FFTA!

[Blackstream]

(Final Fantasy Tactics Advance)

I love my RPGS. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, was, and probably still is my favorite one. All vieing for second place are

Baldur's Gate 2! - It's got lots of action! It's got coolass spells and items! It's got story! It's got character development! It's got an immersive and involving world! It's got romance aka ren ai style! What more could you want??

Ultima Online! - An online role playing game! It was awesome until the mother company EA got corrupt and screwed over Origin. Even though UO is their main online cash cow, they get horrible resources, horrible tech support, and other horrible things. And as you can guess, the game is going down the crapper. But while it lasted, it provided some quite memorable moments.

Neverwinter nights COULD have been the next big thing, but they screwed it up and it wouldn't run on my computer! They also didn't make the game maker diverse enough for my tastes. This could have been a contender, but it's still a worthy mention.

There's all those final fantasy games I never played that could have been contenders here. If I had played them one of them would assuradely be a contender.

Then, there's Final Fantasy Tactics Advance! Sure it's just a gameboy advance game, but it's a ton o fun! It's got the awesome evolution system of Ogre Battle, only better and not as infuriating! If I had ended up liking the characters and story and as much as I liked ogre battle's, this could have been a contender for first The game has tons of strategy, tons of options, and so on. Unfortunately, there's no way you can be "evil or good" like in ogre battle. But just the sheer versitilty makes this game fun. Do you like teams with uber powerfu, mages? Make it! Do you prefer near invicible warriors running around killing all? Make it! Maybe you'd prefer funky novelty characters such as a moogle gadeteer, who randomly hits either all of your team with his attack, or all of the opponents team with his attack. Or the morpher who can morph into captured animals you have. Or the blue mage who learns attacks from having them used on him.

And if you are a powergamer, have no fear. You can spend hours poring over this to figure out the best combination of skills and jobs. A doublecasting red mage/summoner? Leveling up as an assassin till you max out, so you have the best possible stats, THEN get the skills from other jobs you want? All this is possible in ffta.

[Midaki]

I know I'm reviving a months-old topic (bad idea for a first post), but have you ever tried Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1? It's very good, and the story is better than FFTA (in my humble opinion).

[Sai]

I've tried both FFT and FFTA. They're both good. I have finished neither unfortunately... I really need to get through FFT especially (I agree, it's got a great storyline, FFTA isn't shabby in my opinion either, but FFT has alot of depth).

If you like tactical RPGs then you should enjoy Vagrant Story too. I need to find the first game somewhere. It's not long, I think I personally finished it during one rental from a video store, but it was still enjoyable and fun. The sequel, I haven't finished yet.

Then of course there is the extremely fun looking Disgaea. Which.... since it hasn't been released yet here in England, and would require a PS2 capable of playing imports for me to get online.... I unfortunately can't play yet..........
On a similar note though, the people who made Disagea are making another tactical RPG from what I read in Newtype USA
"Heartened by Disagea's success, developer Nippon Ichi Software is taking another shot at stardom with semi-sequel La Pucelle: Tactics, which will soon invade American shores via newly christened publishing house Mastiff. Available: April 2004 in the US."

[Jerails]

I just got a preview for La Pucelle somewheres...Only thing I remember though, is that the main character is a smart-ass with an even smarter mouth. Of course, the ultimate fun comes from the kick-ass techniques (Anyone else here who's played Disgaea remember the Prism Rangers!?) and I've seen two of them in the preview, one of which looked just like Calamity Drive (Axe move) of Disgaea, only with fists this time.

[Sai]

"In Japan the game has already received high praise, and for good reason. For starters, it's story is deeper than most conventional fantasy adventures, telling the tale of a cocky 16-year-old girl, fresh out of exorcist school and hungry for some demon slaying."

So I guess the "smart mouthed person" you mention must be this girl. Sounds like fun ^^ She might remind me of that girl in Threads of Fate (otherwise known as Dew prism I think).

