Games final fantasy fans should try

Retr0gamer

Here's my list of similar games to final fantasy that fans should try. Feel free to add other games and opinions.

Panzer Dragoon Saga/Azel (Sega Saturn)

You can be forgiven for not having played this since it is so rare but it's worth the effort of tracking down. The game i way ahead of it's time. Beautiful to look at with a fantastic complex story wrapped around one of the most interesting and unique fantasy universes ever created. The battle system is excellent and makes even random encounters seem like epic battles. The soundtrack is really something special. The game is a little short but doesn't affect the excellent game. The ending has a few loose ends but everything is tied up by Panzer Dragoon Orta on the xbox.

Suikoden 1+2 (PS1)

Suikoden 1 is a competent RPG and really should be played before Suikoden 2 because of the returning characters that will put a smile on your face. Suikoden 2 is a far better game. The story borrows heavily from one of the greatest pieces of chinese literature ever written and it shows. The game does have magic and mystical creatures but the war that is on going through the story is very realistic. The story of how the 3 childhood friends lives are slowly torn apart by this war is throughly heart wrenching. The game is huge and the story is epic. Jowy is an excellent character. However its Luca Blight that steals the show. Forget Sephiroth, Luca is by far the best bad guy created in a video game. sequels 3+4 are decent but can't match the prequels.

Xenogears (PS1)

Another great RPG from Squaresoft. Great battle system that switches between mech and character combat. however its the story that you will remeber the most. The game takes a while to get going but coming near to the end when it all makes sense you will be justly rewarded for your patience. complex and moving there isn't a story like this in any form of entertainment medium let alone video game. the game suffers from a rushed second half (you can blame FFVII for that when it stole it's budget and staff to be finished on time) but doesn't spoil this great game.

Kingdom Hearts (PS2)

Don't be put off by the disney characters. This game is one of the most challenging I've played and also has a remarkably good storyline. It's also cheap so no excuses.

Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)

Most people are put off from this game from the lacklustre GBA game that is masquerading around with this games name. Don't be fooled they are totally different games. Great stroy and excellent battle system. However be warned that this is the hardest game i've ever beaten and may be too dificult for some.

Skies of Arcadia (GC/DC)

Nice little traditional RPG. Nice story and great battle system. Very like FFIX and early FF games, it's more fun than serious.

Grandia (PS1)

Another great traditional RPG. Storywise it's nothing to write home about but the characters in it are excellent. The battle system is what really makes this game shine. Semi real time and very strategic its an absolute joy to play.

Vagrant Story (PS1)

Okay it's nothing like FF but it is made by squaresoft and the same team and composer are working on FFXII so it's nice to see the masterpiece these guys made. Excellent story and one of the best soundtracks ever. The battle system lets the side down but not enough to ruin an excellent playing experience.

Chrono Trigger (Snes)

Just play this game for the love of god. A little traditional but the story is really clever. great battle system (no random encounters thank god) and excellent characters. It's easy to find the rom and runs perfect in zsnes. just don't ask where to get the rom from, please.

Tales of Symphonia (GC)

A very traditional RPG with a very non traditional battle system. The battle system plays like a simplified beat'em up. Great fun to play. Check ou the other 'Tales of' games on the SNES and PS1, they are just as good.

Q_Elexra

I've only played one of those - 'Kingdom Hearts' - but there are a few there that I've seen around in game shops that I've been thinking of picking up. Although I'm down to PS1 and GC games since my PS2 went bust last week.

Infini

Panzer Dragoon Orta - Available on the X-box. Would reccommend it.
Suikoden 1+2 (PS1) - Yet to play this.
Xenogears (PS1) - Excellent RPG. Would highly reccommend it - BEWARE THE EVIL DISK 2 :eek:
Kingdom Hearts (PS2) = Kind of a babyish game but the storyline is decent and there are excellent cameos of some of the final fantasy characters.
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1) - Yet to play this but looks far better than the stupid gameboy version.
Skies of Arcadia (GC/DC) - Haven't got this.
Grandia (PS1) - Looks very good.
Vagrant Story (PS1) - Played part of it but it isn't bad.
Chrono Trigger (Snes) - Classic. Definately must play this game its an excellent RPG.
Tales of Symphonia (GC) - Played part of it but it is quite good.

