Recommend me some PS2/PS3 JRPGs

Yeah it's another one of these threads again. 
 
So, I'm really in the mood for a good JRPG right now, but I really don't know what to look for. I've been playing FFXIII, and while I like it, I would prefer something with a better story and good characters. For PS3, I've been thinking about Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. For PS2, I have pretty much no idea. 
 
Oh, and here's some games that I've already played: 
 
All the Final Fantasy games 
Persona 3 
Persona 4 (didn't play it but watched the ER) 
Resonance of Fate 
 
Haven't played a lot of JRPGs but I'm still completely lost.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Can't comment on their quality as I have yet to play them, but I have these ones sitting on my shelf waiting for me to jump into them. I wouldn't have bought them in the first place if I didn't think they at least looked promising.
 

• Eternal Sonata (PS3)
• Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
• Folklore (PS3)
• Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2)
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3)
• Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
• Eternal Poison (PS2)
• Yakuza 3 (PS3)

Yes, do get Valkyria Chronicles. There's also an RPG (not Japanese) called Folklore which might interest you. There's a demo on the PS Store, so check that out. 
 
Oh yeah, Yakuza 3 is an awesome game. The gameplay is mostly beat-'em-up action, but with all the elaborate stories, side missions and leveling up abilities, it's pretty much an RPG.

Actually, if you're interested in Yakuza, you might want to play the first two games on the PS2. 
 
I've also heard good things about the Way of the Samurai series (1 and 2 on PS2, 3 on PS3, and 4 has been announced).

I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs.

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

There are so many great JRPGs on the PS2. Even here in EU there are more than I could ever play and in the US there's even more, in Japan...I don't know but I bet there's a lot. 
 
I think you could probably survive on PS2 JRPGs alone for years. 
 
Apart from the ones already mentioned I can mention  
Odin Sphere 
Valkyrie Profile 2 
Dragon Quest 8 
Mana Khemia

@Grissefar said:

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

I dare you to spend an hour locked in a room with Snow, Hope, and Vanille. I fucking DARE YOU. "

As much as I liked some aspects of XIII, kinda have to agree here. I found so many of the major characters to be cringe worthily generic and shallow, not helped by some really lame and slightly confusing voice acting for Vanille.

" Ar Tonelico 1 and 2 
Grandia 2 
Dark Cloud 2 
Wild Arms Alter Code: F (and series) 
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2  
there's a WHOLE bunch more, but I'm in class at the moment.
 
Also, buy a Dreamcast and get Skies of Arcadia. Best turn based RPG ever. EVERRRRRRRRRRR. 
HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
 
@Grissefar said:

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

I dare you to spend an hour locked in a room with Snow, Hope, and Vanille. I fucking DARE YOU. "

"
I am suprised no one has recommended Rogue Galaxy by Level 5 yet.   The spiritual sucessor to Dark Cloud 2 it is like a Miyazaki Film meets Star Wars in JRPG for.  Plus you get to play as a Space Pirate! How cool is that? "

that hyperdimesion neptunia game jeff mentioned looked interesting 
 
Someone mentioned this already but i second Odin Sphere

" @Zaft said:

" Ar Tonelico 1 and 2 
Grandia 2 
Dark Cloud 2 
Wild Arms Alter Code: F (and series) 
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2  
there's a WHOLE bunch more, but I'm in class at the moment.
 
Also, buy a Dreamcast and get Skies of Arcadia. Best turn based RPG ever. EVERRRRRRRRRRR. 
HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
 
@Grissefar said:

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

I dare you to spend an hour locked in a room with Snow, Hope, and Vanille. I fucking DARE YOU. "

I love Vanille. We would snuggle. Me and Snow would get drunk and punch each other in the arm. And we'd all just ignore Hope.  It would be a BLAST. "

Dragon Quest 8 would be my top recommendation for sure. It's real old school though. Just a classic style, turn based, random encounter RPG with a nice, followable, kingly quest kind of story and really good, really British voice acting.  None of the typical JRPG melodrama or convoluted battle mechanics. Don't get me wrong, I love some Final Fantasy, but Dragon Quest always wins out for me

Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 & Chain of Memories
Dark Cloud 1 & 2
Rogue Galaxy
Valkyrie Profile 2
Star Ocean A New Hope & Till The End of Time
Valkyria Chronicles
Folklore (which is in fact Japanese despite what others have said)
Eternal Sonata
Radiata Stories
Odin Sphere
 
I think that's all I have on my shelf right now
 
Also you can get a lot of PS1 RPG's off the Playstation Store depending on your location
 
Oh and good luck finding Shadow Hearts or Shin Migami Tensei. Even if you can find a copy of one of those games, well expect to pay full price for a used copy.

