80°

Dream Lands: A Study In Interactive Dreamscapes (Part 2)

To celebrate the release of Kirby's Dream Collection, Rant Gaming brings you an epic list of gaming's wildest Dream Lands, from Dragon Age's Fade to LittleBigPlanet's Imagisphere. This is part 2 of a 3-part list, which will be released in weekly installments.

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rantgaming.com
TooTall194227d ago

Little Nemo was a great NES game. Very challenging too.

210°

Lost Odyssey Is Still One Of The Best Xbox RPGs Ever

17 years later, it still stands out.

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dualshockers.com
shinoff218368d ago

I liked blue dragon more. Lost odyssey is the shit though.

jznrpg68d ago

Two of the few games I still own for Xbox360 . I have Magna Carta 2 , Last Remnant but also have the PS4 version so I may have got rid of it and I have the DS version of Blue Dragon. I think and a few others but I forget what they are since I don’t dust them off. that’s about it.

shinoff218368d ago (Edited 68d ago )

Another one I still havent got to try is infinite undiscovery. I read it was pretty linear but I usually fk with tri ace(star oceans are great).

Really my only issue with lost odyssey was the level cap they hit you with throughout the game. I enjoy just relaxing and doing some grinding every once in awhile. Could've atleast given the option. Other then that. Excellent game.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The 360 imo had atleast half or more that Gen of being the better jrpg system. I bought one earlier then I normally would have for some, and Alan wake. Japanese devs really got in their feelings that Gen and dropped the ball(thanks Phil phish, cocky ass ign, etc)

darthv7267d ago

You'd be better off playing Lost Odyssey on an XBO or Series X as no disc swapping and it looks and plays much better. Same with Blue Dragon. I still keep my 360 hooked up for games not on the bc list. for everything else, I use the series x now. Just last night I installed arkham origins as there is no 8th gen version like asylum/city.

I love having bc on xbox one/series hardware.

shinoff218367d ago

Darth

When I bought the the Xbox one off a couple worker. That was the first thing indid. Bought blue dragon and lost odyssey. Been waiting to catch infinite undiscovery on sale but I forget to check.

I used to own the 360 versions but I bought these digital. I'd like to track down the 360 ones again but no huge deal. I was actually playing through lost odyssey waiting for starfield to drop.

RaidenBlack67d ago

Is Lost Odyssey coming to PS, too?

cthulhucultist68d ago

The game was indeed amazing. Great characters, gameplay and story!

But the dream sequences penned by Shigematsu were sublime.

I still remember many of these stories and I have integrated in the past in my D&D campaign many years ago.

RpgSama68d ago

I'm not going to lie, I cried on more than on a couple of them

Dabigsiebowski68d ago

Microsoft should have just kept pumping money into these guys. Same with a lot of the other studios... the blundered hard.

Lost Odysee deserved a franchise even though development wasn't smooth

Michiel198968d ago

Am I the only one who doesn't wanna see every good game get sequel after sequel? It was a great game, but sometimes it's better to just make a one off and then create a new universe. Sadly that costs a lot more money and publishers don't wanna risk it, but I would definitely prefer it

shinoff218368d ago

I'm fine with sequels in jrpgs, even in the vain of ff sequels, all new stories and characters. It does get old in other genres though sometimes. For the most part I just game by game basis it all.

FinalFantasyFanatic67d ago

They could have done it like Final Fantasy, kept the title name and just start with a new world/characters, it's not like the creator isn't familar with that.

Concertoine68d ago

Idk, Japan never bit for Xbox despite their best efforts around this era. Mistwalker never exploded either, despite future partnerships with Nintendo whichhad a much better chance at success

BrainSyphoned68d ago

It's not like it has had any competition since 2007. Would really like to own the short stories from it in book form.

PapaBop67d ago

360 had some amazing JRPGs in it's early days, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia off the top of my head were all amazing games.

jznrpg68d ago (Edited 68d ago )

The problem with most MS games on 360 was they didn’t make the games they paid for them and that makes you less money in the long run and isn’t something you can continue to do especially with declining sales of consoles. MS should have been starting and growing studios from the beginning but they went for paid games and it leaves them without the knowledge and culture of making games.

shinoff218368d ago

Good points. Never thought of that like that back then.

