Welp, most of ya know I'm a Wii fan, but as a huge JRPG fan, well, Super Paper Mario and Eternal Sonata can only keep a man playing for so long.

I went a searching for the PS2 RPG that:

A. I never played

B. but I shoulda

I looked at titles like Odin Sphere, Persona 3, Grimgrimoire, and Rogue Galaxy.

Now, keep in mind, I played the crap out of games: Dark Cloud 2, FF XII and X, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Disgaea 1 and 2, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean: TteoT, Shin Megami Tensai: Noctourne(sp?), Atleir Iris(sp?)(the first US one, I forget the subtitle), Dragonquest VIII(lol is it VIII?), and Suikoden III.

Currently I'm completing PW: Trials and Tribulations, Laytons, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Guitar Hero 3(Dragonforce expert training), and pretty much nothing else, which sucks, because instead of playing a game right now, I'm posting. I needed a rpg with tons of hours of playtime to fill the gap.

So, being quite a movie buff, I find game storylines, even in RPGs, to be a big, well, terrible. I like to play JRPG's not for the storylines, but the character development, which is a big reason I loved FF XII, but hated its lack of character development, but loved Final Fantasy VIII, for the characters.

After researching, I found:

Odin Sphere and Persona 3 are too expensive.

GrimGrimoire is a real time strategy, which I generally hate, and yes I gave Reverant Wings its day in court. I'm selling it back, because it's just not my type of game, unfortunately for me, so I'm hesitant to try another one at this point. I just can't seem to finish em.

Rogue Galaxy, I hear has weak character development and shallow story, but excellent Level 5 production in every other area, which is a semi turnoff for me, cause that's just not what I'm looking for.

So, being a huge Tales of Symphonia fan, I decided to check out the tales series on the PS2.

I had to choose between Tales of Legendia and Tales of the Abyss.

I couldn't get to the bottom of those, because most sites gave them the exact same score, however, the Xplay review cleared it up, very well for me.

According to them, and now I see it hinted at in other reviews as well:

Tales of Legendia is a superior game in most respects, however, its storyline is very weak, and its characters are uninteresting, while the battle system is cliched and limited.

Tales of the Abyss has bad graphics and terrible load times. It even has a run of the mill story, however, according to everyone, the characters are amazing, and they keep you enthralled throughout the entire experience. So, even though both games got a 3/5, Xplay pretty much spit on Legendia in its review, and raved over Abyss.

Gamespot said pretty much the exact same things, but scored Legendia an 8, but Abyss a 7.9, due to technical difficulties in Abyss, and poor characters in Legendia.

So, loving Symphonia, and counting myself as a hardcore Symphonia fan, I decided to pick Tales of the Abyss up, from Ebay.

The price: 36.99 sealed, after shipping/tax.

The end. True story.

...and this my friends, is how you research a purchase, lol.

um, heh, bump.

Anyone have anything to add about some JRPG's on the PS2?

I thought Sony fanboys would love this topic. Is it possible that I'm the biggest JRPG fan here, but ironically, a Nintendo fanboy?

Abyss is still my favorite Tales title. Again, good choice.

Also: Check out Shadow Hearts 1 & 2 if you haven't already.

well, i just started playing tales of symphonia on wii, which is a really nice game. many hours to burn still...

I've only played Shadow Hearts: Covenant. I liked it, but then again, I wasn't just bowled over with it like all the reviewers were.

On the other hand, lol Tales of Symphonia is a game that I'm definately a fanboy of. I love love love the characters, story, battle system, art style, and just about everything in it. I think it was a classic.

I can't wait to start Abyss. It looks reminiscant of Symphonia. 

It's a really good game, though eventually it starts to drag. Really good characters, of course; the staple of tales games.

You should check out Grim Grimoire. It's one of those games where you're like "this looks kind of fun, I might like it"

Then you actually play it and are totally wowed by it; it's a really amazing game; I had a lot of apprehensions about it when I bought it (not a big strategy fan), but it changed my mind fast.

I wouldn't go that far... I am pretty sure that I have you beat. Anyways, it is always nice to meet another Tales of fan.

Abyss is a really good title but the main character is so annoying. Still it's one of the better games I've played in the Tales series, a big step above the previous 2 PS2 titles.

you could always try suikoden V.
it got story of the year, a few years back from IGN.
though Abyss isnt a bad choice,I like abyss way more than symphonia(personal opinion), and if youre looking for a nice story and superb character development, you just hit the jack pot. the opening movie is the best ive seen from any JRPG yet(the music,not the visuals, the visuals is somewhat around average)