RPG recommendations?

[Thule Esperada]

So, I'm interested in finding a good rpg, but the stuff available is, to be honest, pretty terrible. At least on the console front the rpg selection for the last 2 generations (PS3-PS4) has been abysmal, with uninteresting characters, boring generic worlds and uncompelling stories. The only good stuff has been re-releases of old classics. JRPGs have been otaku-pandering junk and WRPGs try too hard to be "realistic" with their settings for my tastes.

I'd say that the most important factors I'm looking for in an RPG are:
-Preferably fantasy, but sci-fi is also an option.
-Sympathetic characters with depth.
-A plot that has some mystery to it.
-The story's main threat should be supernatural, alien or eldritch. No corrupt politics or something mundane. These can be a subplot, but not the focus.
-A world with some visually interesting locations.
-No mmo-fetch-quests.

Anybody have any recommendations? Any under the radar gems I haven't heard of?

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

As far as modern goes, you can't go wrong with Lost Odyssey. Ni No Kuni is excellent as well.

For more action oriented, western style RPG experiences, the Souls series is great. And for a much more tactical turn-based experience, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is great too.

It's kind of difficult for me to give more recommendations (as far as non-classic titles go), at least ones that meet all of your requirements, while avoiding the things you seem to dislike. Other games that don't fit into all of your specifications would be like Dragon's Dogma, Blue Dragon is okay, Eternal Sonata, Kingdoms of Amalur, Bravely Default, or Legend of Grimrock.

Others that take some huge risks are Undertale and Child of Light; they're different but they're cool.

 

[Thule Esperada]

I guess I could list some RPGs I hold in higher regard and what I like about them.

The souls series.
-Great foreboding atmosphere
-Dark fantasy setting
-Interesting locations
-Sense of mystery
-Unique bosses and monsters
-Satisfying combat and great level design
-Not much in the way of story or characters, but other aspects make up for it.


Final Fantasy VII
-The mixture of science and fantasy
-Each character gets a section that focuses on them
-Serious tone, but still some humor
-Jenova has a wonderfully lovecraftian feel to it
-The more horror themed sections (Shinra building, cave of Gi, Jenova, Gelnika etc.)


Final Fantasy IX
-Strong characters
-Good world building
-Beautiful locations
-Numerous strong antagonists
-Wonderfull soundtrack
-Well paced story


Final Fantasy X
-The threat of Sin
-The Unsent
-The fallen turning into monsters
-Arguably the best turn based battle system


Dragon Age Origins
-The Darkspawn are an interesting threat
-The mysticism of the fade
-Strong characterisation
-Majority of side quests have their own small stories


Knights of the Old Republic I & II
-Sci-fi and fantasy in one package
-The planets feel different from one another
-The second games darker tone
-Kreia is a great antagonist


I'm not too keen on open world design. Open world rpgs always seem to come off as disjointed and poorly paced to me. I also feel like they have weak stories and forgettable characters, and I usually lose interest in them fairly quickly. So I'd say I'm looking for a more compact experience.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Hmm, I can't say that changes my recommendations too much, other than excluding the Souls games, Kingdoms of Amalur, and Dragon's Dogma. You might still try Dragon's Dogma I suppose. Enemies tend to be a bit 'bullet sponge-y', in that they can take a lot of punishment. And it's open world. But the combat is extraordinarily deep, the bigger monsters are really interesting, unique and eventful (they're often compared to Shadow of the Colossus), and it has a very western fantasy style.

I suppose a good question would be, what sort of RPGs have you played that you didn't like, and why?

 

[Thule Esperada]

Well I didn't really like Skyrim or Fallout (3-NV). The settings seemed interesting, but I was turned away by the lack of a deeper narrative and forgettable characters. Bethesda rpgs feel really shallow to me, and the few interesting places to explore are hidden amongst a heap of copypasted caves. The gamebreaking bugs certainly didn't help.
The only tactical rpg I've played was Disgaea 3, but it got way too grindy in the late game and the story didn't take itself seriously enough. The constant fourth wall breaking got old after a while, and the game forsook character development for jokes. This whacky self referential style has been plaguing the jrpg market for the last generation.
I tried a few games from the Atelier series, but there was no central conflict or major plot. It was kind of like a slice of life show, but in a low fantasy setting, so I couldn't get invested.
I have actually played Dragon's Dogma. The combat is the only saving grace in that game for me, but it wasn't enough to carry an entire experience. Once again the weak narrative was a huge detriment, and the lack of monster variety and the damage sponge enemies got monotonous. The classes were also poorly balanced, with anything other than a rogue or ranger being cripplingly inferior.

Wow, I must sound so picky right now.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Well, XCOM luckily doesn't rely on leveling in the same way that Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea do. There's absolutely no need to grind, though your characters still grow over time. It's also far from as ridiculous as Disgaea, though it is just a bit campy. Though the XCOM series is a pretty hardcore tactical RPG series, Enemy Unknown (or the expanded version, Enemy Within) can be played and understood by people new to the genre. It does a great job at accommodating everyone, while not really removing any depth.