Sgt_Slaughter67d ago

Not to mention killing the Japanese market that had all sorts of crazy and fun releases up until 2009-2010. They could have gained momentum on Nintendo and kept that going into the Xbox One era, but decided to "unify" efforts and that all but ended their presents in the country. Now, PS4's outsell the Xbox Series S three years into the new system's life cycle, and the 2/3DS at one point was doing the same.

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150°

A Look Through the Absolute Best PS2 Games of All Time

Take it down the memory lane with this ultimate list of the best PlayStation 2 games of all time. Just the best of the best right here.

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altarofgaming.com
isarai197d ago

It's so disappointing that to this day, I have not seen a game match what BLACK offers in an FPS.

ApocalypseShadow197d ago

Shame isn't it. I thought we'd be at a point of destructible backgrounds, objects, pyrotechnics etc in shooters. I sold many a copy in the demo unit when I managed a franchise Game Crazy back then. But I stopped playing shooters because they didn't evolve. Heavy weapon. Shoot a wall or glass. Nothing happens. Lol. Except for Killzone 2. I enjoyed that.

But then I woke and remembered it's EA. EA didn't care really. They just wanted to kill competition from Criterion and Burnout. And own Renderware to profit from as many developers used that engine. Only thing was that developers ran as fast as they could away from EA to Unreal Engine and its pop in and Vaseline graphics. Shame on EA. And then they bought Dice for Frostbite. Evil busters.

Anyway, too many PS2 games to count. Some of my personal faves being DMC, Genji, Bujingai, Blood Will Tell, Onimusha, Way of the Samurai, Japanese Berserk, Japanese Macross game that blew away the US Robotech game, RAD, Castlevania Lament of Innocence.... there's just too many. Let me stop. Lol

Cacabunga197d ago

Code Veronica
Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore
The Getaway
Time Crisis 3
Killzone
Mark of Kri
SSX

are some of my all times favorites missing on that list

shinoff2183196d ago

I've always Saud I'm not a fan of fps much , there's been some I really like and thought were really dope. Black falls into that category.

CoNn3rB197d ago

I would love nothing more than a remaster of the Jak series, including Jak X

Flawlessmic196d ago (Edited 196d ago )

The greatest console of all time !!!!

The last console from when gaming was pure, games didn't take 5 years to release, no online only, no half finished games, no mtx.

Ps2 was just banger after banger after banger.

It will always be my favourite.

sagapo196d ago

No Timesplitters in the list??

FinalFantasyFanatic196d ago

This is a really good list, pretty happy with the choices here.

200°

Remembering the Best JRPGs on the PS3

Get ready to embark on a journey filled with monsters, magic, and overpowered haircuts, because this list features the best JRPGs on the PS3.

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altarofgaming.com
shinoff2183260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

There wasn't that many. Thanks to the west's criticism. It was definitely lacking compared to every other ps system. Dont get me wrong there were a few good ones i know that.

jznrpg260d ago

Nier, Valkyrie Chronciles, Tales games , Ni No Kuni, Resonance of Fate, FF13’s, Ys8 just a few off the top of my head and there were a lot more.

CrimsonWing69260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

Not nearly to the degree of PS1 and PS2.

@shinoff2183 makes a good point that around the PS3/Xbox 360 gen is when the genre wasn’t as prevalent and began to shy away from turn-based. There’s some standouts for sure, but look at the PS1 and PS2 JRPG library and then compare that to the PS3 and PS4’s.

Theres definitely a decline in a selection of titles. Even worse was the quality seemed to take a massive hit as well. I think Lost Odyssey was a huge standout for that gen when you look at production values, then you look at something like Fairy Fencer on the PS3 and it’s kind of depressing.

But by that generation there was a shift from western developed games overtaking Japanese developed games. Back from the NES to PS2 Japanese games were the cream of the crop… I don’t know what happened but like midway into the PS3/360 life-time they became less so.

shinoff2183260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

Compared to the ps1 ps2 and he'll even ps4 ps3 doesn't hold a candle to either imo. It's also when turn based damn near disappeared. Again thanks to the west's criticism

Crimson I'd put money on the west being at fault, guys like Phil phish, and numerous others at that time were attacking jrpg and Japanese games in general pretty hard.