Also...
The star ocean series. - The first game can be found on the internet and is very good. The second game could probably be found to download as well and is an excellent RPG to play. The 3rd is also quite good but isn't as good as the second one.
Chrono Cross- Not as good as the first but still a great game to play.
Xenosaga series - If you can get this game series it is highly recommended. The first 2 games have been released so far out of a possible 6 game series and are very etertaining.
Breath of fire 1-5 - Excellent RPG series that has been around since the 1990's. The second game in the series is probably one of the best. Also the 4th game is also very entertaining as is the 5th (Dragon Quarter).

Note: Retrogamer sorry I accidentally edited your post. Hit the damn edit button instead of the quote button again! Fixed it good as new again. Sorry.

Retr0gamer

Infini wrote:

Xenosaga series - If you can get this game series it is highly recommended. The first 2 games have been released so far out of a possible 6 game series and are very etertaining.

Utterly disappointed with episode 1. Thought the battle system was terrible because the CPU cheated so much and the story wasn't all that great (it was only the first half of part 2 of Xenosaga though). Saying that i will be getting part 2 since I loved Xenogears so much.

And when I said Panzer Dragoon Orta I meant Panzer Dragoon Saga/Azel for the Saturn. Silly me.

Ninja Turtle

Since Retr0gamer and Infini have pretty much mentioned every turn based RPG worth mentioning (Chrono Trigger is teh win!!11! btw), I thought I'd broaden it a bit to RPG's in general - expand the horizons and all that . So here are two of my favourites to get the ball rolling a bit

1) The Baldur's Gate series. If you haven't played this, you should be shot (or at least hit multiple times with magic missile). Excellant story and soundtrack.
2) Planescape Torment - Hard to get now, but worth the search!

Infini

You could also try some others on the X-box. Knights of the old Republic and Jade empire are some extremely enjoyable games.

Ninja Turtle

aye, I've both the KoTR's on the PC as well, but are very good (I prefer the first one though).

Pity I'll never get to play Jade Empire as it's xbox exclusive

Retr0gamer

A sift through the box of retr0gamers games he has yet to play reveals he forgot the supposedly excellent valkyrie profile, lunar silver story and lunar 2 eternal blue. supposed to be great. Must get round to finding out if they are

Vokes

I traded in my copy of Vagrant Story a few years ago *sigh* I never appreciated its "look" when i was younger, it was also rock hard :eek:

Q_Elexra

For RPGs other than Final Fantasy I find Neverwinter Nights (PC) really fun. Nothing beats walking into a room full of Goblins and unleashing fireball.

As for Ninja Turtle's remark about BG, I've only played the origional on the PC and the two Dark Alliances on the PS2. Very fun although the PC version's control system really annoys me after playing NWN.

Retr0gamer

SofaKing wrote:

I traded in my copy of Vagrant Story a few years ago *sigh* I never appreciated its "look" when i was younger, it was also rock hard :eek:

it was just a case of control. it was no use doing big dirty 50+ hit combos if your risk was so high afterwards that you couldn't hit the ****er. Also when you had no choice to max out your risk 50+ hitters were the only way. And remember not to equip weapons that don't allow the use of sheilds. Thats just asking for a 1 hit death.

Rhyme

Retr0gamer wrote:

Tales of Symphonia (GC)

A very traditional RPG with a very non traditional battle system. The battle system plays like a simplified beat'em up. Great fun to play. Check ou the other 'Tales of' games on the SNES and PS1, they are just as good.

Got my copy of it back off CuLT today... i am mucho pleased

Ninja Turtle

Q_Elexra wrote:

As for Ninja Turtle's remark about BG, I've only played the origional on the PC and the two Dark Alliances on the PS2.

