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What well established RPG series do you keep meaning to jump into?

What well established RPG series have you been intending to try but haven't gotten around to yet?

  • Final Fantasy

    Votes: 12 6.7%

  • Dragon Quest

    Votes: 47 26.1%

  • Kingdom Hearts

    Votes: 16 8.9%

  • The Witcher

    Votes: 26 14.4%

  • Yakuza

    Votes: 33 18.3%

  • Ys

    Votes: 30 16.7%

  • Shin Megami Tensei / Persona

    Votes: 16 8.9%
  • Total voters
    180
CannonFodder52

CannonFodder52

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,007
Canada
I find myself always wanting to try a variety of games from established franchises that I haven't yet experienced, but often the really long-running stuff can be off putting and lead to procrastination. How about y'all? Has anything been catching your eye, but you just haven't felt like jumping in yet?

The one that's been coming to mind a lot for me recently is The Legend of Heroes, with either the Trails in the Sky or Cold Steel games. They seem incredibly time consuming to really get into, but even still I've had the intention of trying them for a while now.

I kept the poll to RPGS with ongoing releases, but obviously feel free to post whatever is on your mind.
Here are some other RPG franchises that would be in a larger poll:
-The Elder Scrolls
-Fallout
-Atelier
-The Legend of Heroes
-Tales
-Xeno / Xenoblade
-Tales
-Phantasy Star
-Suikoden
-Fire Emblem
-Pokemon
-Divinity
-Etrian Odyssey
-Breath of Fire
-Shadowrun
-Dark Souls
-Sakura Wars
-Lots more stuff
 
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GamerJM

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,627
Ys/Legend of Heroes for me as well. It's a really daunting franchise to get into, there are so many games and some of them seem hella long.
 
@TheFriendlyBro

@TheFriendlyBro

IGN - Video Producer and Editor
Verified
Aug 1, 2019
562
I would like to get into Kingdom Hearts but the series seems to have a million entries on fifty different platforms.
 
PhillyCheeseHorse

PhillyCheeseHorse

Member
Dec 18, 2017
356
I read that initially as a Junji Ito RPG and I nearly yelled. But as for the question, I've always wanted to dive into a Dragon Quest, but they're all so long. I don't think I've had enough time for one since late primary school.
 
Edgar

Edgar

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
7,180
Kingdom hearts , but like theres multiple versions for each game , so idk .
 
cainhxrst

cainhxrst

Member
Nov 10, 2018
1,380
Tales and FF. I've played games from each franchise but I've been meaning to fully dive into them lately. FF is kinda intimidating because it's hard to choose a game when for the most part they're all well received yet wildly different
 
genjiZERO

genjiZERO

Banned
Jan 27, 2019
835
Richmond
Phantasy Star

Never got around to playing it (because I had a Nintendo back in the day). I've always wondered how it's held up.
 
selo

selo

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,108
Never owned a sony console, so... persona. Hoping these come to PC sometime soon
 
touchfuzzy

touchfuzzy

Banned
Jul 27, 2019
1,706
Syril said:
Dragon Quest V is a very reasonable 30ish hours.
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I just recently finished the stories in DQIX (30 hours) and DQVIII (38 hours). Pretty reasonable length for games.

Now if you want to get in to all the side/post-game content in those and 100% them it grows quite a bit, but I think you can say that about a lot of games. The stories in DQ aren't crazy long.
 
mnk

mnk

Member
Nov 11, 2017
6,333
I keep meaning to play more Tales games. I've played Abyss and Xillia, and I own Xillia 2 and Graces f. I also plan to get Vesperia on Switch. Plus there's Berseria on PS4.

But for the purposes of the poll, I voted Witcher. I plan to pick up 3 on Switch, but I don't really have any interest in trying the first two. I also want to get Yakuza 7, but again I don't really have much interest in the older entries.
 
affeinvasion

affeinvasion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,951
Dragon Quest seems like the most likely answer given that it is a well-regarded classic series that just never had much of a presence in the West until somewhat recently. For me the answer would be Earthbound and then probably the Suikoden series.
 
