I’m thinking of taking some time and settling in for a nice week of playing some Japanese RPGs on my Playstation 2. Something along the lines of Final Fantasy or Suikoden, perhaps, but I’m not against the idea of a Tactical RPG like Disgaea. In any case, I want something fun that doesn’t require a lot of level grinding to get to the point where it’s not frustrating. Yet not something as simple as Dokapon Kingdom.

I’ve heard good things about the Persona series, but would like some more ideas before I drive down to GameStop and look around.

Any ideas?

Yes. Get a PS3 and get Killzone 2. Now.

Yep, you and me are the only ones that play video games. But the ones I play aren’t gay.

Of course, if you had a PS3 you could play Fallout 3, which I understand is one of the best RPG’s in recent years.
Also, from what I understand, the best Japanese RPG’s these days are on the Nintendo DS, if you can believe it.

Nope. The games arent.

but the player is.

not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Because they’re for homosexuals, you see.

Oh, I see.

I see two samers talking about their Showery, German games.

JRPGs aren’t gay. They’re about manly things like interior decorating and Miza Minelli trivia. In one, you try to figure out who stole Cher’s favorite wig!

RPG’s arent gay.

I wish a I had a few.

Didnt know Japan made them, though. thought it was pretty much a US/Soviet dominated market.

So many good JPRGs. What system are you rocking, Puffy?

Like I said, I wish I had an RPG, but I don’t.

But if i had a choice, it would be something along the lines of this model.

Havent played a video game since I was at the bus station in Omaha in early 2000.

DID I SAY GET A PS3 YET. CUZ YOU SHOULD.

I keep thinking you are talking about an old programming language when you say RPG ...

If you don’t want level grinding, then I don’t recommend Disgaea.  Your max level is 9999 and if you want to complete everything in the game, you’ll have to get several characters approaching that level.  It’s one of my favorite Tactical RPGs despite the grinding, and it’s hilarious to boot, so you may want to give it a try if you find it in the bargain bin.

Final Fantasy XII is one of my personal favorites.  They borrowed heavily from the MMORPG style of play (much of the game engine is based on FF XI) so chests have a percentage chance to spawn, and a percentage chance to contain certain items.  You’ll have a few frustrating moments if you are trying to get certain pieces of equipment, but you only have to do as much level grinding as you want.

FF X is more of an interactive movie (with very bad animation) and there is little exploration outside of the main storyline.  No grinding required, but you can screw yourself over with the sphere system if you’re not careful.

I’ve not played Suikoden, but I’ve heard that it’s a very enjoyable game.

I like Disgaea well enough, although I prefer the spin-off Makai Kingdom a little more. I don’t like it as much as Final Fantasy Tactics—by far my favorite—but I’ve played through that game so many times that it’s not much of a challenge.

I have FF XII, actually, but I really couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll give it another crack, but I found it really tedious, even though I like the Ivalice setting (it comes from FFT Advance, after all). Of the whole Final Fantasy series, the only ones I really liked were VI, VII and IX.

The current plan is to order Persona 3 and 4 from Amazon, and maybe see how far I can get into Dokapon Kingdom before I go insane from the cutesiness.