Greatest unknown PS2 RPGs?

[Hugbees]

Howdy;

I must confess - I was a Nintendo fanboy for years.  Recently, however, I decided to finally man up and get myself a used PS2.  Not a bad deal, considering I can get all of these great games used for half the price (I'm still a huge Nintendo fan, but the PS2 is definitely a better platform for RPGs and whatnot).

I've started with the basics, of course:

Kingdom Hearts
Dark Cloud
Xenosaga
Final Fantasy X

...but I'm in search of the great, under the radar PS2 games that I may have missed over the years.

So let's fight it out.  What are your favorite PS2 RPG-style games?  (I'll even go Adventure/RPG)  What are the under-appreciated ones that I and many others may have missed?

Looking forward to a good discussion.

=Hugbees=


EDIT:

I was debating doing this, but here goes:  In realizing the slew of old PS (one) games that I may have missed as well, I'm willing to open the discussion up to some overlooked PS RPGs of old as well.

 

[Devon Jacobs]

Disgaea, its an SRPG but still the best tactical battle system/characters out there.

 

[Bael]

One old RPG for the PS2 I have been playing recently is Okage.  Now, it's old, came out in 2001, and to be honest, the battle system is a bit boring.  But, but, the story is quite funny.  I haven't laughed so much at an RPG since I don't really remember.  It would be an interesting try, if you can get over the battle system being a bit boring at times. 

In addition, Shadow Hearts may be teetering on the line of being popular or not, but you should try that as well.  It's hard to find the first game (at least for me) but you can play the second one without needing to play first game (it helps though).  Even though people don't like the third one, it's still quite good as well.  It doesn't follow the first two, so it stands on its own.  Also, Shadow Hearts has always had an interesting battle system.  Give them a try if you haven't.

 

[moog]

Okage had a really shit battle system but I loved the humor and story. All the characters werent one-dimensional and they had a funky, upbeat art style that I enjoyed.

 

[Hugbees]

I've never heard of Okage...  I'll have to look into it.

 

[OdioOmnus]

-Tsugunai: Atonement
-Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
-Digital Devil Saga

 

[Hugbees]

I was a big fan of Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube.  Did anyone play the other 43 games for PS2?

 

[candle]

Try .Hack Parts 1-3, not sure about GU, though

 

[monkeydlu]

Disgaea for sure, it came out in 2002, really jsut plain greatness, but it is very popular...

but underated right now, you should go check out "Soul Nomad and the World Eaters"

It's EXTREMELY underated, however it's a purely amazing game, also made by nippon icchi, it's a tactical game, very complicated, and the most hilarious and unorthodox character ever, almost as much profanity as gta, lol.

 

[Dopples]

I was a big fan of Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube.  Did anyone play the other 43 games for PS2?

Nowhere near that many, but most of the PS2 Tales of games are great. I'd approach Tales of Destiny 2 warily though, and Tales of Legendia should only be played if you have paitence. A lot of it. Definitely pick up Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Rebirth if you can. The latter is in Japanese, but you can use a translation guide if need be.

 

[moog]

Disgaea for sure, it came out in 2002, really jsut plain greatness, but it is very popular...

but underated right now, you should go check out "Soul Nomad and the World Eaters"

It's EXTREMELY underated, however it's a purely amazing game, also made by nippon icchi, it's a tactical game, very complicated, and the most hilarious and unorthodox character ever, almost as much profanity as gta, lol.

Also, if you like Disgaea, Ive heard Makai Kingdom is a spin-off of it.

 

[Dopples]

Disgaea for sure, it came out in 2002, really jsut plain greatness, but it is very popular...

but underated right now, you should go check out "Soul Nomad and the World Eaters"

It's EXTREMELY underated, however it's a purely amazing game, also made by nippon icchi, it's a tactical game, very complicated, and the most hilarious and unorthodox character ever, almost as much profanity as gta, lol.

Also, if you like Disgaea, Ive heard Makai Kingdom is a spin-off of it.

All Nippon Ichi games are spin-offs of Disgaea basically. It's pretty annoying tbh. Sure, the first game was good, but it's gotten bad, if not worse, than Zelda at this point.

 

[moog]

Disgaea for sure, it came out in 2002, really jsut plain greatness, but it is very popular...

but underated right now, you should go check out "Soul Nomad and the World Eaters"

It's EXTREMELY underated, however it's a purely amazing game, also made by nippon icchi, it's a tactical game, very complicated, and the most hilarious and unorthodox character ever, almost as much profanity as gta, lol.

Also, if you like Disgaea, Ive heard Makai Kingdom is a spin-off of it.

All Nippon Ichi games are spin-offs of Disgaea basically. It's pretty annoying tbh. Sure, the first game was good, but it's gotten bad, if not worse, than Zelda at this point.

Id have to agree there. Atelier Iris and Phantom Brave were both awful games that tried to milk the life out of Disgaea's features.

 

[Devon Jacobs]

technically, Disgaea is a spin off of La-Pucelle Tactics, and a ps1 game which I forgot the name.
Soul Eater was dissappointing, Disgaea 2 was good and chaos wars had bad acting.
And growlancer was great.

 

[Dopples]

technically, Disgaea is a spin off of La-Pucelle Tactics, and a ps1 game which I forgot the name.
Soul Eater was dissappointing, Disgaea 2 was good and chaos wars had bad acting.
And growlancer was great.

Um...Disgaea came before La-Pucelle.

 

[Devon Jacobs]

nope, the main character of lapucelle featured a girl named marjorly from the ps1, then disgaea featured both marjorly and the main character from la-pucelle.

then its phantom brave>makia>disgaea2>odin sphere>grim grimorie>and soul nomad

 

[Dopples]

nope, the main character of lapucelle featured a girl named marjorly from the ps1, then disgaea featured both marjorly and the main character from la-pucelle.

then its phantom brave>makia>disgaea2>odin sphere>grim grimorie>and soul nomad

Most of that is mainly bs cameos that NIS explains through dimensional rifts. I mean, Marona is in Disgaea 3. Without Ash. I honestly don't think any of the cameos are canon besides Laharl, Etna, and Flonne in Disgaea 2/3.

 

[moog]

nope

Dop is right, La Pucelle came after. Marjoly was from Rhapsody, a shitty music RPG for the PS1.

 

[Devon Jacobs]

Forgive me, you guys are right, La-pucelle is Disgaea Zero so I automatically added it as before Disgaea...
Shuttin up.

 

[Racheal]

Id have to agree there. Atelier Iris and Phantom Brave were both awful games that tried to milk the life out of Disgaea's features.

Besides being published in the US by NIS, the Atelier Iris series has absolutely nothing to do with Disgaea. The only feature they share, is the fact they're both 2D sprite based. (Phantom Brave on the other hand.. I'd rather agree with)

I'd actually recommend the Atelier series, particularly the newest game, Mana Khemia, if you enjoy classic turn based RPGs (with twists to keep it interesting), lots of item collection/synthesis, and wacky characters. Don't expect anything ground breaking plot wise though.