I have to say Baten Kaitos Origins, its the reason im playing RPGs once again

I started the game highly sceptical, then i met the characters, hated them all, then somehow, midway through the game, i actually started caring about them, then i only hated some.

By the end of the game i didnt want the story to end at all i fell in love with each and every one of the main characters. I have to say though, i dont regret killing who i did.

Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
.hack//G.U. series
Suikoden V
Xenosaga series

Tales of the Abyss
Suikoden 5
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Growlanser 3: The Dual Darkness
Tales of Legendia
Dark Cloud 2


There ya go. =)

Tales of the Abyss
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
.hack//G.U. series
Xenosaga series
Suikoden V

Onwards and upwards.

This would go for either Persona 3 or Shadow Hearts Covenant.

You cant get any better than Xenosaga Episode III. Grandia III fell short.

im mad at dot hack

Final Fantasy X
Suikoden III

Disgaea
Phantom Brave

I need to play some more to give my definitive answer, but those are my favorites so far. RPG & SRPG. I really want to play the Shadow Hearts & Persona games.

Skies of Arcadia. I'm not sure if that one counts, being originally for the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast sort of straddles the line between those eras.

If I'm picking something else, it's gotta be Shadow Hearts: Covenant.

Out of what I've played, and I'm very behind on the PS2... Final Fantasy 12.

Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door
Tales of Symphonia (Haven't played Abyss, but I just bought it today)
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Xenosaga I and III (##### II)
Disgaea 1

Close Runner Ups

Odin Sphere: Great Story, but very repetitive.
Final Fantasy XII: Introduced one of the most unique and funnest battle systems for any RPG, but the story fell short.
Dragon Quest VIII: Depending on how you look at this game, it could either be one of the best RPGs for that generation, or the one of the most boring. I loved it.

Ugh. I was so disappointed in Odin Sphere. The story could have been awesome. The concept was a good one, but the presentation was terrible. And the combat was aggravating and repetitive, which lead it to getting really boring really quickly. I was expecting so much more from that game. :\

FFXII disappointed me too, but it was good enough, so eh.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned KoToR yet. That series has a massive, rabid fanbase. Nearly so much as the FF series.

Skies of Arcadia.

Biiiitches.

Persona 3 hands DOWN. Best RPG ever in my book. That's right. Ever. Quote me, I dare you.


Other favorites are Final Fantasy 12 and Suikoden 5 and Wild Arms 5

what the hell is KoToR>??

Quote'd, sir.

Anyway, best ever? That's not surprising. It is really good. I still haven't finished it. :\


Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. IMO, probably the most over-rated RPG of that generation, featuring a plodding, contrived plot, an ambitious but flat attempt at good vs. evil, and a horribly dull, slow and boring battle system.

Skies of arcadia & Shadow hearts: covenant

...need I say more?

Skies of Arcadia and FFX, imo.

I'd mention KoToR but this said mention the best RPG from the era and FFXII is my choice.

KoToR is awesome though. I have both 1 and 2 on my PC and used to play them on my box back in the day. My only real complaint with it is that it's a damn easy game, even for a RPG. It's not difficult at all to have severely overpowered characters.

I personally enjoyed Mass Effect more than KotoR, but thats a different topic altogether.

Me too. Both games are pretty heavily flawed, though. That said, it was much easier for me to put up with ME's flaws than KoToR's.

Perhaps Bioware is just too ambitious for their own good?

I never beat KoToR. I could never bring myself to actually plod through the whole thing. I always wanted to, but I could never keep my interest, sadly. It always got too boring for me. I ended up just spoiling the rest of the plot one day.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Suikoden V

Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic is KoToR.

The best is Skies of Arcadia: Legends. Has one of the best story lines I have ever seen, and the gameplay is good, and the music is very catchy, especially the boss battle theme.

thanks physix, i figured it out after 3 smart asses in a row mentioned it and intentionally avoided my question, i would never buy that game BTW.

I cant beleive people like Skies of Arcadia so much, i stopped playing after Daccats Treasure. The game just feels a bit dated, maybe if i would have played it in the era i was supposed to i would have loved it more.

I answered your question right after you asked. I guess you didn't see it or something. Ah well.

