DS Jrpgs

[Quaidis]

So yeah... I have a DS Lite and there's a sale at the local game shoppe.

In the last few months I've played Black Sigil, Rune Factory 2, Pokemon Silver, and Glade of Heracles. I also own the first two Golden Sun games for the GBA.

Yesterday I beat Sands of Destruction. It had active characters and a fun plot, but the game play was disappointingly unbalanced (I just hit Y for most battles once to win it. Nearly fell asleep during later battles.) This makes me sad as the game has so much promise. I hope they make a sequel with a better handle on game play. That would be wonderful.

Today I bought The World Ends With You from the heavy prompting of a friend who told me it was a must-have.



I'm interested in these titles, but can't tell if they're worth the purchase or not:

Monster Rancher DS
Rune Factory 3
999 (is that even a jrpg?)
Golden Sun 3
Monster Tale
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
Edit - Oh, and Lufia 2. Cept I'm unsure how much they changed it from the original Lufia 2 outside of making Maxim a pussy. *shakes fist*


And if there are any other titles I absolutely have to have, please inform me. I'm okay with generally all types of jrpgs in all settings.



If you're looking at this thread because you like the word DS or JRPG, but can't help, then let's talk about my problem with jrpg game reviews. I have a problem with looking at reviews online these days and that's because this game-reviewing generation of people are entirely far too negative. They don't like one thing about a game, so lay heavily on everything, even if there's absolutely nothing wrong with it outside of that one original complaint. So if a jrpg is perfectly normal with one or two flaws, they'll be sure to go on about how it's out-dated with 'old' music or something. Or if it has turn-based combat, it's suddenly not worthy of purchase. That's not fair, I tell you. Therefore I can't trust going through actual review websites like GameSpot or IGN or something because either the reviewer is bias or is all too negative and displeased with everything as a whole. This hasn't been a problem with all generations, just the most recent one. It's like everyone goes into a jrpg expecting to be unhappy. What's up with that?



Edit - this guy got to make the recent DS thread ahead of me. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.276238-DS-Game-Recommendations I'm aware of it. I just want jrpg recommendations, thanks. Or general jrpg review talk if you're bored.

 

[BeastGod-MKG]

Golden Sun 3 and Super Robot Taisen OC are worth it. They are both really good games.

 

[AlternatePFG]

If you don't already own it on another console, Disgaea DS is pretty good.

 

[irbullz]

friend has say to me 999 good game!

 

[RollForInitiative]

999 is not a JRPG; it's a visual novel. It's also quite an excellent one. Radiant Historia is another good JRPG title. If you enjoy dungeon crawlers, the Etrian Odyssey series is another big win. They're for the hardcore audience only, however.

 

[Quaidis]

Do you mean Super Robot Taisen OG? The GBA ones? Or do you mean OG saga Endless Frontier? I would recommend playing both of them, as they're excellent games.

Sorry, I mean OG Saga Endless Frontier. My mind slipped for a moment while typing that. Allow me to repair it. I'll look into the gba game as well. It's just that my friend from the Netherlands keeps preaching the ds game to me and all that it holds dear.

 

[Ikaruga33]

Devil surviovur excellent combat and story same goes for the world ends with you

Fire emblems a decent tactical rpg

 

[G-Force]

Even though 999 is not a JRPG its REALLY worth a play through for its story alone.

 

[Quaidis]

999 is not a JRPG; it's a visual novel. It's also quite an excellent one. Radiant Historia is another good JRPG title. If you enjoy dungeon crawlers, the Etrian Odyssey series is another big win. They're for the hardcore audience only, however.

Please describe 'visual novel' for me. It's a new genre term I'm unfamiliar with. Not the same as 7th Guest or Return to Zork, is it?

Do you mean Super Robot Taisen OG? The GBA ones? Or do you mean OG saga Endless Frontier? I would recommend playing both of them, as they're excellent games.

Sorry, I mean OG Saga Endless Frontier. My mind slipped for a moment while typing that. Allow me to repair it. I'll look into the gba game as well. It's just that my friend from the Netherlands keeps preaching the ds game to me and all that it holds dear.

