One of the ways I relax from poker from time to time is to play video games. I try to keep my PC for work only so I only play games on my PS3. I just finished a game I've been working on since I bought it in February, Suikoden 2. Old school PS1 era RPG. It was reasonably enjoyable. A bit overhyped. I guess it was ahead of its time tho.

Anyway, I'm looking for a new game to play. I'm a bit partial to old school games but am interested in trying newer titles as well. I mostly play games in the various ROG subgenres. Definitely not into FPSs or Sports games. Some games I'm thinking of starting are FF Tactics which I never managed to play somehow, Legend of Mana, and Grandia. All 3 seem pretty cool.

I'm hoping some of you might have some suggestions. I prefer RPGs but don't really have the time for sprawling open world games (skyrim, dragon age, the witcher) or MMOs. I LOVED the ME series but even that was a bit to 'big' for my time constraints. And even tho I do prefer RPGs, I might be getting a bit bored of the same exact battle style with minor tweaks thrown at me every game. A game that includes the character progression/leveling up of RPGs but offer something a bit different in the gameplay area would be nice. Any suggestions?

Xenogears is amazing, it's got a really heavy, and philosophical story, though it's also dated. Lufia 2 is amazing, the original Lufia is alright, but Lufia 2 is great, a lot lighter hearted than Xeno, and it can definitely be played independently of the first.

Grandia is really good, as is tactics, and Legend of Mana. All good choices. Ranking them would be tough, but I think Xeno/Lufia2/Tactics/Grandia/Mana. Tales of Phantasia could be added to the list, along with Shining force and fire emblem (or even breath of fire), but these are all slightly lower than the ones above.

Played the Lufias, Shining Forces, and the 3DS Fire Emblem. Shining Force 1 and 2 are among my favorite games from the 16bit era. I'm looking to play a game I haven't already played. Played the old school Final Fantasy's half a dozen times through each. Lufia 2 I haven't played in a long time but I don't think its on PSN. Nor are the Shining Force games. I never played Tales, but I also don't think its on PSN. It has a lot of sequels on newer systems tho.

I think I'll add Xenogears top the list. My brother loved it but I never played it.

Have any ideas from the newer generation(s)?

best JRPG of the previous generation (PS3/Xbox360/Wii) is definitely Xenoblade Chronicles, it's on Wii though

unsure why Malefiicus ranks Lufia2 this high, I'd rank all other 4 games higher but that's just me (tactics being my favorite)

from the PSN store there isn't that many good RPGs I can think of, besides the obvious PS1 classics, I did enjoy Breath of Fire 3 and 4 quite a bit back in the day (4 is on PSN I believe) if you want to bother ordering physical copies you could try out the Star Ocean serie too :P

I have a Wii U also. I will see if Xenoblade Chronicles is in the Eshop (edit: it is not available and the sequel won't be out until Dec). My PS3 isn't backwards compatible (I think some of the older ones are), so its PS3 or PSN games only.

I looked through the PSN list, I can add that Wild Arms was really fun, it somewhat reminds me of Grandia, both those games have a really good sense of adventure. Legend of Dragoon was interesting, though I'm not sure I ever finished it, and Breath of Fire 4 was good. Since you loved SF and stuff, you'll probably love tactics the most out of the group, though Xenogears is amazing.

To close out the last of the older generation games, (that are on PSN), I really enjoyed the original Star Ocean, and the ratings suggest the available one on PSN is solid.

For relatively new games, if you haven't played The Last of Us, which you probably have, but if you haven't, that game is amazing, and it's only like 15hrs. Bioshock, and Deus Ex were both really good, with the original Bioshock being one of the most memorable games I've played in recent history (It has a really amazing atmosphere if you just take it in). These are far less traditional RPGs, perhaps falling in the category, perhaps not.

Ranking all of them (that are available on available on PS3/PS4/PSN), is really tough.

1. Xenogears
1. The Last of US
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Grandia
5. Bioshock
6. Wild Arms
7. Deus Ex
8. Breath of Fire 4
9. Legend of Dragoon

All are really good, it's rough ranking some of them so low when they'd be near the top of any other list. Kind of hurts.

A man can't have favorites!? It's probably partly due to nostalgia, I had the Super Nintendo, so I only ended up emulating the sega games 5-10 years later, so I didn't get to experience them at their best. Lufia 2 was my favorite rental from King Video, it's an integral part of my life. Along with playing dragon warrior 4 while listening to STP, Alice in chains, Cracker - Low, etc, some of the best times of my life, just being a moron absorbed in a TV.

So my list of possibilities is

FF Tactics
Grandia
Legend of Mana
Dragon's Crown
Xenogears
South Park
Child of Light
Disgaea D2
Valkyria Chronicles
Star Ocean The Last Hope
Final Fantasy X HD
Last of Us

I think I'm leaning towards Tactics or Legend of Mana. But I am already several hours into FFX from a while ago and might pick up where I left off on that game.

Wild Arms look really dated. Funny thing is that sprite graphics from SNES era look better to me than many PS1 era polygon graphics. I guess Tactics will also look very dated, but its been on my list for a long, long time. I played Legend of Dragoon a long time ago. I think I got a few discs in and then never played it again. BoF 4 is on PSN and only $6 but it looks pretty boring.

I actually didn't play the Shining Force games until I played them on emulator. I think I started playing emulated games near the beginning of it even being possible. A few years after emulators (maybe less time than that) people started translating all these Japanese games that we couldn't play otherwise. Getting to play Final Fantasy 2,3 and 5 was so cool. My brother actually played Tales of Phantasia before it was ever translated on emulator. Just talked to everyone in every town hoping it would trigger the right events. Haha.

