Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

A forum for non-Suikoden games.
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Lemmy Claypool
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Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Lemmy Claypool »

In my ever-expanding quest for RPGs, these kinds of games are always the hardest to uncover if you aren't already aware of them to some extent. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the scene regardless until I literally just found out about Rogue Galaxy, which was apparently a pretty big deal that I'd never even heard of before.

So now I'm wondering if any of you can recommend, or would simply like to discuss, any great standalone RPGs that are yet to receive a sequel, prequel or spinoff.

I'm mostly talking about the PSX/PS2 eras, as they seem to have the biggest selections of lesser-known RPGs (RPGs in general I guess) but I'm interested in hearing about/discussing any.

To get the ball rolling, I recently started playing Lost Odyssey for the first time and I'm pretty impressed with it so far (I think I'm about 3/4 of the way through Disc 1). It seems very much like it could have been the next Final Fantasy after X I think. Feels to me like a bit of a spiritual successor. I also love reading Kaim's memories; these are a novel idea (no pun intended) and are very well written. A great relaxing excursion from the main game.

I also played the first 5 minutes of Enchanted Arms on Friday night and the battle system really seems like something I could get on with. Reminds me of Koudelka, which is never a bad thing. I had intended to play more but I fell asleep. Controller in hand, game still playing, sat bolt upright - fast asleep. Not a reflection on the game mind, I had just had a frightfully busy week.
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Hirathien
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Hirathien »

One game that always comes to mind is Legend of the Dragoon. It was THE first game where I heard voice-overs. It was in the normal battles, in videos and by god, did they look nice for their time. The game was in no way easy (or so I thought at the time, anyway) since in the battles you had to time your attacks to do a follow-up. Some attacks only had one extra attack while some others had as many as five additional attacks to be able to launch a special attack. The main character (Dart) started with his Double Slash (executed by timing the X button when a Square goes all white) and he'd do the extra attack and yell out "Double Slash!" and that was it.

Those attacks could be leveled by using them a set amount of times, granted I only got Double Slash and Volcano up to their maximum levels and it seems like it only increased the damage they caused.

Another interesting thing is that there's the Dragoon part. Where you use the soul of a Dragon or something, don't remember entirely. And transform into a Dragoon, a dragon knight of sorts. This changes what your character can do and you get a few other neat effects. Dart as an example is a fire Dragoon. There's different elements and all that.


Don't wanna rant on too much, especially not from memory but yeah, that game deserves a mention because I don't find fans of that game too often, but those I do find, speak nothing but good things of it.
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Lemmy Claypool
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Lemmy Claypool »

That's one that I'm keen to play too, I actually asked for it for Christmas haha. Didn't get it, unsurprisingly. Glad it's coming recommended though, I hadn't read up on it too much.
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patapi
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by patapi »

I don't know about lesser known titles, but some non-franchise titles that I've enjoyed from those eras:

1) Radiata Stories: So many characters to recruit, but too bad that in a Tri-Ace title with their signature battle system, you don't get to control anyone else but the main character. The main plot could have been better though, but that's unfortunately par for the course for Tri-Ace.

2) Saiyuki: It's a tactics-style title, but if you're looking for Tactics Ogre/Nippon Ichi equivalent, then maybe it's not for you? Otherwise, it wasn't a title that took itself too seriously, but still fun in its own right. Of course, I do have a personal bias towards gaming interpretation of these Chinese classics. See Suikoden.

3) Eternal Poison: Another tactics-style title that does NOT emphasise customisation-cum-grinding. The multiple viewpoint story approach is reminiscent of Suikoden III/Shining Force III. I didn't particularly care for the monster summoning mechanics though.
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Oppenheimer »

I found Enchanted arms to be fun. I had made a thread about it here:
http://www.suikosource.com/phpBB3/viewt ... 62&t=11378
Antimatzist
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Antimatzist »

Yeah, Legend of Dragoon is maybe the best example of a good RPG that never got a sequel.