If you're getting Endless Frontier, then you have to play the two GBA ones first, as the story of them plays a large part in Endless Frontier. I don't know how hard it would be to find them, but you could always emulate them.

But... But that requires back tracking! Blast! Now I need to see if I can get the gba games.

 

[RollForInitiative]

Please describe 'visual novel' for me. It's a new genre term I'm unfamiliar with. Not the same as 7th Guest or Return to Zork, is it?

I recommend wikipedia for that one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel

You can think of 999 as a "choose your own adventure" game with a serious horror and psychological bent.

If you're getting Endless Frontier, then you have to play the two GBA ones first, as the story of them plays a large part in Endless Frontier. I don't know how hard it would be to find them, but you could always emulate them.

But... But that requires back tracking! Blast! Now I need to see if I can get the gba games.

I played Endless Frontier without playing either of its predecessors and don't feel like I missed anything, so I'd take that comment with a grain of salt.

Edit: I think I screwed up my quoting. Hope I got the right people in the end.

 

[Quaidis]

Please describe 'visual novel' for me. It's a new genre term I'm unfamiliar with. Not the same as 7th Guest or Return to Zork, is it?

I recommend wikipedia for that one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel

You can think of 999 as a "choose your own adventure" game with a serious horror and psychological bent.

If you're getting Endless Frontier, then you have to play the two GBA ones first, as the story of them plays a large part in Endless Frontier. I don't know how hard it would be to find them, but you could always emulate them.

But... But that requires back tracking! Blast! Now I need to see if I can get the gba games.

I played Endless Frontier without playing either of its predecessors and don't feel like I missed anything, so I'd take that comment with a grain of salt.

Edit: I think I screwed up my quoting. Hope I got the right people in the end.

Well, most of the story revolves around the villains in the first game. The Einst, the W numbers, Haken and Aschens roots, all of the numerous references. It just enriches the experience by quite a great deal. Hell, that big blue robot called Arc Gain is the soul of one of the main antagonists.

Also, that was an epic fail on my part with the visual novel stuff xD

Now you guys are messing with my head.

Gotta say that starting with a second or third game in a series can be thrilling. I started with GoldenSun 2 and Lufia 2, both which premiered bad guys as a plot. It was exciting and fun, and I eventually went back to playing the first ones to find out what I missed. The only downside to doing this is if the first or second games are severely old-school compared to the one I started on - though not necessarily a cripple.



So if I'm reading this right, a visual novel is like a book and less like, say, Myst, with pictures and puzzles.

 

[Juventus]

super robot taisen os saga:endless frontier had a nice combat system, interesting characters and funny sexual humor, but if you play games mainly for stories, it's story is pretty weak. it's not bad, just not great. get it, but it's not a must play right away sort of game.

i second whoever said radiant historia. it's truly great with nice combat, interesting story and mind bending gaming mechanics involving time travel.

 

[Quaidis]

Monster rancher is bad, bad, bad. Don't get it. Unless you're into repetetive, overly tedious things with no redeeming factor.
Get pokemon black or dragon quest monsters joker for your creature enslavement needs instead.

Endless frontier starts off confusing and then becomes boring and repetitive since all enemies an especially bosses just keep and keep getting more health and you'll be doing the same combo over and over again in the battles that happen every 5 seconds.

Golden Sun 3 is exceptionally bland and generic.
Not terrible but not good either.

So... Was Monster Rancher DS like the first one or previous incarnations of MR? Or are you basing 'bad' off of some pre-notion of how jrpgs should be? Ie, have you played previous Monster Rancher games?

And is GS3 like the first two and true to it's form?

Telling me it's 'bad' or 'bland' or 'generic' doesn't help. Those are very vague words. I'd also like to know if there are any jrps you feel I have to get. Because that would be helpful.

 

[Juventus]

oh and if you haven't played chrono trigger or final fantasy 4, get those.

999 is good with a mind bending story. it's game play basically involves you reading walls of text, then making a choice (example: going through door 2 instead of 4) and solving puzzles. there is not real game play, it's more a matter of making the right choices to unlock the true ending (although unlocking the bad endings will make sense once you know the true ending)

if ou are interested in 999, i'd suggest taking a look at the phoenix wright games as well.