Best RPG for starting out

[BoneSnapDeez]

I imagine that anyone who plays Phantasy Star II as their first RPG would never want to play an RPG ever again.

[MrNash]

I found PSII's encounter rate and dungeon maze-i-ness pretty par for the course with other games of its time. Compared to modern games, I'm sure that there were a lot of fights, and that players were forced to explore far more, but I'm still not inclined to call it "brutal". Maybe because I played the game when it first came out, and it was still relatively early in my time with RPGs, it doesn't strike me as a hard game simply because it was the norm at the time. I'm more inclined to look at complex battle systems or unusual character advancement system as something that someone new to RPGs will have difficulty wrapping their head around, not so much encounter rate or maze-like dungeons.

[Redfield_Lynch]

To start in the world of RPGs i usually advise people to start with the ones that have simple gameplay, usually action RPGs.

Zelda is always an excellent option... for the Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) i would say The Story of Thor for example... if you want something for the PSX, one of my personal favorites, and an excellent 1st RPG, is Alundra...

All of them are easy to pick up, have an excellent story and they're definitely excellent first choices!

[Jmustang1968]

I still can't get over how many people consider zelda to be a rpg

[CFFJR]

I still can't get over how many people consider zelda to be a rpg

I can't get over how many people are still arguing about the issue one way or the other.

[o.pwuaioc]

I still can't get over how many people consider zelda to be a rpg

I can't get over how many people are still arguing about the issue one way or the other.

I know, right? Those others should just accept it's not an RPG and move on with their lives, so no one has to argue anymore.

[Jmustang1968]

I can't get over how many people are still arguing about the issue one way or the other.

I know, right? Those others should just accept it's not an RPG and move on with their lives, so no one has to argue anymore.

It makes me wonder if the fantasy setting is a big factor in people wanting to consider it an rpg.

[GameMasterGuy]

On topic, it's certainly not a good "first RPG" seeing how it can barely be considered one.

[o.pwuaioc]

I can't get over how many people are still arguing about the issue one way or the other.

I know, right? Those others should just accept it's not an RPG and move on with their lives, so no one has to argue anymore.

It makes me wonder if the fantasy setting is a big factor in people wanting to consider it an rpg.

I hazard that it was more the talk to townsfolk, go on quest, beat boss, go talk to more townsfolk kind of setting.

[CFFJR]

I've heard people argue that Pokemon is not an rpg, usually with the comment that the monsters level up, not your character.

I think that's kind of silly considering how many rpgs there are out there where you have to catch monsters in some manner and have them fight for you.

I don't want to start an argument on that, I just think its a much more strange discussion compared to the Zelda one.

On topic, I think Grandia 2 would make an excellent first rpg. I could just be biased though, since I love that game.