RPGs for the DS?

Jan 27, 2011
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Well you picked the right system. There's plenty.

Good on you picking up Chrono Trigger. That game is a LEGEND among super nintendo RPGS. It shares the top spot of my favourite JRPGs of all time list with The World ends with you, and for good reason. :)

The World Ends With You - (It's not your traditional turn based JRPG. But it's quite possibly the best JRPG I've ever played. Amazing story, amazing battle system, just all around incredible)

Final Fantasy 4 - Great remake of a classic

Infinite space - It's a pretty good space-themed RPG, still working my way through it.

Sands of Destruction - Ok, it's not fantastic, but it's still fun to play. The story handles the transition from lighthearted to serious pretty damn well. There was a point where I said "Man it would be awesome if THIS happened, but there is no way they would ever consider doing that"...AND THEN THE GAME DID IT and blew my mind.

Radiant historia - An excellent game about time travel and crossing timelines...even if the way the time travel works is a bit fridge logic-y. Also, switching from one timeline to another never stops being jarring. But I'd still recommend it.

Devil survivor - Ok, it's kinda a fusion of JRPG with some turn based tactics and pokemon thrown in, but it still counts IMO. Absolutely worth playing. The gameplay is fantastic, and the story is freaking great. PLAY IT.

Etrian oddessey series - It's JRPG meets oldschool dungeon crawler. Basically, you have a giantass labyrinth to explore, and you make your own party of custom characters to explore it. The story is usually not amazing in these games, but it's still enough to keep you interested. The hard-as-nails gameplay is where the appeal is.
-The First game is alright, but nothing too special (aside from the big twist at the final stratum that blew my freakin mind). The second is way better, the third is better still, and the 4rth one (the first 3DS one) is apparently (according to my buddy) incredible.

Magical Starsign - I...have trouble reccomending this. The gameplay is really fun, and the story begins as a really awesome and fun lighthearted romp through the stars with a gang of fun friends, but then the story decides that about halfway through it'll become depressing for no good reason, and ended in a way that made me go "WHAT?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! COME ON WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL THIS THEN?!". I'm serious about the depressing part. They do stuff for the sake of drama in the second half that was so out of nowhere and so poorly done and so out of place that it made me VERY MAD.

Black sigil blade of the exiled: It's...kinda like chrono trigger, but not really...It's pretty good, but VERY VERY VERY oldschool in design. It's definitely flawed (especially the insanely high encounter rate). That said, if you can find a copy (It's rare as hell, last I heard, they made REALLY few copies), it's worth playing if you want something along the lines of Chrono Trigger, but not as good.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn: It's not bad, but...It's WAY too easy, even by Golden Sun standards. And the story, is...well..I'm 4 hours in, and I've since saved an ancient people, worked as a mercenary, fought some ancient sealed spirits in a crystal and opened up a skybridge machine...And all of this was totally incidental. I'm just trying to find this stupid feather to repair a hang-glider another character broke. >_> Basically, I don't feel like I have a worthy goal to pursue at all that's worth all this incidental saving people stuff.

Super robot wars endless frontier: I never finished this game because I wound up losing the cartridge, but...Well, it was kinda weird. The story was wacked out as hell (with funny/silly internet style non-sequitur humor), crossing over with Namco X capcom, and had a very bizzarre battle system involving keeping enemies stuck in the air with combos of attacks. But it was still pretty good, I guess.

There's also a good chunk of turn based strategy games (like Valkyrie profile covenant of the plume, which is amazing btw).

Oh, and AVOID SONIC CHRONICLES LIKE THE PLAGUE. That game was atrocious. It felt like something slapped together over the weekend. I made a game in 2 weeks that beats the crap out of that game in story, gameplay, look, and sound without even trying! >_<

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. There are probably others I missed.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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OH!!!

