Great Science Fiction RPGs?

[thecommontask]

Hey all, I've been listening to Escape Pod today and had a thought about whether or not I played any good Science Fiction RPGs. It's somewhat hard to categorize what would be SF and what would not because games like Final Fantasy VIII have clear space/time themes in line with classic SF while Final Fantasy IX (and most others) doesn't. When you get into Fantasy in general these lines become fuzzy so... I'm looking for games that have clear elements of Science Fiction involved in them. Check wiki SF for a bit more detail in the genre.

I don't think I've played a ton - at least not many good ones but here are a few I can think of:

1) Phantasy Star Series (IV is my fave)
2) Shadowrun (are there more cyberpunk ones?)
3) Xenosaga (never played it through unfortunately)

I am lost thinking about them right now... can anyone offer more suggestions? It would be my dream to find a Science Fiction game with Shining Force mechanics/style.

[Hatta]

Star ocean is sci-fi, but it's real time combat. Wasteland and Fallout are post-apocalyptic, but they have lasers, so that counts right? Starflight isn't quite an RPG, but a space faring adventure game. Still it tells a good story, and you do have a crew with stats, so it sort of counts. Ultima has a space ship in it, but it's completely tacked on.

That's all I can come up with right now.

[Reccos]

Well its certainly SF but whether its a RPG or not is debatable. But, for the sake of discussion, I'll just ere in favor of the developer's description of action-shooter-RPG... anyway... Mass Effect.

The MegaTen series is borderline sci-fi with Strange Journeys on the DS being a very conscious push towards hard SF.

As for classics it seems like you've named most of the big ones... PSIV is definitely my favorite as well and really you're probably best off just playing that one again heh.

[emwearz]

Mass Effect I & II for sure, its like watching a episode of Star Trek, but with thrice the action.

[Wintermute1981]

Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday for the Genesis.

[weasels]

Rogue Galaxy comes to mind as well as the front mission series. megaman x: comand mission as well as the megaman battle network games and megaman legends are very sci-fi oriented. there is also ar-tonelico 1 and 2 but i have to say the games are really based on prefrance since it's very anime romance oriented of a series. tales of the abyss (and most other tales games) have some sci-fi going on.

[pepharytheworm]

Of course there is Fantasy in almost all SF RPGs but here's some I can think of:

Robotrek - SNES
Secrets of Evermore - SNES
Earthbound - SNES (if you classify invasion movies as Scifi, which I do. Psychic ablities instead of magic)
Sigma Star Saga - GBA
Xenogears - PS1
Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon - PS2
BioMotor Unitron - NGPC
Contact - DS
Drone Tactics - DS

Spectrobes series
Star Ocean series
.hack series
Front Mission series

Arlight, I am tired of looking hope that helps.

[Dakinggamer87]

As mentioned I would also recommend Mass Effect, Star Ocean, and .hack series. These are some of my favorites.

[thecommontask]

I've always been a huge SF fan so these are some great recommendations for me to check out. I think it's a good start. I wish that game developers would really tackle some of the more adult/serious concerns with good SF. Some films that I think really exemplify the genre are Moon(2009), Blade Runner(1982), They Live(1988), Alien(1979), 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968), Gattaca(1997)... to name a few. Moon is amazing - it's new to dvd and at some Red Box kiosks, so anyone who has not seen it please check out.

[Ziggy]

I'm also gonna say Earthbound and Star Ocean for SNES. I didn't care too much for Earthbound, but I absolutely LOVED Star Ocean. It had a GREAT science fiction story! The story really reminded me a lot of the original Star Trek series, which I like a lot.