 on:** 19 May 2007, 01:32 »

Horray for RPGs, the greatest games ever!

Finding good uncommon RPGs can be rather difficult, as most of the time only big companies can afford the amount of work that the genre truly needs to produce a game that is more than merely passably playable. However, there are some games that I feel truly are excellent, or at least innovative, yet less than well known.

Koudelka- You hear people say they like Shadow Hearts? Well, the Shadow Hearts games are essentially sequels to this game. A PS1 RPG with exceptional graphics, and some of the weirdest battle mechanics I think I've ever played with: it's like a cross between Tactics and Grandia the way most battles will play out. Not only that, but some creepy story elements are pretty good, too.

Lunar: Silver Star- I managed to get an ORIGINAL COPY of this game, case and all, at a pawn shop about a week ago for seven and a half dollars. GLEE. The Sega CD was never put to better use than the early Lunar games, and though I must admit that the PS1 release of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was superior in almost every aspect, the original was released in 1991. That, combined with what I still consider to be excellent voice acting work and interesting play mechanics, make this game a hard to find, if not unknown, treat.

Wandering Fighter- actually, this game is a fairly recent freeware side-scrolling RPG available online. Imagine the GBA Castlevania games crossed with the battles from Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Very interesting, pretty fun.

Throne of Darkness- Imagine Diablo II in feudal Japan with the ability to play, like, six different classes of warrior at once- from mages to ninjas to samurai- and you've essentially got Throne of Darkness. The resource management in this game is EVIL, but that's half the fun.

Willow- Okay, so it mostly plays like Zelda with more story and options. This isn't a problem. Why? Because it plays like Zelda, with more story and options. And Bal Morda. Very detailed graphics for an NES game, as well.

Evolution- these Dreamcast RPGs- wait, these games sucked. Never mind, moving on.

That's about it. Oh, and I still think that Grandia II on the Dreamcast is the epitome of the classic style RPG, so if you've never played it, well, you should!

Merkava · « **Reply #60 on:** 21 Jun 2007, 18:54 »

Quote from: ScrambledGregs on 18 May 2007, 07:59

Xenogears was awfully cool, but I don't think you'd find many who agree with you.

I think he would. Maybe not here, but a great deal of avid RPG-gamers rank the game quite highly. Many find the game too convoluted, but I loved every second of the game and found its complexity to be a strength, rather than a weakness. It has incredible detail, as well, which I have found, though a replay of Chrono Trigger, is what made that game so great. The developers put of their conceit with incredible ardor, which lends both of these games a great deal of power.

Xenogears is also a great cinematic experience. While the second disk seemed to show the ambition of the developers stretched too thin (they had missed almost every deadline prior to its creation, and development was later cut short), I was totally involved with the game until its conclusion. And that is something special, when a game can keep the player involved completely and throughout the entire experience.

Patatat · « **Reply #61 on:** 30 Jun 2007, 15:36 »

Non-Linear RPG's for the win!

I am sorry, I hate Japanese RPG's they are utter crap in my opinion. They barely even make sense half the time, and the things I am suppose to take serious I usually laugh at. They just don't draw me in like KOTOR, Oblivion, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, Baldurs Gate, etc.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #62 on:** 30 Jun 2007, 16:29 »

Did anybody ever play Saiyuki: Journey West for the PS1?? It was one of those seemingly infinite "not made by Square" RPGs that fell through the cracks during the later PS1 era, except it was a strategy RPG based on the same Chinese fable that inspired Dragon Ball.

Jade Empire immediately becomes a 'meh' sort of game when you realize how shallow almost all the mechanics are. American RPG developers seem obsessed with good/evil choices in their games, and no moreso than Bioware. The problem is that the two opposite 'moral' codes in Jade Empire are fancy ways of saying "Light Side" or "Dark Side." They made this big deal about how morality would be more ambiguous in the game, but the truth is that just like in KOTOR if you want to maximize your skills you pretty much have to play to the extreme of either end. If that's not enough for you, imagine the kind of reception this game had in Asia. It'd be like a group of Chinese RPG geniuses who are really good at making Asian themed RPGs suddenly deciding to do a RPG about the Wild West in American during the 19th century. They may really love the topic and think they grasp it all, but something is always lost in translation and cultural differences. Plus some of the voice acting/characters in Jade Empire are borderline "wow this would be kind of stereotypical and racist but it's not meant to be taken seriously." It's as if someone who grew up watching badly dubbed kung fu movies decided to make an action RPG with a heavily modified KOTOR engine.

