Ok, time for a new game. PS2 is the system. I have already chosen which one I'm getting, now I want your opinion.

GrimGrimoire vs Odin Sphere.

After that, I want you to recommend at least 5, at most 20, PS2 RPG's worth playing, in hopes that I might find an interesting title and purchase it based upon your recommendation. No descriptions necessary, but they would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Your JRPGs:

Hit me with em.

Dragon Quest 8 - pure old school greatness.

Odin Sphere - great 2D action RPG + the pretiest sprites you have ever seen in VG.

Disgaea Hour of Darkness - one of the greatest SRPGs experiences ever. Interesting gameplay and light hearted comical history (just ignore the pedophile jokes, after all this is a japanese game).

FF X or FFX-2 - The first one has a good plot and boring gameplay, the second one of the best battle systems of all FF but the most retarded storyline. Chose only one.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne - Way too complex for a RPG, but a unique experience nonetheless. Basically you can recruit almost every monster you fight. The hardest RPG I have played on the PS2.

Kingdom Hearts - The first game only. It has a crappy camera, awkward battle system, useless AI, average plot and repetitive gameplay. Even so I highly recommend this game. I was ready for a crappy game, but this one surprised me in a good way.

Tales of Abyss/Legendia - They are not as good as Symphonia but Tales games are usually very good. Abyss is much better.

There are others that are average/good. Disgaea 2, Makai Kingdom, Soul Nomad, Musashi Samurai Legend, Radiata Stories, YS 6.

The ones I would avoid are Persona 3, FF 12, Grandia 3, Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, Shadow Hearts, Full Metal Alchemist and The Bouncer.

Grim Grimoire is not very fun IMO. It is kinda like a poor man`s starcraft, but in 2D.

Odin Sphere is much better than GrimGrimoire imo. GrimGrimoire is a really neat concept, but the execution is rather cluncky and it's just not that interesting. It has potential to evolve into something great through sequels and such, but it's just not in the same class as Odin Sphere right now.

As for other recommendations, why not give a list of PS2 JRPGs you've played? If you're a JRPG fan, it's likely you've already played some of the most obvious games to recommend.

I've only played Odin Sphere so I can't compare, but Odin Sphere is a great game and a must buy for RPG fans.

Other games I'd recommend:

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Final Fantasy XII(Sorry haters!)
.HACK 1-4(Original series)
Xenosaga 1-3
Disgaea 1-2
La Pucelle Tactics
Growlancer Generations

I'm trying to recommend you games that aren't the most obvious of choices, seeing as how you'd probably know whether to buy a game like Kingdom Hearts or not. The only reason I mentioned FFXII was because I feel it gets trashed pretty hard aound here.

EDIT: Itsamii how is Soul Nomad and the World Eaters? I've been meaning to pick that game up but wasn't sure about it.  

I'd say Odin Sphere. As for the rest:

Shin Megami Tensei series (Don't listen to the guy who said that these are too complex!)
Shadow Hearts 1 & 2
Tales of the Abyss
Dragon Quest 8

Those are pretty much the RPGs worth playing on the PS2. You can give the rest a miss, unless you're really hard-core into the genre.

go for Odin Sphere, I don't know much about RPG's but Rouge Galaxy is quite awesome and has alot of RPG elements to it

Do not get Odin Sphere, it's a terrible game!

It's probably one of the prettiest games I've ever seen but, ugh, actually, I wrote somewhere else about how much this game pissed me off.

 It really is a "love it or hate it"-sort of game. The inventory system is annoying, the combat can get a little repetitive, and there's often some slowdown when facing bosses, but I liked it nonetheless for doing something new with the old, tired beat 'em up genre.

I didn't like Odin Sphere....pretty for sure, but I hated the game play. (But to be fair, I only gave it an hour of play.....just couldn't get into it so I never picked it back up).

Lol, you've probably played most of these, but oh well....

.hack//G.U. vol. 1-3
Xenosaga
Rogue Galaxy
Magna Carta
Star Ocean 3

Ok, I've played .hack, Xenosaga, Star Ocean 3, Tales of the Abyss, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, SMT, DQVIII, Atelier Iris american releases, all Final Fantasies, Suikoden III, all Disgaeas, Legaia 2, Kingdom Hearts.

The games you guys have listed that have peaked my interest are:

Rogue Galaxy
Valkarie Profile 2
Suikoden V
Breath of Fire(never played a BoF game)

I'm looking for games with great stories and traditional gameplay.


I highly respect everyones opinions, but after a lot of research, I'm skipping Odin Sphere for now, and concentrating on the story driven GrimGrimoire. It's cheaper, and might introduce me to a new genre, which I have hated before, RTS, so a lite version would probably be best for me since I'm a beginner.

I wonder how Arcana Heart will be. I will also be buying Persona 3: PES(or whatever) when it's released for 30 bucks.

So, what do you guys think about all that, lol?