old school rpgs

[jono]

FF3 or CT

[cbloom]

For people who like RPG combat but don't want all the story bits, there are fun games like "Vandal Hearts" and "Final Fantasy Tactics".

edit : for me, just the fighting gets boring too, you need the perfect mix of some story (not too much), some fighting (not too much), just don't be repetitive/tedious.

[Xhad]

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I hate games that focus too much on story. If a game is making you sit through 10 minute long conversations, it's doing something wrong.

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Luckily I read fast so the SNES rpgs don't bother me so much. I do hate modern games with voice acting that force me to listen to the conversations in real time; I definitely get the "hurry up and let me play the game" feeling there.

[JuntMonkey]

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I hate games that focus too much on story. If a game is making you sit through 10 minute long conversations, it's doing something wrong.

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Luckily I read fast so the SNES rpgs don't bother me so much. I do hate modern games with voice acting that force me to listen to the conversations in real time; I definitely get the "hurry up and let me play the game" feeling there.

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Yea it's not as big a deal without voice acting.

[ilya]

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Personally I loved FF back in the day but can't stand that kind of gameplay any more. So tedious. Pointless random monsters; conversation bubbles that go on and on.

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YES. I'm not the only one!

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I hate games that focus too much on story. If a game is making you sit through 10 minute long conversations, it's doing something wrong. Most people who've played "The Longest Journey" love it, but I think it's borderline awful because you hardly interact with it at all.

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oh come now, there's a lot more gameplay in The Longest Journey than there ever has been in any Final Fantasy game.

[ilya]

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For people who like RPG combat but don't want all the story bits, there are fun games like "Vandal Hearts" and "Final Fantasy Tactics".

edit : for me, just the fighting gets boring too, you need the perfect mix of some story (not too much), some fighting (not too much), just don't be repetitive/tedious.

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i agree that the fighting gets really tedious really quickly in most console RPGs (final fantasy XII basically admits it by automating all the gameplay!), but there are a few exceptions. the trick i think is to add a little twitch-based element to the system so that the player needs to pay attention even if he's just mega-nuking all enemies. i think games like legend of dragoon (which was also cool because it was very tough to level up, so boss fights were much more tense and fun than usual) and especially shadow hearts get it close to just right. Systems like the ones in SOTET are ok too, but feel too haphazard and don't give as satisfying a sense of control.

Finally, everyone pretty much ignored Wild Arms 4, but I think that game did a very good job of mixing story exploration and combat and making them all engaging on what was probably a relatively tight budget.

P.S. blood geysers!! i love SRPGs that don't tempt you into mindless powering up between story battles.

[JuntMonkey]

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Personally I loved FF back in the day but can't stand that kind of gameplay any more. So tedious. Pointless random monsters; conversation bubbles that go on and on.

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YES. I'm not the only one!

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I hate games that focus too much on story. If a game is making you sit through 10 minute long conversations, it's doing something wrong. Most people who've played "The Longest Journey" love it, but I think it's borderline awful because you hardly interact with it at all.

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oh come now, there's a lot more gameplay in The Longest Journey than there ever has been in any Final Fantasy game.

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Well I wasn't defending the Final Fantasy games, but it depends how you look at it. Random repetitive battles are gameplay (even if you don't like it), and you definitely spend a ton more time comparatively "playing" old RPG's than "playing" modern adventure games.

[lastchance]

Not playing Chrono Trigger once is unforgivable. Baldur's Gate II is also really good (IMHO, the best PC RPG ever made).

[moorobot]

Final Fantasy 6 and 7 are, in my opinion, the two best RPGs of all time. 7 is a little more similar to contemporary RPGs; so I'd try that first, although I think 6 was the best.

[Wack Jade]

Agree with Final Fantasy III / Chrono Trigger. Also try Lufia 2 and Breath of Fire 1 / 2. Although it was just released last year, Dragon Quest VIII has a very old-school feel to it.