If we're including older games, there's tons and tons of them to choose from. Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire (a lot of people hate BoF V because it's so different, but I absolutely love it), Rogue Galaxy, Dragon Quest, Suikoden, Dark Cloud 2, etc.

I don't think you're being picky. While I can still endure a lot of crap in order to enjoy the shining parts of games, I myself am just as picky in a lot of ways. And I agree with a lot of your sentiments. Bethesda RPGs are extremely shallow plot-wise, because all of the quests need to be designed to allow players to start a quest, wander off for forty hours, and come with to still understand what's going on. And I think the way they balance their stats puts a damper on the combat, leading to it mostly just consisting of mashing buttons.

I also hate that Tales/Compile Hearts anime style, low budget, action RPGs have become the standard. Most of those games are devoid of innovation, and -while being an illustrator who works mostly in the manga style- I absolutely hate how terrible these games are written. The tropes are suffocating.

I'd say the three you'd be most likely to enjoy would be Lost Odyssey, Ni No Kuni, and XCOM. They're all vastly different experiences, but they're all extremely well made. Each has a few problems (like the first five or so hours of Ni No Kuni constantly presents interesting problems for you to solve, only to have two of the main characters talk to each other and reveal the solution to the player. It's like a horribly extended tutorial that doesn't like to let the player go. The great writing can help you ignore the issue, but it was extraordinarily grating to me. After that though, the game is fantastic). But each of these games are also shining beacons within their respective gameplay styles.

 

[Rey]

I would highly recommend the Xeno series of games. They are deeply philosophical, entirely suspenseful, and they bring forth powerful feelings you won't feel in any other rpg. Preferably, start with Xenogears as your introduction, then play Xenosaga. Xenosaga is underrated and tossed aside compared to gears, but they are still very good games. All of the games in the series deal with Science fiction themes. You say you want a plot with mystery, suspense, etc, then by all means give my favourite series a try.

Play it in this order: Xenogears > Xenosaga Episode I > II > III > Blade > X (not required and kind of lacking on story) I will warn you though that Episode II has a very different approach to things. The battle system changes and becomes worse. The story is cut short into a very short episode. Everything in episode II feels crammed and there were some VA changes. It is hands down the worst in the series but you will need it to follow the story. By all means, you will have to give the game a chance, trust me.

 

[Thule Esperada]

I would highly recommend the Xeno series of games. They are deeply philosophical, entirely suspenseful, and they bring forth powerful feelings you won't feel in any other rpg. Preferably, start with Xenogears as your introduction, then play Xenosaga. Xenosaga is underrated and tossed aside compared to gears, but they are still very good games. All of the games in the series deal with Science fiction themes. You say you want a plot with mystery, suspense, etc, then by all means give my favourite series a try.

Play it in this order: Xenogears > Xenosaga Episode I > II > III > Blade > X (not required and kind of lacking on story) I will warn you though that Episode II has a very different approach to things. The battle system changes and becomes worse. The story is cut short into a very short episode. Everything in episode II feels crammed and there were some VA changes. It is hands down the worst in the series but you will need it to follow the story. By all means, you will have to give the game a chance, trust me.

I'm actually quite familiar with the Xeno franchise, but I never was able to get into them. With the early games the lack of a proper budget which resulted in a gimped experience, was really off putting. Doesn't help that from a planned six Xenosaga games, only 3 were made, and the story remains inconclusive.
Xenoblade I actually did enjoy for a quite a while; the setting was cool, the story pretty interesting and the party was likable. The excessive amount of monotonous side quests burned me out unfortunately. And the side activities were really the only decent way to get exp after a certain point, and since healing was extremely underpowered in that game, being overleveled was really the only way to not struggle against every story boss (especially the latter ones).

But regardless, thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.

 

[mothcorrupteth]

I recommend:

• Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii). Mixed reviews, mostly because of the pitiful voice acting, but its story is very unique, and its visuals will elicit flashbacks of the PS2 days.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut (PS3) or the standard edition for the XBOX 360. (DO NOT get the DC for the 360 unless you plan on plugging it into an XBOX One; the knuckleheads at Squenix apparently totally forgot that they could program a multi-disc game to install on a 360.) The DC has better boss fights (they were originally outsourced to a separate team who had no idea that the object of the game was to reward players for different styles), but I just prefer to get games for the 360 because of the external hard drive option.
• I'm also told that NIER (PS3, 360) was sorely underrated by critics, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
• There's also Pier Solar and the Great Architects (Genesis, Dreamcast, Vita, PS3, Wii U, XBOX One, PS4, PC), a retro-style American-developed jRPG that seeks to recapture the feel of old Genesis titles. I haven't played it in earnest yet, and those who have say that it won't knock your socks off if you're used to old jRPG cliches, but that's what a lot of us "old-timers" who prefer the classics really want, anyway.
• And another one I plan on getting to eventually is The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (PSP, PC, PS3), which comes VERY highly rated by critics.
• Finally, you have to be living under a rock not to know about Kemco RPGs, which are like B-movie versions of Final Fantasy VI with occasional micro-transactions. Not the zenith of the genre, but a fun distraction if you're lovesick for the classics.