old school rpgs
 

so im finally going to beat an old school rpg. im not gonna put much more than 35 hours into this thing. i have nes, snes, ps2, and can acquire other platforms if you guys think its worth it.

so right now im thinking chrono trigger, ff7, or secret of mana. other choices? your pick?

Re: old school rpgs
 

I bought Final Fantasy Origins(contains FF1 and FF2), Final Fantasy Chronicles(contains FF4 and Chrono Trigger) and Final Fantasy Anthology(contains FF5 and FF6) for the PSX last year. They were pretty cheap, something like 25$CDN each. I'd also recommand FF Tactics and Breath of Fire 3 for the PSX.

For the SNES, along with the old FF I would recommand Breath of Fire 2 and Lufia 2.

I haven't played a lot of PS2 RPGs but I really liked FFX (40 hours maybe?) and Dark Cloud 2. Dragon Quest VIII is also good but it takes a little bit longer. I also really liked Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter but it didn't receive good reviews.

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ok, now pick one of those.

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If you are only gonna do one, then I say go with FFVII...especially if you have never played it before.

I would also recommend FFVI (3 for SNES), which is my personal favorite FF. But every RPG fan should be required to beat VII at least once.

You can't go wrong with Chrono Trigger either, but stay away from the PS1 version...the load times are extremely annoying and borderline unbearable.

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If you are only gonna do one, then I say go with FFVII...especially if you have never played it before.

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FFVII is the best of those.

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Super Mario RPG and it's not even close.

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I'd definitely go for Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan) on the SNES. I think it's actually aged a bit better than the PS1's 7 has. The pseudo-3d of 7 could easily end up tiresome and frustrating for someone used to true 3d games. Part 3 is still just glorified sprites.

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If you want to beat an NES classic I say Dragon Warrior 4. That is my favorite RPH of all time. I'm not entirely sure but I don't see it taking more than 30 hours to beat.

If you want some awesome RPG's for the Playstation, try suikoden 1 and suikoden 2. Both are absolutely terrific, better than FF7 imho. The storylines for the Suikoden series(they are to #5 now) are fantastic. #1+#2 combined should take 40+ hours. #1= 15-17 hours and #2= 20-25 hours.

If you can only get one, get Suikoden 2.

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You can't go wrong with Chrono Trigger either, but stay away from the PS1 version...the load times are extremely annoying and borderline unbearable.

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QFT. There's one tower in an early castle where you move from one floor to the next in like 2 seconds, and the load time for each is like 7 seconds; I wanted to stab people. One thing cool about CT is that you can beat it pretty easily in not much time, but it has multiple endings and a feature where you can start a new game but keep all your experience/items from a save where you already beat the game, so really it's about as long as you want it to be. This is easily my first pick if you can get your hands on the SNES version.

If we're considering oldish PS2 games to be "old school" Dark Cloud is also a good choice (pretty much the best dungeon crawl I have ever played). If you want action RPG I would recommend Soul Blazer (or the sequel Illusion of Gaia) over SoM but I know I'm in the minority there. FFIII for the SNES (soon to be rereleased as FFVI for the GBA) is the best FF with FFVII a close second imo.

Screw anything on the NES. All of them that I've played either require too much grinding, were rerelased in a better form later (see: the original FF), or both. I guess there's Zelda II, if that counts.

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final fantasy 6 over final fantasy 7 any day of the week hands down. not to say 7 is a bad game or anything, but that 6 is so goddamn awesome.

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i played the pc demo of final fantasy 7 back when it came out. i also played the pc version for about 2 hours but got pissed because you really need a gamepad.

is snes ff3 a 2d CT-style game?

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xhad, yes i played CT for maybe 10 hours (snes version) but lost my saves (it was emulated). i dont know if its worth playing through what i've already beaten. if it is a unanimous agreement i'd suck it up though.

i agree that i'm not going to bother with the nes, its just too ancient-looking. i think i could survive with ff7 but the 2d games preserve really well and may keep my attention longer.

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earthbound!!

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Chrono Trigger, and it's arguably not even close

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Id recommend FF6 or Chrono Trigger. CT is my favorite RPG and FF6 is my favorite FF. FF7 is good too and would probably be my third choice if you havent played it, not sure if its really old school though. Another great one is Xenogears for PS1 if you want a slower paced game with a cool story. If you play one of the old SNES ones I would either buy the cartridge or download a ROM b/c the PS1 remakes all have VERY slow load times everytime you go to a menu, a battle or a new room. Guess I didnt really answer youre question but if youre only going to play one I would have to say go with CT.

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FF3 on snes. dont get the ports to PS1 they take forever on loads. cartriges 4tw as far as old school rpgs go. chrono trigger is also awesome. get both, ull enjoy it.