Joltik

Joltik

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,762
I've tried at least one entry from every franchise on that list, except The Witcher and Yakuza. I've been meaning to try both, but I already have a loaded backlog and not enough time. Also included in this wishlist:
--Fire Emblem
--Divinity
--Diablo
--Atelier
--Etrian Odyssey
--Planescape Torment
--Shadowrun
--maybe Civilization
--maybe Dark Souls
--some others that are in my Steam library that I can't recall at the moment
 
KomandaHeck

KomandaHeck

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,353
I own Persona 3 FES and 4 Golden but have yet to play them.

I'd like to try Dragon Quest as well. V, VIII and XI sound like the ones I'd enjoy most, the first two are expensive to get for my 3DS though so haven't gone for it yet.

I've played several Final Fantasy's but still want to try XII and play beyond the opening of IX at some point too.
 
RKasa

RKasa

Member
Jul 28, 2019
680
New Jersey
The big ones for me are Phantasy Star, PoPoLoCrois, and Yakuza. I currently have a game from each series in my backlog.
 
Hucast

Hucast

alt account
Banned
Mar 25, 2019
3,598
Jumped on Ys for the first time recently with Ys 8. Incredible game. It's the type of game where you think you kinda like it untill you finish it and move on and remember it even more fondly. Just an allround great game

Answer to the thread is witcher tho
 
Cerulean_skylark

Cerulean_skylark

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,408
I really really would like to hear some arguments why Yakuza is an "RPG" series and what people actually think that definition means, aside from the Upcoming Yakuza RPG. What about a free-roaming beat-em up with a levelup mechanic is RPG? Why doesn't God of War qualify as an established RPG when Yakuza does?

To the actual question. The Atelier series. They seem very cute and chill but i am just inundated with quality games atm.
 
TheMrPliskin

TheMrPliskin

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,564
Of the ones listed in the OP, Dragon Quest and SMT. With DQ I've already played 8 and 11, I'd just really like to dig into the series some more.

SMT I'm mainly interested in the spin offs. I already own a number of them, just need to find the time.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,229
I've played at least one entry of all the series in the poll apart from Kingdom Hearts and Ys, neither of which interest me all that much. Two series I've unfortunately not yet really played (enough of) are Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate, however. I'd really like to dig into those eventually.
 
lumzi23

lumzi23

Member
Jan 16, 2018
315
Between Yakuza and Persona/Shin Megami, I want to play the latter more so I chose that.

I am only mildly interested in Ys and don't want to play Kingdom Hearts at all. I have tried (and even loved) some games from the others.
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,164
Of these, Dragon Quest. I got 8 and 11 on sale, still haven't touched them.

I would say Tales but I've already played Berseria so I've kinda already started.

There's also Final Fantasy which is a weird one for me because 7 and 9 are two of my favorite games ever but I've been kinda overwhelmed trying to get to the rest. I'll probably start X soon though.
 
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mclem

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,454
I have played at least one title in all of the series in the poll; my answers would be more along the lines of:

The Bard's Tale
Divinity
Maybe Deus Ex, if you overlook that I have played through the intro mission of the first game once.
Maybe The Legend of Heroes, depending on whether you count having played Faxanadu and Xanadu Next as counting as part of the broader series or not.
 
Thrill_house

Thrill_house

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,617
Ys. Played and loved pretty much everything else on your list. Only played the old Ys and just couldn't get into the bump combat. I know the series is better now, just haven't had the time. Someone want to sell me on it lol?
 
Kuroyume

Kuroyume

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,910
I really want to jump into Persona. Love the visuals and music I've seen on Youtube, but I don't know where to begin.
 
Chaosblade

Chaosblade

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,596
Trails games really aren't difficult to get into provided 1) they are actually for you, and 2) you play on PC/PS4.

The Trails games definitely aren't for everyone, they are mostly slower paced games that emphasize worldbuilding and character development at the cost of a "hype" story. Of course all the build up makes it that much better when shit does go down, it just takes longer for that to happen than with the average RPG.