Then they say "Apparently child labor laws don't apply in medieval Europe, the game's setting"
Child labour? I don't get that unless they mean there's some kind of abuse of the work system...... Are they forgetting that in the UK we can leave school at 16 and are valid for a job at that age (allbeit simple ones though often I guess)? But then I don't know anything about medieval Europe's education/work system on that point o.o And then again "Europe" could also mean anywhere.... like France....

Anyway this point is interesting:
"The problem is, extraplanar entities just don't walk around with targets on their backs. Some are disguised as humans and vice versa, which leads to drama aplenty, as betrayals and double-crosses run rampant."

[Midaki]

Both of them (La Pucelle and Disgaea) look awesome, but I'm next to bankrupt. I should really get a job . The others mentioned- (Threads of Fate and Vagrant Story) I haven't heard much of. Looks like I better do some research. Oh, and by the way: Xenogears in awesome. If a bit (well, okay, a TON) sacreligious.

[Blackstream]

I would have played fft (along with all those others) if I could, but I don't have a PS1 or 2, or money to buy any of those games atm, lol. I have heard though that fft is pretty good.

[musical74]

Yeah yeah, I'm reviving a post that has stayed dormant for awhile...

Never played FFTA. I have a playstation 1 and have either played or beaten most of the the games made by Squaresoft - I love RPGs...from what I have seen in playing FFT and what people are saying about FFTA, FFT is a better game as fas as storyline and depth and they sneak in characters from other games, which to me is a nice touch; anyone remember Breath of Fire 1 and the Chun-Li trick?

Maybe one of these months I'll be able to save enough to afford a PS2 and test out the newer RPGs but pretty hard on a very limited budget

[shadosa]

I'm a big fan of all rpgs (*well most of them*) and I have to say that the only reason I liked FFT & FFTA is that it brought back the old job system of FF5 (*in japan I forgot what version it is here*) but my favorite FF game would have to be FF7 cause one it was the 1st 3d fighting system in the FF series and looking at cloud's omnislash is just too cool. I guess all rpgs have their ups and downs though. I think that FFT (*personally*) for the PS1 is the better version it does have a far better story and the battle maps are way better than FFTA. But they both are still good in my opinion.

[JackalAndromeda]

In production are both Disgaea 2 and a Disgaea anime. I'm so excited! Disgaea is one of my favorite games ever, I've put over 60 hours into it. (Not much compared to some people, I bet) I should hurry up and beat it before the next one comes out. I've also picked up Makai Kingdom, but haven't really played it yet. Phantom Brave was also good. I really love the art in those games, and their quirky humor.

[Blackstream]

Dang people, this post is about 2 years old I have to admit I find it funny to see it continually being bumped tho.

At any rate, I would now add FF7 to that list, but I just haven't seen any games lately that really strike my fancy :< I need some new games.

[GLACIER]

2005 has been a decent year for PS2 RPGs. Some thoughts:

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Of recent releases, Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (Square Enix Product-Development-Division-2) and Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2 (Atlus R&D1) are excellent, despite being low-key games.

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Presently, Dragon Quest VIII (Square Enix/Armor Project/Level-5) is getting the most media attention. From the trial version, it's clear that the new interface and English translation are shaping up well. Additionally, the technical presentation is impeccable (aside from occasional drops in frame rate) -> visuals are sharp, environments are large, and controls are silky smooth. However, I'm finding the demo to be quite dull, both in terms of story staging and battle complexity. IMO, the use of cutscenes hurts the experience, considering how unremarkable and mundane these events are. As it stands, this is typical DQ fare that has been bogged down by a clumsy attempt to modernize (the simpler presentation works much better, unless story and game design are modernized along with it).

That said, many players like the demo, so go figure. Square Enix has sweetened the deal by including an orchestral score and playable FFXII trial (hopefully, that project has recovered), so fans should have nothing to complain about.

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After DQVIII, Magna Carta: Tears of Blood (Softmax) would probably be the biggest release next month. Many self-proclaimed fans have been drooling over Hyung-Tae Kim's character art, despite having never touched any of Softmax's work. This will be their chance......

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On the PC side of things, RPGs are (once again) a dying breed, although Oblivion is just around the corner. I'd probably save some money for the game, if it weren't for the fact that I'd definitely need a more powerful computer.