And I left out:
Mario and luigi Bowser's inside story - THIS GAME IS AMAZING. The story is fun, the combat is fun, and you get to see that cool side of bowser you rarely ever see. :D DEFINITELY worth it!

EDIT: Oh and if you love grinding, Dragon Quest Monsters JOKER is pretty good.

EDIT 2: If you like Ragnarok Online at all, try playing Contact. It's sorta the same gameplay, and it's pretty good too.
 

Eliwood10

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Feb 4, 2013
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Like others have said, anything Pokemon is good. I'd also recommend the Mystery Dungeon games if you like dungeon crawlers.
I'm personally very fond of the Final Fantasy III and IV remakes.
Both Mario and Luigi RPGs are great.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but only if you're already a KH fan. That game is bizarre even by that series standards.
Fire Emblem: Awakening is a fantastic turn-based strategy RPG

And, I cannot stress this enough, you MUST play The World Ends With You. It is one of the best JRPGs ever made. Fantastic story and a brilliant and challenging combat system. PLAY IT.
 

Anthony Wells

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May 28, 2011
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Nostalgia..get it. Be warned its it a pretty simple jrpg. bbut its fun...it has a nicely told story with a few twists here and there. Overall i really enjoyed playing it when i had it (i need to pick it up again).




Edit: to clarify on being simple...it is very easy. but i played it for the unique concepts and well told story. I only recommend it if you like games that have a good story and interesting mechanics over difficult fights and battles
 

McMarbles

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May 7, 2009
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I almost forgot about Black Sigil. It was pretty good, though buggy as all heck and very easy to break. And when I say "easy to break", I mean there's an infinite money exploit AND a store that sells stat-increasing items.
 

Corinthian

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Apr 7, 2013
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Thanks again for all the replies.

Pretty jazzed right now. Just got back from Gamestop (I know, I know) where I picked up copies of FFIV DS and Nostalgia for less than $20.

Never heard of Black Sigil but I'll keep my eye out. Right now, looking for a copy of Radiant Historia that isn't too crazy expensive.
 

ModReap

Gatekeeper
Apr 3, 2008
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Do yourself a favor and grab The World Ends With You and 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors.

Yes I know 999 isn't really an RPG.

I also don't care.

This is for your own good.
 

Corinthian

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Apr 7, 2013
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The World Ends With You looks really, really cool.

However, reading about the combat... yeesh. Stupid question, but any lefties have any issues with it?
 

ItsNotRudy

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Mar 11, 2013
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ModReap said:
Do yourself a favor and grab The World Ends With You and 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors.

Yes I know 999 isn't really an RPG.

I also don't care.

This is for your own good.
Personally I think TWEWY is rather overrated and more praised for it's style than solid gameplay. When you get over the cool animu graphics and novelty of controlling 2 characters at once, it's not that great. Narration so-so, actual battle mechanics so-so. I gave the game an honest shot but after a few hours it just felt so repetitive.
 

EstrogenicMuscle

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Sep 7, 2012
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Well, I was going to advise Dragon Quest IX, but it seems you already have it.

If you have a Nintendo 3DS, definitely go after Tales of the Abyss. It isn't quite as good as Tales of Symphonia, but it is still a great game with lots of content and story. You can put a lot of hours into that game. And it has an addictive combat system and good pacing.

The main character, Luke, is obnoxious. And you may want to yell at the characters for being so secretive and causing a lot of problems by just not opening their mouths when they ought. But if you can get past that, it is a really endearing game with a lot of good stuff to do worth replaying several times.

Like most Tales games, it has a New Game+ and a very good one. New Game+ has additional content and to do everything will take several playthroughs. Also, on the harder difficulties are some tough as nails bosses that are a lot of fun. Tales of the Abyss does not want for challenge or content as long as you are willing to put the game on harder settings. Also some content is limited to those who best the game on harder difficulties.
 

TakeyB0y2

A Mistake
Jun 24, 2011
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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers just came out last week.