I can't think of any, so I'll throw in Azure Dreams. It's a PSX game and went a bit on the Pokemon-train. You have to climb a tower infested of monsters which you could catch. Later you could also breed them and you could expand the town if my memory is right (I don't own it and borrowed it from a friend years ago). Also, it's a franchise, but with only two other games: A Gameboy Color game, which was more or less a "port" of the PSX version (inferior in many ways.. but portable) and more recently, Konami made a game called "Tao's Quest" for the DS which is a spiritual successor (the same team worked on that iirc) and also pretty.. well, not bad, but far away from good (That mostly comes from the controls - you don't move with the D-Pad, you don't move with the stylus.. you move by clicking on arrows with the stylus and that just doesn't work).
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Punkaiser
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Punkaiser »

I was about to suggest LoDragoon as well, whatever, if we go back to that era, here're the games I'm considering to replay :
- Thousand arms, Vagrant Story (ps1)
- Septerra core, Neverend (pc)
- Zoids Legacy, Riviera: The Promised Land (gba)
- Stella Deus, MS saga (ps2)
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Aerolithe Lion
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Aerolithe Lion »

Legend of Legaia was a really fun game, though it may have had an ill-fated sequel
Beyond the Beyond
Drakken
Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes (Squeenix for IPAD)
The 7th Saga

and I dont know if you count them as Franchises, but
La Pucelle Tactics
Phanton Brave
and
Makai Kingdom are all really fun if you like the ridiculous Nippon ICHI SRPGs
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Lemmy Claypool
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Lemmy Claypool »

Aerolithe Lion wrote:and I dont know if you count them as Franchises, but
La Pucelle Tactics
Phanton Brave
and
Makai Kingdom are all really fun if you like the ridiculous Nippon ICHI SRPGs
I do like them indeed sir, and the three of them are laying in wait amidst my mile high backlog haha. I've been looking for a copy of Soul Nomad & The World Eaters for a while to no avail too. Well, a reasonably priced one at least.
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Sasarai10
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Sasarai10 »

Exit Fate by far!!! I wonder why nobody hasn't mentioned it yet.

I will place this game in the same league as S5 and S2. Although it's a reminiscent of Suikoden,especially S2,but still it's the best stand-alone RPG,for me at least.

It has a large number of recruitable characters (75),optional and non-optional,and all of them are playable,and has war campaigns too,which you can REPLAY them via the battle simulator!!!

Those 2 are enough for me,to make a RPG enjoyable...especially the large number of playable/recruitable characters,as i said in previous post.
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Nikisaur
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Nikisaur »

Legend of the Dragoon! Funny how no matter how many years pass I can still remember the way they say the names of their combos. Doubllllle SLASH! VOLCANOOOO!
I loved that game for being fresh and interesting. Story was ace too.Never finished it though. Must do a replay.

There are a few games I own but have never played (I'm getting theeeere), like Nier, Enchanted Arms, and on PS2: Orphen, Phantom Brave etc. I'll get round to it one day >.<
The only thing Suikoden lacks...is dinosaurs.
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Hirathien
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Hirathien »

Enchanted Arms is nice. Got rather far in it, then my 360 crashed and my save was lost. (Only version that was out at the time)

Heard mixed reviews about Nier, but I'll check it out once I played through all the games I currently have and haven't finished once yet.
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Lemmy Claypool
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Lemmy Claypool »

Nier is in my backlog too, I've heard nothing but praise for it. I think even Yahtzee quite liked it, if I remember right.
suiken
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by suiken »

I'd like to mention Alundra. Some may call it a Zelda rip-off but it's a great game. The puzzle is kinda challenging and it's quite action packed.

Yeah, Legend of Legaia was good but I'd like to think that the sequel never exist.

Thousand Arms? Yeah, another RPG with a dating-sim elements. I kinda like the date games too.

Sweet Home in the NES was also a boss game too. Too bad it wasn't officially localized. Resident Evil fans should be familiar with this because this is it's long time ancestor.
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Re: Some good RPGs that don't belong to a franchise

Post by Antimatzist »

Alundra is by far the best Zelda rip-off ever. One of PSX's classics, I totally love the game.
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