Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Post by **Exhuminator** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 12:23 pm

Earlier we discussed the Nintendo DS adventure and platformer genres. For the final part of the conversation, it'd be interesting to discuss role playing games. Much like the last two threads, this thread is trying to focus on US domestic English releases, but notable fan translations or European releases are welcome in the conversation. Feel free to mention DS RPGs you've played, beaten, loved, hated, and would recommend.

To help reinvigorate the synapses, here's a starter list of English DS RPGs:

If I forgot anything good, let me know, I'll add it to the list.

I'll be back to post my own experiences later.

Post by **Sarge** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 12:37 pm

Holy cow, that's a lot of RPGs. I don't think I realized how many there were.

Okay, gonna do my list again, and try not to forget to follow up at some point.

Beaten:

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow**
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia**
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin**
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of RevelationFinal Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Glory of Heracles
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals
Lunar Knights
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Radiant Historia
Sands of Destruction
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Suikoden Tierkreis

Played:

7th Dragon*
Avalon Code
Away: Shuffle Dungeon
Blood of Bahamut*
Blue Dragon Plus
Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow
Children of Mana
Contact
Deep Labyrinth
Dragon Ball: Origins
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts
Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
From the Abyss
Infinite Space
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Lost Magic
Lunar: Dragon Song
Magical Starsign
Master of the Monster Lair
Mazes of Fate DS
Mega Man Star Force: Leo
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
My World, My Way
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
Naruto: Path of the Ninja
Nostalgia
Orcs & Elves
Phantasy Star Zero
Pokemon Black Version
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
Pokemon Platinum Version
Pokemon Ranger
Ragnarok DS
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu - Goddess of Destiny*
SaGa 3: Rulers of Time and Space - Shadow or Light*
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Soma Bringer*
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Spectral Force Genesis
Spectrobes
Summon Night: Twin Age
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
Tales of Innocence*
Tales of the Tempest*
Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal
The Dark Spire
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
The World Ends with You

SRPGS:

Bleach: The 3rd Phantom
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Fire Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow*
Front Mission
Hero's Saga Laevatein Tactics
Heroes of Mana
Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix
Knights in the Nightmare
Luminous Arc
Luminous Arc 2
Rondo of Swords
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

Post by **fastbilly1** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 1:36 pm

I have not gone through the full list but I did beat two that few people will have:
Nostaglia
Soma Bringer

Soma Bringer is more well known, it had a pretty high profile translation effort and the Monolith Soft pedigree, but it was like a less userfriendly FFCC.

Nostaglia however was a neat game with a really awesome team behind it. Fresh off the FF3 and FF4 remakes, they built this original game with the director of the Saturn Sakura Taisen at the head. A steampunk shrunk version of our world with Jules Verne elements all over it was the setting, the story was cliched, the gameplay was very Skies of Arcadia meets Golden Sun and Wildarms. It has epic ship battles that go from push over to difficult with no warning or way to level...But it had a critical flaw about 3/4s of the way into the game at the Dragon Temple where the game freezes. It was apparently fixed in a later release.

Post by **Sarge** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 1:49 pm

Man, didn't know that. Glad I didn't put a ton of time into my copy.

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 2:18 pm

The DS is a god-tier system for RPGs. I have beaten:

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Final Fantasy III
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Orcs & Elves

All of them were great, and DQIX is one of my very favorite RPGs on any system. Also, Orcs & Elves was tremendously fun, and it exceeded all of my expectations.

Post by **BoneSnapDeez** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 2:26 pm

Incredible system for RPGs. Was great to get remakes of Final Fantasy III (finally!), Ys Book I & II, and the Dragon Quest games. Not to mention the original DS RPGs. Dragon Quest IX and Radiant Historia are two of my favorite JRPGs ever. So many solid dungeon-crawlers and SRPGs as well. The 7th generation is when handhelds really overtook the home consoles in terms of game quality, in my opinion.

Post by **ElkinFencer10** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:40 pm

I've not delved into DS RPGs nearly to the degree that I'd like, but that is how I played Final Fantasy III several years ago. There's a really meh Inuyasha RPG on the system, too, but it's really only worth playing if you're a big fan of the anime. I've got Final Fantasy IV, but I haven't played it and plan to play on Super Nintendo when I do get around to playing it. I need to get the Dragon Quest games, but I'm just now starting to get into that series. My big RPG experiences on the DS were Pokémon Pearl and Fire Emblem Awakening.

Post by **Exhuminator** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:41 pm

What I beat:

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (9/10 Fantastic)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (10/10 Extraordinary)
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (7/10 Decent)
Chrono Trigger (9/10 technically beat this on SNES years ago)
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (8/10 a ton of fun)
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (6/10 a botched attempt)
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (7/10 fun but overrated)
Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts (6/10 an OK dungeon crawler)
Etrian Odyssey (7/10 technically beat the 3DS remake)
From The Abyss (5/10 bland dungeon crawler I beat anyway)
Front Mission (9/10 super fantastic SRPG)
Orcs & Elves (7/10 very solid dungeon crawler)
Soma Bringer (9/10 blissful mix of Diablo and Secret of Mana)

What I played:

Avalon Code (got bored with it quick, may try again someday)
Blood of Bahamut (not a fun game single player, multiplayer would be good)
Deep Labyrinth (utterly terrible excuse for a dungeon crawler)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (the bad level designs ruin it)
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (needlessly punitive and very generic gameplay)
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (the roguelike mechanics are unbalanced)
Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (technical issues and stale repetitive gameplay)
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (very decent, but later versions are better)
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier (nice fan service but combat system sucks)

I am interested in playing and beating many more games from the list I posted.

Edit: forgot I beat From The Abyss

Post by **Sarge** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:42 pm

I know that Radiant Historia got compared a lot to Chrono Trigger back in the day. I wouldn't put it in that category, but it's a darn fine game, and perhaps the strongest contender for best original RPG on the system.

That battle system is really easy to exploit, though. Aht's traps are ridiculously overpowered.

Post by **prfsnl_gmr** » Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:43 pm

ElkinFencer10 wrote:I've got Final Fantasy IV, but I haven't played it and plan to play on Super Nintendo when I do get around to playing it.

If possible, play the PSP version with the after years expansion.

Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.

Re: Your thoughts and experiences with Nintendo DS RPGs.