There's also Devil Survivor: Overclocked, and an enhanced port of Devil Summoner 2 will be coming out soon, as will Shin Megami Tensei IV.
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

RIP Eleuthera, I will miss you
Nov 9, 2010
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Anthony Wells said:
Nostalgia..get it. Be warned its it a pretty simple jrpg. bbut its fun...it has a nicely told story with a few twists here and there. Overall i really enjoyed playing it when i had it (i need to pick it up again).




Edit: to clarify on being simple...it is very easy. but i played it for the unique concepts and well told story. I only recommend it if you like games that have a good story and interesting mechanics over difficult fights and battles
I agree with everything you say there! :p Did you find though, that there was possibly too much combat in the dungeons... sometimes only letting you run 1-2 paces before you had another 'mash a to win' fight?

Magic wise, apart from the attack buffs, I only used it to make fights more interesting... It was also kinda annoying that the 'harder' boss fights were not really extra challenge... they were just longer!

The airship fights were good though... and they had a bit of challenge when you were trying to transition to a new height level! (Some of the highest level fights you still have to run away from until the very end!)
 

TheEvilCheese

Cheesey.
Dec 16, 2008
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Corinthian said:
The World Ends With You looks really, really cool.

However, reading about the combat... yeesh. Stupid question, but any lefties have any issues with it?
Not a lefty myself, but the majority of control is stylus-on-screen. The controls are symmetrical (ABXY do the same as the D-Pad). The worst of it is probably menu placements favoring right handers, but that's a pretty small gripe to be honest.

I'm another vote for trying TWEWY, it's really not for everyone but if you enjoy it you'll be blown away.

Good choices so far, pokémon is my go-to recommendation (of course) Black and White probably being the best place to jump into the series. Chrono trigger, the FF remakes... DQ9, the mario RPGs...

There's a lot of note on the ds / 3ds. I'd be all for fire emblem awakening, but if you don't enjoy the gameplay it's not worth powering through.
 
Jan 27, 2011
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Corinthian said:
The World Ends With You looks really, really cool.

However, reading about the combat... yeesh. Stupid question, but any lefties have any issues with it?
:p I'm a lefty and I had no issues at all. They made sure we southpaws were accounted for.

The only difference is you have to use the ABXY buttons to combo with the top screen character instead of the Dpad.

Honestly, you need to pick it up. Like, pronto. It's incredible.
 

PedroSteckecilo

Mexican Fugitive
Feb 7, 2008
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Alrighty...

1)Radiant Historia: This is flat out one of the best RPG's for the DS/3DS... whatever, it's a well made, plot filled, exciting RPG that recalls the best of the SNES/PS1 era.

2)The World Ends With You: A unique action RPG from Square with some bonkers as hell plot developments and a battle system that is as crazy as it is entertaining. Highly recommended.

3)SMT: Devil Survivor A weird cross over of traditional RPG and Tactical RPG (More tactical than Trad at the end of the day) with a really cool plot. Only down side is that this sucker is HARD.

4)Bowsers Inside Story This game is pretty gawdem amazing, it lacks a little on punchiness of plot but it makes up for that in hilarity. Also the gameplay is amazing, both as The Mario Bro's and as Bowser himself, especially when you get to grow to giant size and fight equally massive enemies in Kaiju style battles...

5)Suikoden: Tierkries: A fun game that tries to capture the Suikoden Vibe in handheld form. It doesn't entirely succeed but it has a pretty interesting plot and some fun characters, the downside is that it is very easy (which you can offset by never purchasing healing items... which is what I did).

6)Infinite Space: If you can find it this is a really neat Space Opera RPG and utterly unlike anything else on any platform to be honest.

Anyway, that's what I've got for you!
 
Jan 1, 2013
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I couldn't stand the battle system in TWEWY. Dividing my attention between the two screens would only ever work in turn-based combat. In action combat it's just a terrible game experience. I also advise against it.