Nier and Drakengard are two series that couldn't be more different in their setting and stories, but somehow they are still linked.
Tired of grinding through dungeons non-stop? Want to take a break for once in your life? No worries. Check out the best PS2 action RPGs.
Didn't expect to see Drakengard in a list like this, considering the awful gameplay. Still, it's the best terrible game I've ever played. 10/10 would recommend
Would love to see a remake one day, but only if they don't censor the fucked up story and characters. That and a Drakengard 3 remake, of course.
Drakengard made it onto the list mainly because Nier gave it a cult following later on. Honestly, it wouldn't have made the cut for any ACTION RPG list on its own. The characters are cool, the story is mess up in a good way, the lore is confusing and great, but the gameplay alone kill any chance of it being a recomended ACTION RPG.
Would love a remake of the series with updated gameplay. Drakengard 3 with Automata's hack and slash would be gold.
Some absolute gems on this list. Wholeheartedly agree with Rogue Galaxy, Dark Cloud 2, Radiata Stories, Odin Sphere, and Devil Summoner 2.
Some others, I can't comment on because I've never played or I didn't feel particularly strongly about them.
But hot take: I don't think Kingdom Hearts II really survives the test of time.
I cannot recommend Rogue Galaxy enough. It is on PSN+ as part of the subscription, so definitely check it out.
Get ready to embark on a journey filled with monsters, magic, and overpowered haircuts, because this list features the best JRPGs on the PS3.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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).
" 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
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.
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.
They got better after the first one in the trilogy, not outstanding game though.
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.
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.
Square Enix suggested they might remaster more games from their storied archives—here are the classics we’d like to see get a new coat of paint.
I would definitely enjoy a Xenogears remaster. Recently finished Legend of Dragoon again (this time with platinum trophy) and would love to dive back into Xenogears with Fei and the rest of the crew.
It needs more than a remaster though, I hope they can turn disc 2 into a full game..
I wonder how they would even handle a xenogears remaster
Would they give it to monolith soft (the original developers) to handle, and more then likely make it a Nintendo exclusive, cue the endless bitching from Sony fans...
Or will they do it themselves, thus not finishing the original story as intended
"... and more then likely make it a Nintendo exclusive"
I would think it'd eventually hit all the platforms much like the Front Mission 1st Remake. That way no one would be 'bitching' regardless of your platform preference lol.
They don't need the original people , they already have the foundation of characters ,world and lore to work off of.
Honestly it's not that big of a game if you really examine it by modern standards , it's how they present everything that makes it seem so grand especially with how epic the story/music is . SE have good writers that could incorporate post release lore of perfect works and such if they ever remade it from the ground up.
Square Enix classics? dont they mean Squaresoft. Square Enix dont make classic games, just games with pretty graphics, no heart & soul, boring & over stuffed with woke Gen Z cockiness.
But while were on the subject i would love too see a remaster of Front Mission 3.
They already announced a Front Mission 3 remake. Doubt they'll also do a remaster.
I will get the remake but i still want a remaster cos with all remakes they lose a lot of the original magic the original game had.
Pretty sure its going to be a remaster of the game, similar to what's been done with the first two games, not a remake.
FF7r is certainly more a remake of FF7 than a remaster for instance.
Now, if they did Gun Hazard remaster...
Yeah they call it a remake like "Front Mission 1st Remake" but I'd consider it more of a remaster as it doesn't change any of the core gameplay but basically just sharpens up the graphics. I think they added a couple of new features also but I still think it's more of a remaster.
Like @Godmars290 suggested, FF7Remake fits the mold of a remake since they 'remade' the game from the ground up, changing the battle system completely, and retelling the story with a lot of different elements added.
But I guess they can call it what they want since they're making it lol.
Exactly. SquareSoft merged with Enix shortly after Final Fantasy X and it has never been the same.
The world needs a Drakengard 1 and 3 remake.