Poll: Which JRPG would you have me play?

[Plinglebob]

Easier to go through the list.

FF XIII - Looks fantastic and has a good story and characters, but more on the rails then a lot of JRPGs and the battle system can be frustrating at times. If you hate having no illusion of freedom, avoid this game. If the idea of on the rails gaming doesn't bother you, give it a try, but its not easy to love.

Star Ocean: TLH - I've never got round to playing but one of my friends is a big fan of JRPGs with pretty good taste and she loved it so probably worth checking out.

Magna Carta 2 - I played this for about 10-15 hours and thought it ok, but not great. The battle system was pretty good, but a lot of the characters and the main story never really grabbed me.

Eternal Sonata - Do you like long, unskippable cutscenes because this game sure does! The battle system is pretty fun and the characters are pretty good, but pacing is all over the place and while it may nt be as bad as MGS4 with its cutscenes, its definitely to beat it.

Tales of Vesperia - Never played but only heard good things.

 

[Gizmo1990]

It's been years since I played a JRPG and am thinking of starting on one. I bought an Xbox 360 not long ago and have purchased a lot of games on sales that I haven't gotten around to playing yet. Which one do you think I should start on?

Edit

Sorry guys I apparently messed this up. I have a list of 5 RPGs I bought but haven't played. They were supposed to be the poll options but they don't appear. Here's the list:

FF XIII
Start Ocean: TLH
Magna Carta 2
Eternal Sonata
Tales of Vesperia

For 360 go out and buy Lost Odyssey. It had a good story and was better than the last few FFs. Star Ocean was ok. I hate FF 13 with a passion with the power of a thousand suns. Snow, one of the main characters, is the single biggist douche in the history of fiction. i have not played the other 3.

my only other advise is go buy a PS3, go onto the PSN and buy some of the old FFs. personaly I would start with FF9. It is my favorite and it has ViVi in it. Look him up.

Are all the PSOne FFs available on PSN? And, if so, are they ported as-is or are they enhanced any?

Yes all of the PS1 FFs are on the PSN and no they are as is. The old graphics have never been a problem for me but if you are someone who cannot play games with old graphics then you are out of luck.

 

[LilithSlave]

Out of that list Tales of Vesperia is definitely the one I recommend most.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Eternal Sonata is one of my favourite JRPGs. The combat is simple and has an easy learning curve. If you've got it on the 360 you've just got the english dialogue which is well... admittedly less than stellar. On PS3 however you're in for a treat with the original Japanese voice acting.

That and the music... my god the music...

 

[Whyso]

kingdom hearts was brilliant

it should make a good jumping off point because it was co-operativly developed by americans thus meaning no turn based combat

AND THE MUSIC!

 

[thespyisdead]

get Lost Odessey... a 360 exclusive, and now prolly inexpensive(if you can get your hands on it)

 

[nyysjan]

Give FF XII and Eternal Sonata to someone you don't like (horrible, horrible games), and play Tales of Vesperia (haven't played it, but heard it was good).

No idea about Magna Carta or Star Ocean: TLH

 

[LilithSlave]

and decided to discredit the genre instead...

I know that's what Bioware is doing. And it's made me lose a lot of respect for them.

 

[Ando85]

It's been years since I played a JRPG and am thinking of starting on one. I bought an Xbox 360 not long ago and have purchased a lot of games on sales that I haven't gotten around to playing yet. Which one do you think I should start on?

Edit

Sorry guys I apparently messed this up. I have a list of 5 RPGs I bought but haven't played. They were supposed to be the poll options but they don't appear. Here's the list:

FF XIII
Start Ocean: TLH
Magna Carta 2
Eternal Sonata
Tales of Vesperia

I finished all 5 of those, so hopefully I can give a good opinion.

FF XIII - I actually loved this game a lot, but people bash it because its painfully linear. I've played through it twice and I still enjoyed the characters and story. Takes a bit over 40 hours to finish it. If you decide to keep playing the post game content involves mostly a lot of grinding. I set out to do it but I kind of got bored of it. The main story however is highly entertaining however.

Star Ocean : TLH - Great great great battle system. One of the best real time JRPG battle systems. In my opinion the battle system is better than Tales of Vesperia. However, the story and characters really didn't do it for me. I highly prefer Second Story and Til the End of Time. Don't get me wrong it is a solid game worth playing, but certain factors keep me from recommending it over the others.

Magna Carta 2 - Eh. I enjoyed playing through it. It was solid but nothing spectacular. Charaters are alright, story is alright. The game just feels very average to me. One word of advice though. I had a few MS points leftover and spent it on this weapon pack for all the characters. Don't do this cause it literally takes an already fairly easy game and make it incredibly easy. I don't even think I got a gameover or even came close to dying once on this game.

Eternal Sonata - I really thought this game had a very interesting concept. The game is basically Chopin's dreams as he is dying from tuberculosis. Once again I wasn't really impressed by the story and characters that occurred in said dream world. Game is still solid, worth a playthru, and has a rather unique battle system involving light and dark.

Tales of Vesperia - Awesome game, and a great way to get into the Tales series. I had played 3 Tales titles before I played this one and they really didn't add much. But, it is such a great game series I think "If it ain't broke don't fix it".

If you want to branch out and get more JRPGs for 360 you should check out Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Enchanted Arms.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

Out of those listed i'd go with Tales>SO:TLH>FFXIII>ES>MC2 but i'd personally rather play Lost Odyssey than any of them if we're sticking to 360 only. If it's any JRPG this gen Xenoblade hands down is the winner

 

[Druid1661]

If you have a PS1 or a PS3 that can play PS1 go out and get Ledgend of Dragoon
one of the best JRPG ever made

 

[Yuki_Seele]

I just started playing JRPGs again after not having played one for about 4 - 5 years.

Out of the ones ive been playing i recomend Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, Resonance of Fate.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Well, yo have Tales o Vesperia, you should try that one. However, I strongly recommend you try out Tales of Symphonia, a great game that twists common RPG cliches around. (Actually, I think the other "Tales Of" games do that too...)

Also, Person 3 + 4 are worth a look if you get them...

 

[MammothBlade]

If you have a PS2 Persona 3+4 are really good. Just stay reaaaaaally far away from Eternal Sonata.
EDIT: Just saw you said Magna Carta 2. From what I've seen from a Let's Play, the story and characters are incredibly dumb and bad and awful and I hate them. The combat system seems okay.

Seconding this, whilst disagreeing with the bit I crossed out.

Try to get the FES version of Persona 3. Final Fantasy X is also great.

 

[DanielBrown]

Only played FFXIII out of those, and I don't really recomend it.
Get your hands on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. JRPG made to look like a WRPG.