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Load Dos Box onto your PC then pick up a copy of Ultima 7 the Serpent isle. It has a great story line, Interesting and varied game play just the right level of difficulty and is totally interactive every item you see can be picked up moved or opened. NPCs have lives that they live independently of you and the world they live in makes sense.
It avoids many of the Japanese RPG traditions such as endless unavoidable battles or villages full of people standing around responding with one line of dialogue.
Ultima Underworld 2 labyrinth of worlds is also great but the graphics have aged a lot worse then Serpent isles have.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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i played the pc demo of final fantasy 7 back when it came out. i also played the pc version for about 2 hours but got pissed because you really need a gamepad.

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A quick warning, the FF7 port is buggy, and it only gets worse on newer OS'es. I've known dozens of square fans over the years and I don't know ONE that could finish the game without patching it or hacking it or both. EIDOS really deserved a kick in the nuts over that one.

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is snes ff3 a 2d CT-style game?

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It's basically 2d FF, but done as well as possible. It was the first that used the same character graphics for in and out of battle. IMO the Esper/Relic system is better than the Materia system simply because I don't have to do a million things every time I switch out a character (characters are very easy to equip/unequip, but there's still a lot of room for customization). I actually liked the futuristic environment of FF7 better than the steampunk environment of FF3, but as someone else said looking at high-quality 2d is probably easier on the eyes than primitive 3d. Most of the differences are personal taste but if you liked FF7 and CT you'll almost certainly like FF3.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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Load Dos Box onto your PC then pick up a copy of Ultima 7 the Serpent isle. It has a great story line, Interesting and varied game play just the right level of difficulty and is totally interactive every item you see can be picked up moved or opened. NPCs have lives that they live independently of you and the world they live in makes sense.
It avoids many of the Japanese RPG traditions such as endless unavoidable battles or villages full of people standing around responding with one line of dialogue.
Ultima Underworld 2 labyrinth of worlds is also great but the graphics have aged a lot worse then Serpent isles have.

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this isnt a bad idea, i got ultima underworld 1 going on my win98 box (and actually i think i got it to work in xp too with a bit of poking around). never beat it (again, save games, but actually they might be in my archives somewhere, maybe ill pull it out?) i got to maybe level 5 or so. uu1 was pretty awesome. i dont mind the gfx at all.

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Baulders Gate II for the PC was the best RPG I ever played. I also really enjoyed the Knights of the Old Republic star wars games on the Xbox. The Elder Scroll series games are also awesome.

Enjoy! BB

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Breath of Fire, FF 3 , Chrono

Chrono is very unique, and very fun.

the first time i beat that game as a kid i actually killed magus with the frog lol

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xhad, yes i played CT for maybe 10 hours (snes version) but lost my saves (it was emulated). i dont know if its worth playing through what i've already beaten. if it is a unanimous agreement i'd suck it up though.

i agree that i'm not going to bother with the nes, its just too ancient-looking. i think i could survive with ff7 but the 2d games preserve really well and may keep my attention longer.

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on a side note you should make a bunch of save states because there are multiple different endings you can see...

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Phantasy Star IV - the emperor of 16-bit RPGs! You can get it on the PS2 Genesis Collection disc. For $20 you also get Phantasy Star II, Phantasy Star III, the Sonics, Comix Zone, the Golden Axe games, Decap Attack, etc, plus a lot of bonus features like interviews with the designers.

No disrespect to FF3, Chrono Trigger, Mother, etc

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FF1, FF4 (2 us), FF6 (3 us)
Chrono Trigger
Earthbound
Super Mario RPG
Dragon Warrior 1,2,3,4 (NES games)

Skip FF7, takes way longer than 35 hours. Also I consider it a "new" style RPG anyway.

If you want even older school check out King's Quest 1-4 (runs on DOS)

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I recently redownloaded an SNES emulator for the sole purpose of playing Chrono Trigger, it is prob my favorite game of all time. I remember it taking longer than 35 hrs but I'm sure you could run through it once in less time than that. A lot of people also really like Secret of Mana but I don't remember that one enough.

Since we are talking about old RPGs, did anyone actually play the real FF2 from Japan? I had an English (maybe partly) version for an NES emulator and it was pretty awesome, a little different than all the other FFs. However I don't think it qualifies because I remember it being ridiculously hard.

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FF1 and FF2j were both rereleased on a system called the WonderSwan color, a handheld system that never made it outside of Japan. Then both were released as Final Fantasy Origins on the PS1, then again as Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls for the GBA. Any of those is better than the originals.

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Mario RPG is very fun if you're familiar with the Mario series, and it will take less than 35 hours. If I had a chance to play an RPG again for the first time, I would choose Mario RPG.