At any rate, Jade Empire, IMO, was hugely overrated when it came out, and it does not hold up as well as KOTOR or Bioware's other games.

MrTibbles13 · « **Reply #63 on:** 01 Jul 2007, 04:47 »

Hmm.. I'm surprised that the Vandal Hearts games haven't got a mention yet. I'm not sure just how "rare" they were over in the States, but here in Blighty they were pretty hard to get a hold of in most games shops. The second game in particular was fantastic, IMO the game that FFtactics should have been, with almost a perfectly refined version of the FFtactics combat system, excellent plot and character development, and a solidly designed, if not entirely original magic-meets-modern-setting feel (Spells etc, but also TRAINS! woo). Also it had some seriously cool cover and manual art, done in a watercolour style, which gave you a decent character profile to identify with, given that the graphics were on a par with Tactics. As for more free-roaming RPGs (Jade Empire, Oblivion, Morrowind etc), i always found it really hard to get inot properly, simply because the multitude of choices, and the generic nature of the characters required to make these choices viable a game option, meant that it was just difficult to empathise with the characters as they progressed through the game. Most of the RPGs mentioned here are merited pretty highly on the character development in line with the story, something i think fans of the more traditional jRPGs enjoy. Not that Oblivion isn't great for devouring whole weeks of your life...

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #64 on:** 02 Jul 2007, 08:34 »

Vandal Hearts 1 was one of those preFFVII PS1 RPGs that made the system worth owning. It's a pretty straightforward strategy RPG, my only gripe being that the hidden class for the main character is ridiculously hard to obtain.

I'm pretty sure nobody but you liked Vandal Hearts 2. It's notorious for having a boring story and ugly-as-sin character art. You're probably also the only person in the world that thinks it's the game FFT should have been, too.

just-another-andy · « **Reply #65 on:** 18 Jul 2007, 18:15 »

Grandia for ps was a FANTASTIC game, my all time favourite RPG about 2000.
It's a little childish at times but the story is gripping and the battle system makes up for that.

camelpimp · « **Reply #66 on:** 18 Jul 2007, 19:26 »

Quote from: rasufelle on 19 May 2007, 01:32

Lunar: Silver Star- I managed to get an ORIGINAL COPY of this game, case and all, at a pawn shop about a week ago for seven and a half dollars. GLEE. The Sega CD was never put to better use than the early Lunar games, and though I must admit that the PS1 release of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was superior in almost every aspect, the original was released in 1991. That, combined with what I still consider to be excellent voice acting work and interesting play mechanics, make this game a hard to find, if not unknown, treat.

Yeah, another Lunar fan! Although the sequel (I'm talking the originial Sega CD version) blew the first one out of the water. I'm a little tepid of Lunar 2's remake, though. Parts of it seemed unnecessary (although it thankfully scaled down some of the difficulty) since the original game was way ahead of it's time. What the unrelated babbling means is: try and find Lunar 2 as well. My mom had to order it from Hawaii for a load a cash (this was, I think, two years after it came out) so I don't know how easy it'd be to find it.

DavidGrohl · « **Reply #67 on:** 23 Jul 2007, 07:40 »

I recommend Chrono Trigger and Wild Arms 3. Sure, both are somewhat well-known, but definately no where near FF status. Chrono Trigger surpases all FF games with the exception of 6 and IX (my favorite), imo. Also, Chrono Trigger has different endings, different moves (combos) depending on which characters you play, and it's one of the first games that introduced multi-sided strategic combat.

Phaedra · « **Reply #68 on:** 24 Jul 2007, 07:47 »

I suspect this game will be recognised in years to come for all the wrong reasons, but: Magna Carta for the PS2.
It was just so...something.

est · « **Reply #69 on:** 24 Jul 2007, 16:39 »

Quote from: 0bsessions on 13 Apr 2007, 06:31

Golden Sun: This pair of games never got half the press it deserved. Incredible games. If you've got a GBA or a Nintendo DS and like JRPG's, I strongly urge you to find these two games. The gameplay is just incredibly fun and it's a beautiful game.

I don't know about this. I grabbed Golden Sun 2 and fired it up and after probably about 10 mins I was still going through some sort of cheesy teen soap opera shit intro with extremely annoying, cliched characters. I thought something along the lines of "this is not how you create an engaging intro" and got rid of it.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #70 on:** 24 Jul 2007, 18:41 »

I bought Golden Sun 2 the day it came out, because I adored Golden Sun 1.

About three hours in, I couldn't remember why I liked Golden Sun 1 anymore.

