Which questionable console RPG should I play next?

I agree with what you said about Jade Empire, you should play it again before making that ridiculous assumption. Not only is it almost impossible to be worse than the dragon age games and Mass effect games, it is also really good.

Final Fantasy 12. I don't approve of it, but it's the only game I've played on the list (disregarding the Zodiac portion).

Despite what a lot people seem to say, I think Chrono Cross is a damn good game. Sure, I don't think it's quite deserving of being called "Prime", but I do think it is a great game. It's definitely got it's problems, a bloated and underdeveloped cast of characters being my primary issue, but it's got an excellent battle system, an interesting story, and an undeniably fantastic soundtrack.

@otleaz: I consider Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 to be some of my favorite games of this console generation. Which means I'm probably still right about Jade Empire.

Jade Empire is a fun game that can be beaten in one or two sittings. 14 hours for me according to steam. It's a low point back when the Bioware name meant something, but even back then their low points where better than most. It's a fun and unique setting that you don't really get anywhere else and if you are sick of D&D fantasy then it will be a nice shift.

I seem to remember you saying, somewhere, that you hadn't finished Nocturne. Have you done that?

Anyway, SMTIV comes out in less than a month. If not that, then FF12. Finish off Yiazmat.

If you can play them on an emulator, I recommend FF12 or Chrono Cross. I believe that Chrono Cross needs an emulator because it is almost unplayable by todays standards. The PSX version runs at sub-20 FPS (the FR might not be that bad, but the game is horribly choppy when running around in a city) most of the time and the low resolution of the PSX makes the polygons so aliased that the characters tend to look like multi-coloured blobs of pixels.

Edit: FF XII is the secret best Final Fantasy game.

@believer258: I will fully admit to still not finishing Nocturne (I believe my interest petered out around the tunnels where you constantly have to cast light and levitate to get around), but I'm also in the mood for something less... demanding? It'll still happen one of these days, because I still hate myself and I put like 15 hours in that game.

Chrono Cross is pretty enjoyable, the music is soo good in that game. The only thing that is dislikeable was it was not more Chrono Trigger

I'd suggest Legend of Dragoon, but ain't nothin' questionable about that amazing piece of goodness.

The Last Remnant, because that's the game I know the least about on the list, and could use a blog to inform me on the subject. I suppose I'm not taking your personal enjoyment into account. However based on that list, neither are you.

Also don't play Chrono Cross, because I keep meaning to write a blog about that, and yours will probably be better than mine.

Chrono Cross. That game is straight up bananas and as different as you could possibly be from Baldur's Gate.

You haven't played Chrono Cross? How is this possible?

I mean Suikoden IV I understand, I wouldn't wish that dull sailing mechanic on anyone. But Chrono Cross seems like your kind of weird.

@slag:

Because I wasted my life playing Planet Laika.

Record of Agarest War was one of the more frustrating rpgs I have played, that game has grinds that rival mmos. most of my suggestions such as eternal sonata and blue dragon aren't on your list, so I guess i'll pick the only one i've invested a decent amount of time in, Last Remnant that is.

I've heard good things about Zodiac Job System from other users on this site who also enjoyed FFXII so I'll vote for that.

But Jade Empire is alright. I never finished it, though. I have always intended to get back around to it. Maybe one day I shall.

I remember really liking Chrono Cross. Oddly enough i remember almost NOTHING about that game.

The opening song alone is worth it IMO.

Chrono Cross isn't questionable, I think we all agree that it's an awesome battle system wrapped around a complete clusterfuck of a "story".

Play that.

I assume you've played alpha protocol, but if you havent: PLAY THAT GAME! The gameplay may not be great, but the plot and dialogue stuff is pretty stinking amazing

I guess I haven't really played enough of those games to vote, but I hear that the developer of Might and Magic X is looking for input on their forums or something like that. I'm pretty sure you should just dedicate your next several months petitioning for Sandro to be in the game because no one really cares about modern M&M characters right? I also want characters to scream "It's just a flesh wound!" over and over until I mute the game. You'll take care of that for me right?

Play Jade Empire! That game is one of the best ever made! Don't judge me now, judge me when you reached the end of the game. What a trip!