As far as my favorite old school games. My brother, me and a friend from down the street spent a summer playing Final Fantasy IV (II US) right when it came out. Some of my favorite childhood memories are from that game. Probably played every remake of that game multiple times through. Final Fantasy VI is a better game but doesn't hold quite as much nostalgia. Its still one of my all time favorites. Final Fantasy VII also. I'm crazy stoked for the remake they announced at E3 this year.

8bit era
Master Blaster
Final Fantasy 1
Mega Man 2
Double Dragon
Ninja Gaiden
Super Mario 3

16bit era
Final Fantasy 4
Final Fantasy 6
Lufia 2
Shining Force 1
Shining Force 2
Secret of Mana
Breath of Fire 1
Breath of Fire 2
EVO
Der Langrisser
Super Metroid
Super Mario Kart

ps1/n64 era
Mario 64
WaveRace 64
Final Fantasy 7
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Suikoden 1

Post ps1
Halo 1
Halo 3
Mass Effect Series
Dragon Age Origins
Disgaea 1


I stopped really playing video games after the PS1 time period. I'm sure I missed some games I loved but this covers most of my favorites. If I had to list a top 10 all time, weighing nostalgia along with other factors I think it would looks something like this:

1. Final Fantasy 4
2. Mega Man 2
3. Symphony of the Night
4. Final Fantasy 6
5. Mass Effect Series (calling it 1 game, havent finished the 3rd one yet maybe will get around to it too little time)
6. Mario 64
7. Super Mario Brothers 3
8. Shining Force 2
9. EVO
10. Final Fantasy 1 (maybe 7, i dunno, this is tough)

Damn, I was there pretty early but I always waited for the translations, it was like Christmas when I found FF5, Bahamut Lagoon was a good find as well. Using a site called Donut something, now called The Whirlpool, erm, now called romhacking. I had some half translated games that relied a lot on talking to random people and hoping half the words were translated, I always gave up on them though.

I like FFVI slightly more, but FFIV was amazing. Watching that (FFVII) remake trailer was a great experience, I'm pumped for the release of it.

Ha, I didn't know anyone else played master blaster. That game was great. Solid list, remembering the time my cousin sold or lost my rat tail, I recently beat FF1 again, that was a good time. This talk has me hankin' for a bit more, I might revisit FF4 since it's been long time since I hung with cecil, never played the newer version, probably give that a try.

Solid list, Mass Effect is definitely my favorite RPG series in recent history, Witcher 3 is on par, though the earlier games weren't, in my opinion. The good thing about Witcher 3 is that it's not super compelling. I tend to get absorbed into games, till I either burn out, or defeat the game, however, the witcher didn't illicit that response from me. That said I think I put 150 hours in the game, or damn near it, but I felt compelled to try the hardest difficulty which definitely added some hours to it. Amazing game though.

You know, I never played Symphony of Night, I remember drinking with a buddy while he played it a long time ago, but I never tried the game out. Might give it a go. Lastly, I understand what you're saying about the PS RPGs, it's rough with their advanced 3d technology, sometimes the games hurt your eyes, sometimes the camera angle is poison. It was awesome when it was societies pinnacle of graphics though.

omg dude symphony of the night is soooooooooooooo good, I never cleared any castlevania fwiw, but I cleared SOTN like 6 times

I really wish they'd come out with a polished remake. Just shiny up the graphics and leave everything else the same. The edges are all pixelated. Would love to see it remastered in HD with the pixelation gone.

Probably good you didn't play the other Castlevanias. Everything after Symphony of the night was rubbish.

So I ended up going with Final Fantasy X. It wasn't at the top of my list but I popped it in and realized I had a save 10 hours in. Played for a few minutes and decided it seemed fun. Reading online the game is anywhere from 50 to 100 hours in length. If I play at the same pace I played Suikoden 2 I won't be revisiting my list until 2016. Haha.

Anyway, I think Tactics is probably going to be next. But I also already own the Last of Us and might go to that instead. And who knows what mood I'll be in by the time I'll be making the decision.

Hey skraper, I am also doing the same thin when it comes to "relaxation".
And in my case I find POE - path of exile very interesting or Dota2 (lots of fun)

My brother told me about POE. Looks like a Diablo 2 clone. I loved Diablo 2 (should have put it in my top all time games but was only thinking of console games). But man did I waste time on that game. Had multiple accounts with multiple level 97+ characters. Hundreds and hundreds of hours. Definitely looking for something more casual.

Do you know how to play Magic the Gathering? They have been making console versions that are pretty solid. The amount of cards you have access to is manageable so you don't need to devote hours just to building a deck.

Btw glad to see Mega Man and Castlevania SOTN ranked so high.

I've played Magic before. I understand the basic mechanics. But I don't understand any of the strategy behind deck building or what to play when.

I wouldn't start any multiplayer game if I was you, I mean when SC2 came out I thought I could manage poker + SC2 at the same time, ended up not playing poker for almost 2 years lol

I much prefer single player or coop games over PvP games.

Gl

MTG is on one of the best games ever. I wouldn't recommend it as a casual relaxation thing. It's very time consuming and requires a lot of effort to beat other people. I had to quit it because it's such a time sink. Kind of how I feel about WoW too.

Really awesome game tho.

Agreed. I only play the Console version now because it isn't time consuming and it is very beginner/casual friendly.

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Was heroic!

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