Also, I hate you all for letting me read this entire thread without seeing Secret of Evermore, Castle of the Winds, Shadowrun (for the Genesis) or Lagoon (okay, that one wasn't that good).

Also, each and every person saying Chrono Trigger must be 13. It's always been one of the most prominent jewels in Square's crown.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #71 on:** 24 Jul 2007, 18:50 »

Wasn't Lagoon never released in English anyway?

And anybody waiting for Chrono Break is out of luck now that Sakaguchi is working for Microsoft. Play Blue Dragon and imagine the kid's hair is orange or something.

wraithzero · « **Reply #72 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 04:06 »

Chrono Trigger never made it to Europe, so it's barely heard of there. I'm still holding out for a Wii release, but I'm not hopeful.
It's like Square don't want me to pay money to play the game, weird.

On the other hand, Europe got Terranigma and the US didn't, and that was an action RPG bigger than Zelda. (Seriously. Zelda had you save a kingdom and a princess, Terranigma had you resurrect continents, plant life, animal life, humans, then guide human development for a while before stopping an apocalypse. Oh, and you saved a princess on the way.)

Ozymandias · « **Reply #73 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 08:06 »

I did greatly enjoy Terranigma, actually, when I just randomly found it while browsing through ROMs. Good one.

suupaaduupaa · « **Reply #74 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 12:28 »

I am so glad to see someone make reference to the Lunar series up there. Overall I'd say that both of those are way up there in my favorite RPG's ever. Personally, I liked Silver Star Story Complete better than Blue, but both were good.

I'm also glad to see Shadow Hearts being thrown about. Covenant had to have been the best one, though. To The New World just didn't do it for me and I'm not sure why. Neither did the original. I've been dying to play Koudelka though for a long time.

It's true that Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are big, but they're still so good. Legend of Dragoon also doesn't get the recognition it deserves. The battle system was great, the music was great, and overall I think the storyline was pretty engaging as well. There are just so many games that are left in the dust. Grandia, too.

These games need to see some praise.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #75 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 15:50 »

I don't think the Chrono series needs to see any more praise than it already has. It is one of the most appropriated praised games ever made.

OTOH, I think overlooked and underappreciated 16-bit action RPGs are practically a genre unto themselves. Besides the aforementioned Shadowrun, Lagoon, Secret of Evermore and Terranigma, there's also Landstalker, Beyond Oasis, Light Crusader, and the games to which Terranigma is actually somewhat of a sequel: Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia.

That's a whole host of games following the general format of Adventure and Zelda and generally turning out pretty damn good, but never receiving the full credit they deserved.

In fact, now that I've Wikied the Gaia series, I realized there was a fourth game called the Granstream Saga for PSX which I want to play so hard now.

camelpimp · « **Reply #76 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 22:02 »

Is Soulblazer technically an RPG? I guess so, but I just never considered it one. But it was quite nifty! I tried to played Terranigma on ROM, but there's something really, really wrong with playing it on computer.

ackblom12 · « **Reply #77 on:** 25 Jul 2007, 22:22 »

I would say Soul Blazer was an Action/RPG. It was very light on the RPG elements, but what it had it did well, and it had an RPG level story.

Also, I can't really remember how popular it was, but I still think Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinstrals was one of my favorite RPGs ever, and it had the most emotional ending I've every seen.

Mellow D · « **Reply #78 on:** 26 Jul 2007, 14:17 »

I'm not sure how many people know of Legend of the Dragoon, but that was an awesome RPG... i loved every second of playing that

Shamana · « **Reply #79 on:** 27 Jul 2007, 11:31 »

Quote from: Scytale on 18 May 2007, 08:47

I dunno how many of these are lesser known but these are a few of the RPG's I really enjoy on the computer, some of them are pretty old now:

Ultima Underworld
Gabriel Knight (I dunno if this is strictly an RPG, great game though)
Arcanum
Wizardry 8
Neverwinter Nights + expansions (especially Hordes of the Underdark) - best D&D based game I've played.
Legends of Lore (old Westwood game pretty hard to get a copy of)
Lords of Magic (Kind of like a combination of Turn Based stratergy, empire builder and a RPG, used to multiplayer it with a mate, takes months to finish)
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (WoD/VtR is another table top RPG I play, game is really well done)

There's a really good one I can't remember the name off. It was one of the first RPG's I got into when it I played it on our first computer (386) it was made during the cold war and you were a spy inside the USSR, I think it was made by Microprose, gah I've probably still got it on a 5.4' disk at my parents house, it was really good...