I was referring more to the pc series - I never played the PS2 versions. It seemed to me as simply being a dilution of the pc games, but thats probably just me being a snob

Very fun although the PC version's control system really annoys me after playing NWN.

I was the opposite, it took me a while to get used to NWN's controls! I was expecting another point and clicker.

Vokes

Retr0Gamer:

it was just a case of control. it was no use doing big dirty 50+ hit combos if your risk was so high afterwards that you couldn't hit the ****er. Also when you had no choice to max out your risk 50+ hitters were the only way. And remember not to equip weapons that don't allow the use of sheilds. Thats just asking for a 1 hit death.

What i liked about the battle system was that you could raise a weapon's affinity for certain types of enemies and elements (i think?). That was a neat touch which id like to see in future FF games.


Slightly off topic: I was just checking out the trailer for FF12 and some of the characters reminded me a little of Vagrant Story.

So i looked up the Developers for FF12, and lo and behold, the producer and character designer both worked on Vagrant Story, which is no bad thing methinks.

Retr0gamer

And the same music composer. Hitoshi Sakimoto is a god. I have no doubt that FF12 will be good but the producer said it's more a sequel to vagrant story than a FF game. I guess I have to look to Mistwalker for my Hironobu Sakaguchi games.

Twin Lance

it was just a case of control. it was no use doing big dirty 50+ hit combos if your risk was so high afterwards that you couldn't hit the ****er. Also when you had no choice to max out your risk 50+ hitters were the only way. And remember not to equip weapons that don't allow the use of sheilds. Thats just asking for a 1 hit death.

Ah, I dunno man, I mean once you've finished the game once its nice and safe to run around with a nice big Great Sword. For my past couple of games I havnt used any one handed weapons. I'm a lot more confident playing it with a couple of nice big Hammers, a Great Sword or two, and a trusty Halberd Die dragon die!
Oh yeah, Vagrant Story, despite its high learning curve, easily one of the best RPGs Ive ever played. I'd play it for the soundtrack alone

BlitzKrieg

my brief addition...

SHINING FORCE 1 AND 2 (there's a new one on the way for ps2 but doesnt look that great) Great games. Completed 2, should go back to one.

there is also a shining force 3 for the saturn, but you will only suffer if you get it as its only a third of the overall game and 2 and 3 never made it out of japan.

and Dark Saviour is quite good aswell.

Retr0gamer

BlitzKrieg wrote:

there is also a shining force 3 for the saturn, but you will only suffer if you get it as its only a third of the overall game and 2 and 3 never made it out of japan..

But scenario 2 has a 100% translated text file on the net and scenario 3 has a 70% translated text file on the net which translates everything important and is easy to follow the story with it. Both are on shining force central. The only suffering is for your wallet when you find out how much scenario 2 costs on ebay. The SF3 games are brilliant by the way.

If you have a saturn and liked shining force and FF tactics, give wachenroder a go. Great SRPG and also has an english translation.

Camelot the creators of shining force have left Sega and are working with Nintendo. The new shining games are shining force in name only (the remake of 1 on the GBA however is rather excellent). The closest to Shining games are probably the Golden Sun games on the GBA.

melekalikimaka

Neverwinter Nights

Its really good, I just got it there last week and i've been playing it big time, brilliant game, huge plot, hundreds of sidequests plus lots of expansions floating round, defo give it a try

Reku

BlitzKrieg wrote:

my brief addition...

SHINING FORCE 1 AND 2 (there's a new one on the way for ps2 but doesnt look that great) Great games. Completed 2, should go back to one.

there is also a shining force 3 for the saturn, but you will only suffer if you get it as its only a third of the overall game and 2 and 3 never made it out of japan.

and Dark Saviour is quite good aswell.

Shining Force 2 was available on the Megadrive over here, great game but a bit short, especially since towards the end you lose the option of hanging about and exploring.

BlitzKrieg

i meant parts 2 and 3 of shining force 3. I had shining force 2 aswell.