Ni no kuni was probably my fav jrpg back then , and the blue dragon

GameBoyColor260d ago

Tales got kinda lucky here. When they took a chance and finally brought tales of graces f over west it sold like 250k lmao a lot of jrpgs did 500k or below. Disgaea was worse i think. Bamco decided to keep bringing more games over though.

Tapani260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II were the best RPGs on PS3 made by Japanese developers. Everything else just fell short always. Ni No Kuni was a full package, an okayish game as well. Nier and Drakengard III had superb writing, setting and voice acting, however, the performance was a real drag on the gameplay. Traditional RPG-wise I'd actually say 360 had better JRPGs, and think that Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon were the best traditional JRPGs of the era. PS3 Valkyria Chronicles was okay, but it is closer to an SRPG.

Ryu Ga Gotoku games were also solid, they were still finding their footing and breaking new ground with new cities and formats.

PS3 was the era that almost made me quit gaming and I started playing on PC because I could not find good performance nor games on the system. PS4 got me back into it, and now PS5 is a mix in and between, I just play my PS4 library on the PS5 and rest on PC, just like during the PS3 era. The only new exclusive Sony JRPG is pretty much FFXVI and it is so streamlined and simplified from the normal RPG experience that I can't fit it into the genre anymore. Dragon Quest XII hopefully remedies all of this, but it is just one game.

These new games will all be on PC (while it does take 2-3 years to wait, and 6-12 months from launch to have them patched + fixed by modders) and they perform better on it. The only point in owning a PS5 is to play games a couple of years earlier, but for a hard-working family man like me, the quality of the experience is more important than playing it as soon as possible. And I can't do modern games at 30fps 720p after playing 120fps at 4K. For older games, that's okay.

PSX and PS2 though, those were the days...Still have a massive collections of classic RPGs in CD and DVD format and a phat PS3 to play them!

FinalFantasyFanatic260d ago

It's kinda like that, the PS3 generation was a bad time for JRPGs, especially with the Japanese feeling the need to westernize their games, shooters dominating that gen, the racism from western game journalists (it was bad, between G4, Phill Fish, and a slew of others), and the higher development costs...

It really made me miss the PS1/PS2 days of JRPGs, even the quality of half of those games during the 7th gen weren't as good. The 360 tried, but Microsoft's consoles weren't popular in Japan and no body in the West bought a Xbox for JRPGs (despite Xbox having Vesperia, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey).

on_line_forever260d ago

" It's kinda like that, the PS3 generation was a bad time for JRPGs, especially with the Japanese feeling the need to westernize their games "

This is when everything fall down and games looks not fun to play anymore except for few games like demon and dark souls for example

-Foxtrot260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

Nah. It's a bad trilogy of games

The only reason XIII-2 stands out is because XIII was so bad

When the bar is so low, anything after feels better.

goldwyncq260d ago

The monster catching mechanic was nice.

Eonjay260d ago

Don't understand the hate for it at all. Seems forced.

shinoff2183260d ago

Watching the credits roll on ff16 now it is good but , I'd really like to re try ff13 least it's turn based and would fill that gap for me.

FinalFantasyFanatic260d ago

They got better after the first one in the trilogy, not outstanding game though.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 260d ago
CS7260d ago

Honestly, I played FFXIII a few years after release and maybe because it was after the hype cycle and I knew the flaws of the game, it actually became my favorite FF after VII.

I took off the mini map and never used auto battle and the stuff that mattered to me in an FF was just so well done.

The art and graphics were insane at the time
The music is still special
The story still lingers in memory more than a decade later
The RPG systems were decent

I never really got the hate for it, still have a soft spot for that game inside me.

goldwyncq260d ago

Still better than XV and XVI.

Yui_Suzumiya260d ago

Drakengard 3 goes for a small fortune nowadays

Knightofelemia260d ago (Edited 260d ago )

Only gripe I have with Ar Tonelico 3 is that Saki is annoying as hell whether English or in Japanese. Then Saki's English voice actor became Ionasal on Ar Nosurge she was a little annoying but not as bad. Johnny Young Bosch voicing Tatsumi I thought he did a great job. And Akiko Shikata with her vocals and the music from the games just went hand and hand.

DarkZane260d ago

I wish Ar No Surge and Ar Tonelico 3 would be remastered on PS4/PS5.

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