" @McGhee_the_Insomniac said:

" @Zaft said:

" Ar Tonelico 1 and 2 
Grandia 2 
Dark Cloud 2 
Wild Arms Alter Code: F (and series) 
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2  
there's a WHOLE bunch more, but I'm in class at the moment.
 
Also, buy a Dreamcast and get Skies of Arcadia. Best turn based RPG ever. EVERRRRRRRRRRR. 
HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
 
@Grissefar said:

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

I dare you to spend an hour locked in a room with Snow, Hope, and Vanille. I fucking DARE YOU. "

I love Vanille. We would snuggle. Me and Snow would get drunk and punch each other in the arm. And we'd all just ignore Hope.  It would be a BLAST. "

I liked Vanille, too.  She's a pretty unique character in video-games that you can actually play with.  And while her interactions with other are most on the optimistic/cheerful side, she's the only character that we can hear her inner struggles. "

I didn't actually play them, but I spent a lot of time watching my friend play Rogue Galaxy and Tales of the Abyss. They looked pretty solid to me. The second and third Shadow Hearts games were pretty awesome as well.

I just finished Enchanted Arms like 30 minutes ago and can strongly recommend it. I ended up sinking 61 hours into it and finished the game at level 68. It's definitely not as bad as others would have you think or the reviews say. Combat system is tight and strategic, there are TONS of monsters to collect (it's like Pokemon, but the monsters look cooler - well the not-chibi ones), a lot of upgrading to do, and the characters are very well done. I even ended up liking the kid character, usually I end up hating them in JRPGs. 
 
Just... play it with Japanese voices. The Japanese voice actors are AWESOME in this game.

" @raphaa00 said:

" @McGhee_the_Insomniac said:

" @Zaft said:

" Ar Tonelico 1 and 2 
Grandia 2 
Dark Cloud 2 
Wild Arms Alter Code: F (and series) 
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2  
there's a WHOLE bunch more, but I'm in class at the moment.
 
Also, buy a Dreamcast and get Skies of Arcadia. Best turn based RPG ever. EVERRRRRRRRRRR. 
HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
 
@Grissefar said:

" I'm sorry, what? XIII has a lot of flaws but characters isn't one of them. If you don't like them then it's not likely you will find better characters in other JRPGs. "

I dare you to spend an hour locked in a room with Snow, Hope, and Vanille. I fucking DARE YOU. "

I love Vanille. We would snuggle. Me and Snow would get drunk and punch each other in the arm. And we'd all just ignore Hope.  It would be a BLAST. "

I liked Vanille, too.  She's a pretty unique character in video-games that you can actually play with.  And while her interactions with other are most on the optimistic/cheerful side, she's the only character that we can hear her inner struggles. "

Also her conflict with Sazh ended in one of the most powerful, emotional scenes in any game, ever. "

I'd throw in the Disgaea games. I mean its a tactical JRPG but its awesome nonetheless.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is the best PS2 RPG (better than Persona 3 or 4 yeah that's right bite me) and I highly recommend it.

I love me some Wild Arms, Suikoden, Eternal Sonata, Disgaea, Dragon Quest, Phantom Brave, and Star Ocean.  There's a few others that people listed that I haven't played so I couldn't say one way or the other.    

white knight chronicles, enchanted arms and  trinity universe

" Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is the best PS2 RPG (better than Persona 3 or 4 yeah that's right bite me) and I highly recommend it. "

Dragon Quest VIII, Disgaea 1&2, anything Shin Megami Tensei and Kingdom Hearts are all excellent, but there are definitely people with more experience with RPGs than me, so I'm sure everything anyone's posted is at least really good. 

I found it really hard to get emotional at scenes like that when every characters personality seemed to be so harshly constrained to pre-established archetypes like ditsy cute girl, stoic warrior, wacky ethnic sidekick, mopey kid ect. I just really felt like all their actions were governed by ”What should my type of character do in this situation?” rather than any kind of logic or realistic motives. I found it doubly hard to “get” Vanille when she keeps switching between all those random accents. I don't know if that was a stylistic choice or what, but to me it just came off as a little shoddy. "