Older RPGs You Like (That Aren't FF or DQ)

[unfilteredJW]

Xenogears to this day is probably my favorite of the JRPGs. Convoluted anime story + best combat in a JRPG.

Oh, and Lunar. I rented it for the Sega CD, then bought it I'm pretty sure on 3 other systems over the years. Story is standard but perfectly so. Plus, seeing those animated scenes as a child for the first time blew me away.

And, last but not least, Secret of Mana. I had played Adventures on GB, and this took it not only to the next level, but I got to play the whole thing with my best friend at the time.

[Kazlofski]

Grandia 2!

[babalou1]

Lufia
Lufia 2
Secret of Mana

Edit: Ogre Battle, Vandal Hearts, Vagrant Story

[Docturphil]

I'm glad someone else mentioned Golden Sun before I did. It has a special place in my heart for being one of the first RPG I've played. Of course young me wasn't so good at the game. I never did beat it as a kid, because my brother'd dog chewed my game cartridge

Damn, that sucks. You should fire up a GBA emulator and go through them.

But yeah the first two Golden Sun games are pretty underrated IMO. Especially the 2nd one.

[Kontinuum]

Gothic 1, 2 and maybe 3.

[Revik]

I'll mention a few:
Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (Absolutely great game!)
Tactics Ogre
Ultima 7
Legacy of Cain: Soul Reaver
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Greatest RPG expansion ever)

[Deleted]

Stonekeep
Falout 1, 2
Might and Magic VI, VII
Baldur's Gate series
Icewind Dale
Planescape Torment
Dungeon Siege 1,2
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Jade Empire
Neverwinter Nights 1, 2
Divine Divinity
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion

[Gallahadd]

Shadow Hearts Covenant is easily one of my favorite games of all time. The cast of characters, the story, the world, the combat system. All of them were incredibly well done. Let's not forget about a lot of those bosses that were tough as nails and fun to fight.

I thought From the New World was a decent game. It's just the fact that I played Covenant before that mad it impossible for that game to live up to my expectations.

Indeed, I think one of my favourite things about the characters were they managed to totally avoid ANY kind of stereotype. In a world where the most popular RPG Franchise was Final Fantasy, with it's bishy haunted protagonists, sexy female best friends and quite strongment, along came this insane game with a protagonist who was a perfect example of an antihero and was the polar opposite of anything we'd seen to date, a female lead who was more than just a girl next door romance subplot, and a vampire Lucador who used stuff he found by the side of the road as a weapon...

How can you hate that?

Then each of this bizarre cast of characters had a unique subquest, in order to power them up. Whether it was Blanca's Wolf Battles, Gepetto's "Man Cards" or Joachim's wrestling bouts (tower of curry anyone?) it never felt grindy trying to get everyone's skills maxed out, because it was all done in such strange and different ways.

Man, they NEED to release an HD remake of that game. I know it's impossible because the studio shut down.... But I want it!

And yeah, From the New World wasn't BAD, it was just... Alright. I think the problem was it was just a little TOO similar to Covenant, but could never hope to match up.

Shania was fine AF though.

[zealo]

While KoA:R as recommended isn't necessarily a bad rpg, it also plays whole lot like an offline mmo in its world and story progression. Be wary of that as it's absolutely not to everyone's taste.

For less conventional "rpg" games you could also try stuff like Rune Factory 4, can be emulated if you don't have a 3ds. It's a harvest moon type farming game, but it also has an absolutely phenomenal action rpg with combat, stats, magic, armour and weapons, crafting, dungeons to do, the whole thing, essentially the whole thing bolted onto the side of it with some fantastic progression pacing.

[Jyggalag]

Pokemon gen 1 /thread

[Wrecktangle]

I've been in sort of a gaming slump lately and was thinking of older RPGs I enjoy playing that could get me in the groove again. I am leaving Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games off the list because I have played them to death. This (and your contributions) is a short list of games that I have been thinking of jump starting my love of games again.

Reckoning: Kingdoms of Amalur (PS3)
Wild Arms (PS1)
Legend of Legaia (PS1)
Phantasy Star IV (Genesis/PS3)
Witcher 3 (PC, don't have but have been thinking of getting)

Any other (old) RPGs you recommend?

Tell me a little bit about what you like about games? Is it overall story? Is it combat? Is it well developed characters? What's your favorite console? Does a world map matter to you? You mentioned you get bored of games and lose interest, is there a specific length of time you like a game to be (i.e. 30 hours, 60 hours 100 hours, etc.)?

Tell me what about FF tires you. I have about a half a million I can recommend, but I want to get a good idea for what you're looking for. I might just help find a gem you never knew about.

[Jester Joe]

Golden Sun/Golden Sun: The Lost Age were both amazing, along with Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga.

Top goes to Tales of Symphonia though.

Persona 3 probably also worth mentioning.

[Velshin]

1-Chrono Trigger
2-Breath of Fire III
3-Suikoden I & II
4-Star Ocean till the end of time
5-Grandia I
6-Legend of Dragoon
7-Phantasy Star II & IV
8-Xenogears

[JoshuaNLG]

Dark Cloud on PS2 is pretty cool, it's rather unique.

[Gaaz]

Older ones (not in any particular order):
Best story in video game industry (a strong contender at the very least) - Planescape: Torment
Neverwinter Nights 1-2 - huge, very detailed world, excellent story.
Baldur's Gate 1-2 - epic as well
Icewind Dale 1-2 - not up to par on the above, but very decent nevertheless
Fallout 1-2 - genre defining, excellent games
Knights of the old Republic 2 - good story for a SW game.
Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines - very immersive and detailed, multiple solutions game

Not too old, but can be run on very weak systems (if that is your concern):
Shadowrun Returns (epic story) and Shadowrun Hong Kong
Pillars of Eternity (story and action, classic BG style)
The Elder Scrolls 3-4-5-Skyrim
Mass Effect series
Witcher 3 - one of the best RPGs of all time. But you do need a good PC to play it properly.
Divinity: Original Sin

[l33t]

In the order of epicness, from best to worst:

Planescape: Torment
Fallout 2
Fallout 1
Baldur's gate 1
Baldur's gate 2
Gothic 2
Star Wars Knights of the old Republic
Gothic 1
Masss effect
Mass Effect 2
Fable
Jade Empire

[tehealadin]

If you can get them, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Shadow Hearts 2, both for PS2, awesome JRPG's.

[GennGreymane]

Paper Mario and TTYD

[Tulune]

Gothic 2, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Xenogears, Baldur's Gate 2.

[TheWorkingTitle]

I'll try and list some that others haven't said.

Golden Sun 1/2 (GBA)
Runescape Classic (PC)
Pristontale (PC)
Tibia (PC)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GBA)
Spyro the Dragon series (Ps1/2)
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (Xbox)
Treasures of the Deep (Ps1)
Silent Hill (Ps1)
Resident Evil 2 (Ps1)