And then there's always Shining Force II for the Genesis. Fun, and definitely beatable in under 35 hours. The battle system is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. Plus, if you play and like it, I won't have to be "that guy" who recommends SFII in RPG threads anymore.

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Yes if you can play the Ultima 7 series you're set. Pure awesomeness, nothing has come close in my view. If you want to go real hard core just load up Nethack.

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Talk about an escape back to the past... I think I've played and beaten just about every game mentioned.

I would say that by far the most enjoyable for me of all of those mentioned was the Final Fantasy series. However, my enjoyment of the series I think has gone down a lot (I'm a perfectionist by nature, and unfortunetly when the games started including more "mini games" I started to concentrate too much on them, therefore, bringing my total hours playing the game up a billion-fold. I believe that distracted from the actual gameplay of the game).

By far and away the most enjoyment I ever had from any single game was the FFIII for the SNES. This is the first game and still one of the only RPGs (hell, any game not Super Techmo Bowl) that I was able to play through multiple times and still not get tired of playing it. I think that I have beaten it over 10 times, and I could just as easily do it again today. I must have rented it 20 some times at the store, and then still went out and bought it. I still remember once when I rented it, the guy that had it before me had progressed far enough into the game to be at that castle that has sick status changes (can't remember the name of it, but the mobs in there cast zombie a lot). Unfortunetly he ran out of curing items, and he was pretty much stuck halfway through it, with no hope of getting out and no other saved game point. Kinda laughed at that one, although I did feel bad cause I knew the kid who's saved game was on there.

FF3 is my choice to play, although FFXII was good, but I think it would take too long to beat. CT was also good and I liked SoM but by far, FF3 is the best.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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And then there's always Shining Force II for the Genesis. Fun, and definitely beatable in under 35 hours. The battle system is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. Plus, if you play and like it, I won't have to be "that guy" who recommends SFII in RPG threads anymore.

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I would second Shining Force 2 ( and one! ), but I don't really think you could call them RPGs and definitely not classic old school RPGs. They're turn based battle strategy even if they do have the medieval flare. And to anybody who does play them on an emulator - don't use save states! Particularly for these games, it completely ruins the challenge and gameplay.

Re: old school rpgs
 

Bump for more suggestions/ideas. Old school RPGs are probably my favorite style of games. I was already playing Crono Trigger when this thread was made and due to another suggestion I broke out Super Mario RPG. Crono Trigger >>>>>>>>>>> SM RPG so far, the gameplay is way better and the storyline for Crono is unbelievably good, I cannot think of a game with a better story. What other SNES RPGs are worth playing? I know the FF series, Secret of Mana, Breath of Fire...anything else?

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FF3. FF7 is somewhat overrated as the best FF (it's awesome, don't get me wrong) because most of the younger gamers started playing FF's with that one. I've played 1-3, 7-10, and 12 and 3 is the best. Probably my favorite game ever. Onyl roleplaying game I've gone through more than twice. Probably 4 or 5 times and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime soon.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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.

I did a similar post recently about old school "PC" RPG's (mostly Bioware style) and played a bunch. Here's my quick summary :

Planescape Torment - all around awesome; graphics are bit dated, and it's a bit weird, but great game
Baldur's Gate 2 - feels a bit dated, but great game originally, still worth playing
Icewind Dale - same as BG2, love this game
Icewind Dale 2 - has a nice high res mode which makes it look great, but gameplay is much much worse than ID1
Diablo 2 - wow, feels way too dated to me now, gfx suck and just pointless hack & slash (used to love it)

The one I still haven't played is Neverwinter Nights, I plan on doing that next.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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it's a bit weird

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The world would be a better place if this actually increased sales.

If you're going with NWN, make sure you play some of the player-made campaigns. Also if you play through the main campaign, be sure to go through the expansions too - they're much better.

Re: old school rpgs
 

i played NWN, i got to like the last dungeon (i think) where the four whatevers are all in place and you have to fight a series of dragons or something. i couldnt beat one of the dragons. a friend who pwns rpgs tried to beat it couldnt, he said my character was horribly flawed [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

so i never played it again.

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Just an FYI: I picked up Neverwinter Nights Diamond this weekend and it won't run on Windows Vista. A patch should be on the way.

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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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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.

Re: old school rpgs
 

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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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Yeat this is exactly the downfall of games like Super Mario RPG. It is just slow and boring and lots of the interactions/dialogue are just completely pointless. I still enjoy them to a degree but with more modern games it feels kind of silly to play with that old system. I remember liking the gameplay of Baldur's Gate II a lot although sometimes it would be difficult to balance all your party members at once. Anyone know of RPGs with really good gameplay that I should look into? I am dying to play Morrowind and Oblivion but have neither a PC nor an XBOX 360.