And I feel exactly the opposite. It's good to see SoA getting mentioned. It is usually overlooked in favor of those prettier, more commercial games.

It's also nice to see SH:C getting a lot of mentions. The SH series was almost entirely overlooked for the most part. :\

gamestop didnt overlook Shadow Hearts, the freakin price tag on each game is evidence

Graphics don't make the game, gameplay does. Skies of Arcadia, although dated in graphics now actually looked nice back then. That said, it is not murder to the eyes now. Being able to explore unexplored lands and discoveries added to the game. Also, being able to design your own hide out is sweet.(Even if there is not much to use)

You say you stopped after Daccat's island? The game starts getting good after that. You also get the beast that is the Delphinus. Skies of Arcadia hooked my brother on the RPG genre. Such a great RPG will always been mentioned in topics such as this.

You don't like KoToR? That's a great game too. Depends on the persons taste though. I myself did not like it from all the reviews and threads when it was first announced, etc, but when I played it it ruled my life until I finished on both light and dark sides of the force.

i;ll chek it out eventually

I wouldn't say the SH series was overlooked at all.

IIRC, the series sold pretty poorly for a PS2 RPG. But I rarely follow sales too closely, so maybe I remember wrong. ::shrugs::

Maybe it didn't sold that much, but overall it was received as one of the better RPG's released on the PS2. Basically all reviews gave it a good rating. So no, Shadow Hearts wasn't overlooked at all.

1. Fire Emblem Radient Dawn
2. Persona FES
3. Fire Emblem Path Of Radience

Just that no one played it.

I believe it sold well, it was IGN's PS2 RPG Game of the Year in 2004 after all.

Well you said Shadow Hearts, which is either the first game or the series as a whole. So I was referring to the first Shadow Hearts. It was released at the same time as FFX. It's pretty well known that it didn't sell well and was widely overlooked, mainly due to FFX and the lack of marketing.


The timing and marketing of the second game was definitely better though. But it's popularity back then was a different story from when Covenant was released. Back when I first joined this forum, I remember pretty much no one even knew what it was, besides ValhartX. Rpgdreamers didn't even review it. (He reviewed "Covenant" and "From The New World" though.)

He's the reason I got into the game.

And nobody really wanted to talk about it but him . A few years later, people wouldnt shutup about the SH series. It took a while to catch on :/.

Val got Kyo into it, and Kyo got me into it. And I got someone into it, and the process pretty much went on like that. But no doubt was it a pretty unknown game when I first joined here. And we actually had more active members then. lol

Ummm...

PS2: Tales of the Abyss
GameCube: Tales of Symphonia.

I see a potential pattern. >.o.

Yeah, the first game did struggle, but I was mostly referring to SH:C and the series in general. SH 1 was indeed overlooked but the second game improved the sales and got positive reviews from pretty much anyone. Sorry I wasn't clear enough on that.

Do I have to pick only one? I can think of three PS2 RPG's that I thought were really great (can't comment on Gamecube and Xbox games). But having to pick only one from those 3 is hard, so I'll list all 3 of them:

Xenosaga: Episode III/Persona 3 (FES)/Shadow Hearts Covenant

No one played it? Are we all no one?

hey i'm Val, i didnt get anyone into anything

No, we were talking about Valhart X.

It was hell for any early RPGs to get an exposure due to the FF series. Just like Suikoden V and Konami's retarded move to release it on the same day as KH2. Almost like they didn't wont it to sell at all.

Playing it several years later as most people did still means that it was an overlooked game for a long time.
Low sales. Released at the same time as FFX. Weak publicity.
Shadow Hearts grew in popularity over time, but it was a bit of a slow process.


Lol, yeah I remember that. I thought it was a strange move.

Best RPG for Plot

Disgaea : Hour of Darkness
Valkyrie Profile : Silmeria
Final Fantasy X (This game is like a movie lol. Come on!)
Suikoden V

Best RPG for Gameplay

Final Fantasy X-2
Disgaea : Hour of Darkness
Tales of Destiny II
Grandia Extreme
Grandia II

Best RPG Plot all time no matter what Era

Chrono Cross (Perfect Game All times =] )

Best RPG Game play all time no matter what Era

Tales fo Eternia/(Tales of Destiny II [PSX])