Uh.... King's Field is actually quite good... assuming you understand how to not fight like a retard and enjoy games with "some" challenge. I still find it mildly hilarious how this series gets so overlooked and hated by people when most modern gamers are practically beating off to Dark Souls. Who do you think made King's Field? What game do you think Dark/Demon's Souls was a spiritual successor to? It sure as heck wasn't Armored Core.

Chrono Cross is one of the best RPGs on the PS1. It's easily the best game on that list.

I'll never understand why it gets such a bad rap.

@karkarov: What I played of King's Field suggested that it was all of the inscrutability of Dark Souls without the precise controls or gameplay to back it up. Obviously I didn't get very far, but... eh? I'm not ruling it out.

@raven10:

I guess my Uplay Account means I can post on the Ubisoft forums, but I imagine most of my demands for M&M X would involve "MAKE THE DUNGEON BE A CROSSWORD PUZZLE" and other, similarly silly suggestions.

@rtslord:

I did play Alpha Protocol like two years ago. I thought it had a bunch of neat ideas wrapped around a really crummy stealth/action/RPG center. Here's what I thought of it at the time, if you're interested.

@wolfgame:

I would play Record of Agarest War, but we're talking about questionable RPGs, not unabashedly awful RPGs. Blue Dragon would be alright if I liked Dragon Quest, generic RPGs and Akira Toryama but sadly all three of those things are out of my wheelhouse.

I'm torn between recommending you play a good game so you don't crack and wanting to recommend a bad one and watching the fallout of my actions in real-time as I swirl a glass of brandy around and laugh maniacally. So in order to minimize my helpfulness to ensure I remain blameless for the debacle to come, I'll summarize each one in as few words as possible:

Chrono Cross and The Last Remnant are some of the least explicable RPGs in the world. At the very least I sort of want to prevent you from having to conjure up a thousand-odd words to explain them, because Summer isn't about writing university-level mechanical and philosophical dissertations. Jade Empire isn't awful but it ain't great. My description of Suikoden IV is very similar to my description for Jade Empire, minus the first part. I love FFXII a whole lot but I'm well aware that I'm a nutcase, and that one will absolutely take you most of Summer to complete if not cut into some of your Autumnal old PC-RPG schedule as well. As for King's Field, well... there's a reason FromSoftware took a while to rise to prominence, though I actually kind of liked it. Your description of it is spot-on however.

KING'S FIELD IS FUCKING RAD SO FUCK YOU!

Though that's the weakest entry.

FFXII ain't questionable. King's Field: The Ancient City might have a clunky combat system but I assure you the signature difficulty of From Software and the absorbing mysterious world is in full effect in this game.

@arbitrarywater: I've just going to leave this here:

Last Remnant is a game I keep trying to go back to but just cant wrap my head around the battle system.

Hint: You don't have to beat all four Oni in that tunnel unless you want the Magatama, and even then it might be better to go back and get it later. It's also a really short dungeon; just pass through it and you'll get to a place called Asakusa and that's where the game really starts to pick up in terms of cool story stuff and crazy locations.

Also, are you sure that you've only put fifteen hours into that game? I don't remember getting to Asakusa until 40 hours in, but then I'm also 72 hours in and it's supposed to be a 50 hour game if you pace yourself well. Then again, I have done literally everything in the game and only have to go finish off the last three or so bosses.

But yes, that's my recommendation if you haven't finished it yet.

So I'm guessing I shouldn't have written that Persona 3 blog?

Less egotistical answer: everybody else is writing lengthy blogs of that type.

Final Fantasy XII is the secret best final fantasy.

seriously though. and from what i know about the international zodiac version it basically removes one out of two of the major problems i had with the game. the other major problem being vaan's existence, but seeing as how the game itself doesn't even care about him he's fairly easy to ignore after the intro. if anything else it'll keep you busy for a long ass time.

@believer258: I'll have to check those hour counts again, might've been closer to 20 hours. But if nothing else, you've reaffirmed that if I ever want to play a good, not questionable RPG I should really get back to that game. Or Final Fantasy X-2, which I never technically finished.

@beachthunder:

Ffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. If this was about questionable portable RPGs, that would've been on the poll, because I totally forgot that game existed. Nope. That's Bioware's worst game. I don't even need to play it to know that's probably a fact.

