The Gamer's Quarter

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

Okay, so not only RPGs,but Strategy games as well, and anything else you can think of that fits the bill. Just no MMORPGs. I'm talking stuff for the PS2 and GC.
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My Game Backlog . . .
http://www.backloggery.com/main.php?user=ignotus

[Swimmy]

If you wait a few days you could play yon Dragon Quest VIII in English.

Yeah!
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

[ApM]

Psychonauts.

[sawtooth]

Psychonauts could most definitely qualify as the jRPG of the year. Tim Schafer was even awesome enough to let the player see his enemies on the field before fighting them!

I keep on trying to think of something to recommend on the GC front, but I'm coming up dry.

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

How was that Tales of Symphonia game for the GC? And is FF Crystal Chronicles worth buying on the GC at a cheap price? And what about the Nippon Ichi games for the PS2, or Suikoden IV . . . I mean there has to be more, and I need to know what's out there. I'm out of the country right now, in Japan, without a mod chip and I don't really want to play Japanese games anyways. Keep it American.

[simplicio]

GC has Fire Emblem, which is very good with much better writing than your average RPG. Also Paper Mario 2 and Zelda Wind Waker are solid. Tales of Symphonia, like Skies of Arcadia, is both too long and too cliched, but some folks like that sort of thing. Crystal Chronicles is really only worth it for multiplayer, but if you've got the players and equipment for that you're better off with Zelda Four Swords.

PS2 has the N1 games, plus ?

I dunno, I think RPGs tend to expose and even feature the worst parts of gaming, which are for me the writing and the repetition. I've heard murmurings around here of people liking DQ8, but from the videos I've seen I can't imagine why.

Actually, that's something I'm really curious about; what drives the GQ populace towards things like DQ and Pokemon?

[Swimmy]

[Lackey]

I don't hear enough about western style RPGs I think. I played a little bit of Arx Fatalis a year or so ago (my sense of time works in broad strokes) and it seemed like quite an underdog. Of course, I played the PC version and the demo doesn't go very deep, but there you go. It had some very nice features and a good atmosphere. Something makes me think it would be hard to keep what I saw in the demo consistent for a whole game though.

I guess the relevance of all this is limited by the fact that the game is well over a year old.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[simplicio]

[Mr. Mechanical]

It's only a grind if you're trying to get somewhere. Dragon Quest is all about the Journey, not the destination. Besides, the battles themselves (most of them) usually only take about as much time to fight and win as it takes to make this post.

Dragon Quest knows about all the icky things that people like us don't like about RPGs, so everything is streamlined and simplified to make way for the important parts, the actual playing and enjoying the game. Nothing is ever really a burden to play, not even the random battles. That is, unless you're approaching it with a different attitude.

That, and part 8 just has this wonderful atmosphere and art direction. It's a 3D game that's not all hung up on being a 3D game.

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

WIth all that being said, what RPGs are total crap and should I DEFINITELY stay away from when I return to the USA to buy stuff this Xmas?

[simplicio]

Most current Squenix stuff, is pretty samey, no?

Oh, and I never heard a take on the Shin Megami Tenseis around here. Any good?

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

That's the game about the demons that take over the world right? Sorta like no humans left after armaggedon etc etc...