can someone recommend a game thats like how final fantasy used to be

[heroicbob]

since square enix doesn't want to make final fantasy games for final fantasy fans anymore can someone recommend a game that's similar to final fantasy before 12 (which i liked but for different reasons) ushered in the new style of do nothing and just watch your characters flip out. it can be from any console generation graphics are the least of my concern


EDIT: i feel like i should clarify, i do actually like 12 it does a good job of making the world feel big both in terms of story and gameplay but i feel like the stuff they added is what lead to final fantasy 13

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

Well, Bravely default is coming out in less than a month. Judging from the demo it's pretty much as Final Fantasy as it gets. Not a huge jRPG fan any longer, but the demo is quite entertaining and i'm looking forward to the game.

Other good jRPGs that a lot of people seem to have not played, that i'd recommend, are Phantasy Star IV, Suikoden 1 and 2 and persona 4. I know Suikoden 2 is pretty hard to find, and i don't think it's available on PSN (is it?) but it's one hell of a game.

Also i think you are quite wrong about final fantasy 12. It doesn't play itself even remotely, nor does it take control away from the player. Just turn the gambits off if you want to flick through a lot of little blue windows to get to the same result.

 

[Foolery]

Lost Odyssey. It's the best Final Fantasy that isn't Final Fantasy. Made by Mistwalker Studios, which is run by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy.

 

[heroicbob]

Also i think you are quite wrong about final fantasy 12. It doesn't play itself even remotely, nor does it take control away from the player. Just turn the gambits off if you want to flick through a lot of little blue windows to get to the same result.

i agree with what you are saying, and i know its not on autopilot but the games have been increasingly taking control away from the player in order to make things more cinematic - you CAN play without using gambits but if you fight some of the tougher bosses it would take hours because you are constantly pausing

not that it matters in final fantasy 12 i just liked the exploration and deep side quests which is why 13 was such a slap in the face to me

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

Well FF12 gets a lot of hate, and i personally think it's easily one of the best games in the series. But apparently, taking away the previous blatantly turn based combat (12 still has turn based combat) and having a story that actually has political elements in it makes it a shit game. Never mind the interesting world, tons of side quests and great exploration...nah, it's boring and plays itself

12 and Tactics, best FF games ever. Screw 7 and 6/3, controversial as it might be lol.

As for later games...13 just looked so dumb and terrible that i never played it. It just doesn't look appealing to me at all. Having Bravely Default coming along and actually sort of making jRPGs relevant for me again (first time since FF12 and before that pretty much games on the PS1 like Chrono Cross and Suikoden) is a pretty neat thing. You should definitely check it out if you have a 3DS.

 

[Hap2]

Well, Bravely default is coming out in less than a month. Judging from the demo it's pretty much as Final Fantasy as it gets. Not a huge jRPG fan any longer, but the demo is quite entertaining and i'm looking forward to the game.

Other good jRPGs that a lot of people seem to have not played, that i'd recommend, are Phantasy Star IV, Suikoden 1 and 2 and persona 4. I know Suikoden 2 is pretty hard to find, and i don't think it's available on PSN (is it?) but it's one hell of a game.

Also i think you are quite wrong about final fantasy 12. It doesn't play itself even remotely, nor does it take control away from the player. Just turn the gambits off if you want to flick through a lot of little blue windows to get to the same result.

Suikoden 1 is on PSN, Suikoden 2 isn't. Two goes for quite a bit.

However, Suikoden III and V are fairly easy to obtain for the PS2. The Star Ocean series isn't too bad either. Rogue Galaxy might be another good choice.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

White Knight Chronicles II(also includes remastered version of the first game) is very similar to Final Fantasy XII. If you enjoyed that, you'll certainly enjoy White Knight Chronicles. Huge world, giant bosses, you get to BE a giant, interesting story, packed with side content and an overall really fun game to play. The only one downside is that the WKC Servers were shut down, so online play is a no-go, now. :{

Dammit, I was on a Demon's Souls kick. Now I want to play White Knight Chronicles. D:

 

[go-10]

Bravely Default is your only choice for a new game that feels like an upgraded Final Fantasy

also Final Fantasy IV The After Years is getting a 3D remake for the ios so that comes out in December, that might also be worth checking out

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Have you tried Blue dragon? Or Lost odyssey?

Both are fairly good final fantasy-ish games

 

[Saelune]

Could always try the Dragon Quest games. Though the most recent one was IX for the DS. X is an MMO though, and not in the US currently anyways.

 

[white_wolf]

Lost Oddesy is a good one and very unique character connections. You could also try Magna Carta if you don't mind QTE for fighting.

 

[JasonKaotic]

With current-gen, Lost Odyssey is a game you have to play if you're looking for something like old Final Fantasy. That game is fuckin' amazing.
Plus Hironobu Sakaguchi wrote the story and Nobuo Uematsu composed the soundtrack, too. That's the director and the composer for the old Final Fantasy games in case you don't know.
Do it.
So good.
So so good.

