I have to disagree with Axarle and OldSkool, I personally think that there's been a great deal of good RPG's out, there's some pretty good games out there right now. Not to say I don't enjoy the previous age of the PSX's reign, wait,
supreme reign over the RPG coliseum when compared to the N64 or anything Nintendo was dishing out at that current time (how I long that I had found RPG's sooner..*sigh* the golden age of the SNES is gone).
I was a Nintendo fan for a good while, but pretty much forced me to buy a PSX..or my parents too for any high quality games I could get into. Nintendo's GCN has been a downer for the RPG fan for the most part, the N64 was worse however, remember Quest 64? Oh, wait, what about Aidyn Chronicles?
*shiver*
No, I think this generation is doing fairly well. The Nintendo thing...well I can hope that they do a little bit better, pray more like it. Heh, but personally I think they'll get back into the beat of RPG games. They already have, that's why I have GBA and an SP I didn't even ask for but glad I did..d**n GBA screen getting scratched up.
Anyway, there's tons of good RPG's for PS2 and the GBA..or at least a good many. Arc The Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, Breath Of Fire V (5): Dragon Quarter, Kingdom Hearts could be considered iffy, but it's medicore at least. FFX-2 was one of the most fun times, I mean, the most fun time I've had with a Final Fantasy game (it's pretty much as hollow as Micheal Jackson's nose has plastic perhaps, but it's good time while it lasts..for the most part anyway) FFX, Grandia 2 was ported to the console, althougth I heard Grandia X had some bugs with it like the characters flashing white, but when I played it on the Dreamcast it was an incredibly
downright entertaining experience, now, with it's prequel..I can't say much about that, heard it was good after I played Grandia 2..wasn't much.
Xenosaga can please those who don't compare it to Xenogears mercilessly and have a good sense of patience at some points.
I have a personal stigma for the .Hack series, but I played about 3 minutes of the second installment, and consider the first so terrible and the worst present I could have asked myself to get for my birthday...or at least a downer. I love that intro though, I'll probably finish the series just to figure out the story, as much as I hate to admit it, it does interest me greatly.
Oh, there's Disgaea, and La Pucille Tactics of course for those who prefer some of the stragety/RPG hybrids, although I still havent' touched that former..or is that latter? I mean La Pucille Tactics anyway, the point is, I don't see how this generation is letting the RPG gamer down, now, the XBox has some problems with it, I'll admit that, but my Dad got it for 70 bucks from a soldier in Iraq which is a pretty decent deal for one of them, and Fable looks like it may help the stranded console..that XBox needs some RPG's.
I guess it all depends on...what kind of RPG a gamer's attracted too. I personally don't care, although I'm rather susceptible to the good kind. Even more so to the great, more engaging ones.
Traditional, RPG/Stragety, there's a good amount of RPG's out there that I still haven't mentioned...most for the PS2, but that seems to be common knowledge at least for me. Star Ocean 3 is coming out soon, Galerians: Ash is almost emptied out of my mind out of the trying experience it dared me to push through, I didn't even mention Suikoden 3...maybe that's for the best j/k. It's a pretty good game, Front Mission 4's been out since June 16th, and based on the previous installments (Front Mission was really good, Front Mission 3 was highly enjoyable, although I finished neither, and in the case of the the..latter[?] there's a bit too little focuse on character development, especially as some come late in the final stages, and it all seems to deviate as another reason to finish the mission, it has plenty of moments, however) it's going to be great. Don't qoute me on that, hope I don't jinx the game. Ring Of Red is another RPG/strategy game that caught my eye..though I
still haven't played it.
*sigh*
The XBox is currently the RPG gamer's desert when I bring it into comparison to other systems; mainly, the PS2 and GBA. I could count the Dreamcast, but the Evolution series, at least the second one which I played, are a tad less than stellar, Timesplitters, or whatever that RPG for the system was, didn't care much around. Skies Of Arcadia was ported to the GCN so I can't count that either..ah well.
It needs some work, some life, to me at least, the GCN. My dad told me everyone, well, lots of people at PS2's and XBox's over there in Iraq, he didn't say squat about the Gamecube, and when I brought it up, he said that it was nothing. Of course, they usually played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, at least his superiors did, but I didn't exactly expect them to be playing some RPG's, did you?
It's kind of ironic to me anyway..playing GTA, over there. Not really..kind of funny, not "haha" but clever..maybe a bit of "haha", like ChibiGoku "haha"...or something.
That was mean.
Whatever, ya get my point? Golden Sun's decent enough, from what I played, and it's sequel I heard was good..too bad the final boss's secret was ruined for me..by me. Ugh, Tactic's Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis, Sword Of Mana, Fire Emblem, that semi-poor or somewhat good port of Phantasy Star games (Phantasy Star Collection) that came out I've been hearing about, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Shining Force: Resurrection Of The Dark Dragon, and...to tell you the truth, that Harry Potter RPG isn't entirely bad from what I've seen. The Shining Soul series is out there too, although not too many kind words about have been read by my eyes, or fell upon my ears.
I'll leave the rest to you, but I think there's a good cropping of games for the systems, and more coming, with that Final Fantasy 1 and 2 expansion coming to GBA I'll finally be able to play both of them...although they don't really seem really great or anything, and...I read a bit too much on those too.
Whew, I'm done.
P.S. Uh..to be on topic, Tales of Symphonia is coming to the PS2, that's only in Japan if someone was talking about that, and yeah, it seems pretty good. Too bad I don't have a Gamecube, and don't plan on getting one perhaps..maybe later. Oh, CIMA: The Enemy I hear is good for GBA as well.