And the PC/PS4 versions have turbo so you can speed the games up. Especially helpful in Sky since the combat animations are so slow and not skippable, but also good for Cold Steel's academy exploration segments. Can reduce the length of the games quite a bit that way, making the Sky games somewhat on the shorter side for RPGs and Cold Steel closer to average rather than really long.


And Ys is super easy to get into, because you can start nearly anywhere. Ys II is the only real exception, because it's essentially Ys 1 part 2. All the games take place in the same world and have worldbuilding connections but the only stories that directly tie together are 1, 2, and Origin. The older games are also pretty short, but Seven, Celceta, and VIII aren't.
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,164
Kuroyume said:
I really want to jump into Persona. Love the visuals and music I've seen on Youtube, but I don't know where to begin.
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4 or 5 is fine to start with. 3 is great but Tartarus is not very welcoming to newcomers imo. You have to have the stomach for hours upon hours of visually repetitive dungeon crawling.
 
Dogui

Dogui

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,807
Brazil
Want to play Yakuza stuff eventually. Also kinda want to play all the Witcher games to compare them, if 3 is that better than the other 2 or if it's just marketing power.

CannonFodder52 said:
The one that's been coming to mind a lot for me recently is The Legend of Heroes, with either the Trails in the Sky or Cold Steel games. They seem incredibly time consuming to really get into, but even still I've had the intention of trying them for a while now.
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Would recommend to begin with Trails in the Sky and play the games in the right order all the way through Cold Steel IV (That will eventually release in the west, maybe?), including Zero and Ao. I doubt the games would be nearly as enjoyable if you skip series or don't plan to play everything. They're like lego pieces, the magic simply doesn't work alone imho. They're probably more time consuming than you would imagine, it's kinda complicated to have access to some of the games and the first one is always boring in the beginning since it's the first piece, but it's really worth it, assuming you have the patience and all.
 
VISION

VISION

Member
Oct 25, 2017
988
Shin Megami Tensei
Ys
Legend of Heroes
Dragon Quest (I've played a couple but never beat one)
Bravely Default
Terranigma/Illusion of Gaia/Soul Blazer
Mario RPGs

I've been working through the mainline Final Fantasy games for a while.
 
BasilZero

BasilZero

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
36,343
Omni
The Witcher series and Dragon Age western wise


JRPG wise....Atelier series, Suikoden, and SMT Original (not including Persona).


Ys and Legend of Heroes I have started on both series recently.
 
lightning16

lightning16

Member
May 17, 2019
1,763
I have every intention of getting into the Ys series at some point, but I'm not entirely sure when it'll happen. Keep waiting on a good sale for Ys 8, but maybe I'll go back and start with an earlier one idk. I'm under the impression it doesn't matter much for this series where you start. Maybe I'm wrong.

The rest I've already at least tried (The Witcher, Persona/SMT), already like well enough (Final Fantasy, Yakuza), or have no intention of ever getting into (Kingdom Hearts). I'll be giving Dragon Quest a whirl this month when XI S arrives in the mail.

Some others I plan on getting into that aren't on the poll are Suikoden and Breath of Fire. Suikoden I'm especially excited to try since I've heard nothing but good things about the series. I also plan to try out a SaGa game when those localizations come later this year.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,946
Cerulean_skylark said:
I really really would like to hear some arguments why Yakuza is an "RPG" series and what people actually think that definition means, aside from the Upcoming Yakuza RPG. What about a free-roaming beat-em up with a levelup mechanic is RPG? Why doesn't God of War qualify as an established RPG when Yakuza does?

To the actual question. The Atelier series. They seem very cute and chill but i am just inundated with quality games atm.
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It has pretty much everything in common with Ys, Tales, and Kingdom Hearts. It's an action RPG with random enemy encounters, boss fights, a leveling system, equipment, and a heavy focus on the story and side quests.

Unlike a brawler, the main selling point of Yakuza really isn't the combat so much as the story, side quests, mini-games, and tourism simulator.

I'm generally of the mindset that the "RPG" definition should be broadened to include things like Assassins Creed though.
 
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