Some older Final Fantasyish games that come to mind are Chrono Trigger [small](it being made by the same people and all)[/small], Skies of Arcadia and the Shadow Hearts series, and from what I've seen Golden Sun and Dragon Quest are quite similar. I think. Haven't actually played those.

There's also the Persona games and the rest of the Shin Megmai Tensei series, but they're quite different to Final Fantasy in most ways, other than it having a turn-based battle system. If you aren't necessarily looking for something with exactly the same vibe as Final Fantasy you should definitely look into getting Persona 3 and 4. I'm not a fan of the rest of the SMT series but it might be your thing, so that's worth looking up too.

And while the only one I've played a decent amount of is Graces, from what I can tell the Tales series is kind of similar. They're a lot more chirpy and their battle system is completely different but if you don't mind that then you should look into those too.

 

[BoogieManFL]

http://whitegiantrpg.com/games/last-dream/

Good fun and a great group of people continuing to work and improve the series. Sort of like FF4.

 

[bdeamon]

try out the disgia series, might not be what you are looking for, but its gameplay is like hard core ff tactics and has clever writing for story and lore

 

[BoogieManFL]

try out the disgia series, might not be what you are looking for, but its gameplay is like hard core ff tactics and has clever writing for story and lore

Hmm, I'll have to look into that myself. I love me some FF tactics.

 

[kaiiboraka]

I STRONGLY reccommend Radiant Historia, a wonderful DS JRPG many people liken unto Chrono Trigger (an all-time classic that also has a DS remake). Only catch is that it's pretty rare... if you can get your hands on it, you can expect a wonderfully engaging story line, and incredibly dynamic switch-screen turn-based combat. Simply excellent.

 

[penguindude42]

The fifth game of the series is pretty much what you're asking for.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Disgaea is a definite "if you liked this... Try this" game for SRPG fans, including Tactics. Also the Tactics series has 2 Gameboy entries that are good. Not OMG great, they were dumbed down some to make it easier for kids (Gameboy market) and more portable. (and easy to emulate.)

For Turn based and/or Active Time styled rpgs, of course you have the entire classic Final Fantasy series, with remakes, up to the 10's. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The Breath of Fire series. The Skies series, Suikoden series, and Lunar 1 and 2. Wild Arms, Persona series, Dragon Quest series. Star Ocean series, Tales series, Xeno series.

First Parasite Eve, Legend of Dragoon, Lost Odyssey... I could be here all day without knowing how far back you want to go, or what platform(s).

 

[DrOswald]

Lost Odyssey. It's the best Final Fantasy that isn't Final Fantasy. Made by Mistwalker Studios, which is run by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy.

With current-gen, Lost Odyssey is a game you have to play if you're looking for something like old Final Fantasy. That game is fuckin' amazing.
Plus Hironobu Sakaguchi wrote the story and Nobuo Uematsu composed the soundtrack, too. That's the director and the composer for the old Final Fantasy games in case you don't know.
Do it.
So good.
So so good.

You know, every one says Lost Odyssey was such a great game. I don't agree. It was pretty ok. Maybe a 3 star? I don't know. The battle system was ok but a few bad decisions keep it from being actually good and a lot of the art direction was really weird and kind of stupid. It also had tons of technical issues (like several second loading times whenever you changed rooms, thus punishing you with load times when you explore) that really pulled down the experience.

The music was very good though, and the writing (not the story specifically, but the actual writing) was pretty darn good. My favorite parts of the game were the semi animated exposition dumps about the past of the main character. They were really cool. The rest of the game just wasn't up to that standard though.

I mean, it was ok, but everyone just freaks out about it. I think this is because it was a pretty decent JRPG in a generation that completely failed to deliver on the genre. It looks good because everything else around it is so much worse, but that doesn't mean it is actually great.

Maybe I was just too hyped up for it. I was one of the people who got it day 1 and I was really disappointed.

As far as the OT, another pretty decent JRPG for the Xbox 360 was Blue Dragon. It has a fun character progression system and very solid menu based combat, but unfortunately features a story that showcases all the most boring elements of anime and also features the most annoying character I have ever seen in any medium.

Xenoblade is really good, but it isn't really a standard menu based JRPG. I would certainly recommend it, but I don't know if it is what you are looking for.

The PS2 was the king of JRPG's. This generation is just sad in comparison. If you are not set on this generation I would recommend finding a PS2 and a bunch of JRPG's for it. I can name about a dozen good titles off the top of my head if you would like.

 

[Popbangwoo]

I second Lost Odyssey. Absolutely phenomenal game, brilliant gameplay, brilliant story, everything a FF game has/should have.