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Aside from final fantasy, which tends to get the most attention (not sure why I havent enjoyed a FF past VIII) what is your favorite series?

I have really enjoyed the grandia series (haven't played grandia xtreme yet), and suikoden (haven't played II as it goes over a hundred, and if you remember i started the "most you have played for a game" thread, and am obviously a cheapskate)

I am sure the shining series will get brought up here without a doubt. I own several of the games, but havent had the chance to play them yet. (have most of the ones on the saturn and sword of haiya for the GG , missing genesis ones).

some series i have only played one game, so i cant judge the whole series (phantasy star, y's, wild arms etc)

what about you?

sorry double post

I'm gonna vote Star Ocean. While I'm not a fan of the third game, I've got over a hundred hours logged in the second, and I probably spent about twenty in the first a few years ago. I prefer the sci-fi setting, for one. The fantasy genre is ok, but it gets boring for me after a while. The RPGs that really stand out to me may have some fantasy elements, but in general it's not just fantasy. FFVI was really steampunk, Star Ocean is about the Star Trek level of technology, Live A Live hits multiple time periods...all enough to keep me interested.

Plus, the combat system is something I have fun with in Star Ocean. I find it actually pretty interesting and not nearly as boring as the typical turn-based structure. Factor in quality stories, item creation, secret characters, and the ability to enter towns on my own and attempt to favor specific characters over others to affect things like subplot relationships as well as potential endings and even AI in combat(seriously, get a character to like you in Star Ocean: The Second Story, and they start backing you up more often in fights), what's not to love?

Unfortunately the third one killed it for me. I wasn't a fan of the plot and the characters were uninteresting. With one exception. Cliff is the greatest character in that game by far, and anyone who doesn't use him is an idiot.

Quest for Glory. It's the perfect synthesis of RPG character building and Adventure story telling. You really get to solve puzzles in entirely different ways depending on how you build your character. They do a very good job of making you feel like the Hero, instead of just playing through someone else like most RPGs. The game has a great sense of humor too.

It's fun enough, that I've played through all 5 games with all the character classes. Anyone who hasn't tried out this classic series would do well to seek them out.

I keep meaning to try Quest for Glory.

My personal favorite RPG series is probably Baldur's Gate. Maybe Fallout.

If we're focusing on japanese rpgs, I'd probably say that aside from the Final Fantasy games it is Disgaea games that haven gotten a lot of my time I've noticed. I always get sucked into rpgs with a lot of power leveling and item collection. Few rpgs deliver that on the level of Disgaea and Final Fantasy games.

Getting away from japanese fare, I have become a big fan of Bioware games. With Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and Mass Effect they are three for three now. Althought Jade Empire's combat system was a bit of a letdown, they came back in fine form with a much better one in Mass Effect

FFT is my all time favorite, though it is really not part of the FF series. However, I am currently digging the SMT series, esp. the Persona ones. I really don't like series, but a certain games in the series. FF series, I only like FFVI. SMT series, I only like the Persona 3 and Nocturne.

The Dragon Quest series is finally starting to get the love it deserves. I've found that it has maintained a consistent level of quality that the FF series has lost. I still will get every main title FF game, but they've lost a lot of the magic they once had. I think the big problem is that they're always trying to reinvent their game mechanics. I'm not saying change is bad, but when you compare the iterations of FF from 1-6, and look at the changes between those, you see that while they're trying new stuff, there's still a very solid core of gameplay. With FF7 and onward they've made much broader changes, which bothers me sometimes.

On the other hand, Dragon Quest will unabashedly stay close to its roots, to the point of including the classic NES sounds for standard actions like attacking and leveling up. There is still evolution between titles in the series, but they're smaller, more incremental changes, as opposed to the grand sweeping changes of the recent FF titles.

I enjoy the Dragon Quest series very much. It has a certain charm that ranges from Akira Toriyama' art to the names of spells. I especially like how some of the games' stories progress. Other favorites of mine include many of Quintet rpg's and the Tri-Ace rpg's.

My all time favorite is the Shining series. I picked up Shining Force when it came out and I've been hooked ever since. It's roo bad part 2 and 3 of Shining Force 3 never got translated....I still may pick them up. But I did finally get complete & mint copies of all the US released Shining Force except the Game Gear one....but I'm on the look out. Ohh..and I'm not counting NEO or EXA....they are ok games...but don't feel like they should be called shining force.

I also really enjoy Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark. Great first person dungeon crawlers. Shining Wisdom is also a great game, probably my favorite 2d Zelda clone. I still haven't played Shining Tears or Shining Soul, but plan on it.

Even though Sega isn't know for their RPG's the ones they made are high quality....or were high quality...i'm still not sure about the PS2 releases, though I may give them another shot.