@mento: You may recall that I gave myself an escape clause if I am ever overwhelmed or... rather underwhelmed by any given game. The Last Remnant sounds totally bananas, which is partially why I'm so interested in it (also it was $5 one weekend). I've put enough time into FFXII to know that I think it's pretty great, including the parts where Vaan is treated derisively by the rest of the cast. Chrono Cross also sounds bananas, but in a "How was this game so critically praised?" kind of way. Do your worst sir. I can take it.

I picked up FF12 recently and really liked it up to when I met the character who was going to be the main character and then I turned it off.

You are going to have to be more specific. That game doesn't have a main character. All six party members are hugely important for different reasons. Unlike in previous Final Fantasies you are not forced to use any one character. You don't even have to use a full party. For a chunk of the game I used a single person party. There were two characters I basically only saw during cut scenes and during emergency situations where I had to bring them in to revive my party.

One problem with the game is that it takes about eight hours for the combat system to be fully tutorialized and accessible. Plus, in the early game when you don't have many party members and are a low level it can be difficult. Once you get past that hump it's great. I'm not sure a lot of people got past that hump though, which is why it's a secret that it's the best Final Fantasy game.

I loved Legend of Dragoon, but i tried playing though it recently and that is one tough game to go back to.

if you want to play a really questionable console rpg try enchanted arms lol....so awesome how from software developed that game and then turned a 180 and did the souls games.

Tales of Graces F is really fun. Parts of the plot are stupid, and the game never explains some big parts of the world, but the characters themselves are charming, and the combat system is really addictive.

Resonance of Fate is also worth checking out, though I haven't beaten it. Its combat system can be a bit overwhelming to learn, but it's really fun when you do. You also move around the overworld by filling in a grid with what are basically hexagons in Tetris-like shapes. I can't say how the story is as a whole of course, but like with the combat and the exploration, most of the dialogue and plot seem stupid in all the right ways.

That's the FF that I've played the most of (~12 hours now) and I might have to agree with you, at least as far as FF games post VI go. X had more lame and bad dialogue, XIII seems to have issues with the plot and crappy characters and linearity, but I kinda like most of XII's characters (particularly Balthier) and dialogue and story and setting. Gotta get back to that game someday.

@arbitrarywater: I'd just tell them to include the dungeon version of Jolly Roger so all these youngsters can experience the true challenge that New World Computing was known for. And us old timers can reminisce about the years of childhood wasted trying to beat that map. Also, I want at least one character named Ironfist and also lasers. Cause best ending to a Might and Magic game ever. Fucking lasers.

Oh man, I have to disagree. I've been playing through it again (currently on disc 3) and I've been downright impressed with how well it holds up. The active battle system is pretty fantastic, and the transformations are at least visually interesting, though admittedly not as impactful as they should be. The story and dialog are terrible, which is probably my favorite thing about it. So good.

I'm going to say something completely insane, but I stand by it.

Jade Empire is Bioware's best game.

I chose The Last Remnant, because there's 2 boss fights that I'll never forget the frustration they caused me, which is unfortunate because the game had so much promise. I think the last boss took me over a week to beat, and then it doesn't give an achievement. I'm not super into achievements but I feel like beating that game is a true achievement lol. The mechanics aren't even that hard, its just what they put you up against is so unfair sometimes. It actually was pretty awesome until the boss Gates of Hell, and then it was the worst thing ever. I don't give up that easily though. I'm still split on my opinion of that game, really really liked the combat (despite the framerate), but really hated how unfair it was at times.

I actually liked FF12 :(

ED: It's also the only one of those I played, and since I liked it, I voted for it.

Well I have fantastic news everyone: Apparently the steam version of Jade Empire is fucked and doesn't work unless you start digging around in command prompts and other system-level settings that I don't feel particularly comfortable messing with further after doing so for 20 minutes. It's still a possibility, but currently I am less than enthused about doing more weird hackery to get it to work.

Fuck anyone who thinks FF12 is "Questionable" it's the best Final Fantasy game of the last 10+ years.

I actually kind of loved the last remnant. So try that.

Isn't King's Field the original Demon's Souls? Do that, then.

Does it remove the problem of FFXII having the worst combat system in the series? Because if it doesn't then fuck that game. I was so ready to love it and it let me down so hard.

Just thinking about it makes me angry.