There's another one where you were a hacker was kind of Cyber punkish pretty old too gah all these old games I've forgotten about

Wow, someone else who has played RPGs on the computer. Gosh. Welcome to the dinosaurs' club. I had given up hope. Anyway GK was supposed to be a quest, but good call. I heard Jane Jensen (the author, for those who don't know) has went into full-time writing, which I suppose is a good thing. Legends of Lore... You mean Lands of Lore? Westwood, may they rest in peace, did not make that many RPGs/ Anyway, LoL is abandonware by now, iirc, so it should be relatively easy to obtain (search abandonware). Just get Dosbox to run it, and you should be fine.

Arcanum was nice, but I never got very far. Those people had worse maps than Fallout, and Fallout is some 10 years old now. I hope I don't have to list fallout as "lesser known." Seriously... unfulfilled potential, Troika is thy name. Speaking of which, Bloodlines does rock, on so many levels. Just as an indication of how it got some people hooked in spite of early release, some awesome cut content and poor support (Troika went belly-up around version 1.2) the game is zealously updated by fans over 3 years after its release. The game is pure gold, from the NVidia ad in the introduction (starring a certain Toreador) to some of the greatest ingame music since Red Alert. My jaw dropped when I entered the Asylum, and the ending theme (Swamped, by Lacuna Coil iirc) was great. I love those guys. On the topic of Vampire, Redemption was nice in some ways, although it had insane camera control and was sometimes way too reminiscent of the 1st wave of hack and slash games. Nifty dialogue despite the rather cliched angsty knight-turned-vampire bits.

Neverwinter nights is good, especially with some of the fanmods over at NWVault.ign.com, but come on, man, best D&D game? Not by a long shot. Baldur's Gate, especially 2, blows it out of the water imo. It is not exactly "lesser known," at least if one follows CRPGs, but it is practically perfect. Well-made graphic (as beautiful as pre-3D gets), great story and NPCs, good setting, cameos from some legendary characters, it is just great.

Icewind Dale II is a good diamond in the rough, btw - more hack&slash oriented, but with some interesting dialogue for characters of untraditional races. Play it with a drow and watch the elves freak out

Still, if we are to speak of D&D lesser known games, I nominate Planescape: Torment. This is a hands-down incredible RPG. IMO an RPG lives and dies by its story, and in that regard, PS:T is immortal. The graphics can be a bit old, but I can not praise it enough. Words fail me when I have to speak of the game and characters. The NPCs were simply incredible. Morte is hilarious, and only HK-47 even comes close to that. Annah... one badass tiefling, that (NWN 2's Neeshka is a poor rip-off, and should be burned at the stake for defiling Annah's legacy - oh, and shishkebabed with wrist daggers, just to be sure). Dak'kon, Grace, Vhailor... all of these, as well as the rest of the gang, deserve more mention that I have the time to. Seriously, those of you who have not tried Planescape: Torment, do. If you like RPGs, it is a treat for the heart.

So, what else... Lionheart was kinda cool. It makes me wonder if the scriptwriter was on, well, controlled substances when s/he was taking their history lessons, or they just have a wild imagination. Even though some parts were annoying (I hated the "henchmen" you got, they weren't even decent meatshields), it deserves an honorary mention for hilarity. Seriously, just how can you link Jeanne d'Arc and a genie? Finally, of course, the Knights of the Old Republic games are a staple, but I doubt they count as "Lesser known." Right?

Ozymandias · « **Reply #80 on:** 27 Jul 2007, 12:16 »

Also on the topic of PC RPGs:

Planescape: Torment. DUH.

Narghile · « **Reply #81 on:** 30 Jul 2007, 04:43 »

Breath of Fire (Import only) on the SNES was an awesome game with an involving plotline and Dragon Forms you could unlock as you went throughout the game. The only real problem was the end of game boss was a complete bastard unless you'd found the most powerful form (I'm talking SNES out of the window at 80mph bastard).

I only liked the first one though, i thought the rest were toss.

bryanthelion · « **Reply #82 on:** 20 Aug 2007, 17:36 »

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

It just came out but the game is probably going to be pushed to the wayside. Look it up, its amazing.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Lesser known RPGs (Read 31690 times)

WhatImFightingFor

ScrambledGregs

WhatImFightingFor

ScrambledGregs

M4

ScrambledGregs

Scytale

rasufelle

Merkava

Patatat

ScrambledGregs

MrTibbles13

ScrambledGregs

just-another-andy

camelpimp

suupaaduupaa

camelpimp

ackblom12

Mellow D

Shamana

Narghile