How about a RPG/Visual novel recommendations tread?

[Lillietea]

So, I finally decided to make a tread, because it don't seems like anyone have started something like that. Here you can ask for recommendations and help other people find games that they will enjoy playing. Remember to be polite and respectful to other people's choices and preferences!

So, I'll start. I -REALLY- recommend playing "Hello, Charlotte" series. I don't have anything else to say, I can just tell you that you won't regret it. As for order of playing different parts, here it is: "Hello, Charlotte Episode 1: Junk Food, Gods and Teddy Bears", "Hello, Charlotte Episode 2: Requiem Aeternam Deo", "Hello, Charlotte: Delirium", "Hello, Charlotte Episode 3: Childhood's End" and, finally, "Hello, Charlotte: Heaven's Gate".

[ShadeStrider]

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

 

First one was the best. Perfect Atmosphere, perfect setting, et cetera. Also, People actually died in that one. Not that "It was all a simulation" stuff, which to be fair, worked in MGS2 ("Only because all of the events were real. The President really did die. Solid Snake really did nearly die in the Tanker Incident, only to resurface during Big Shell. Solidus Snake really did die. Emma Emmerich is really dead.")

[Yahen]

4 minutes ago, ShadeStrider said:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

 

First one was the best. Perfect Atmosphere, perfect setting, et cetera. Also, People actually died in that one. Not that "It was all a simulation" stuff, which to be fair, worked in MGS2 ("Only because all of the events were real. The President really did die. Solid Snake really did nearly die in the Tanker Incident, only to resurface during Big Shell. Solidus Snake really did die. Emma Emmerich is really dead.")

This game is amazing.

Yet i miss the *witch* and the butter bro (and the AI) didnt wanna spoiler so hope you got it

but i liked Danganronpa 2 too, the movement changes were really something and the cutscenes were amazing (i didnt play Danganronpa 3 cause my computer just does not run it)

[Commander]

Freebies:

The Grey Garden - Haven't played but definitely have seen enough to say try it

Sunset Over Imdahl - Another RPGmaker game that I know Ame covered in a playthrough

Ib - This one I have played and it's a short horror adventure. I absolutely recommend plaything this gem and I hate horror stuff. Then google the Mary song on youtube.

Doki Doki Literature Club - Most of you have played it, but for those who haven't give it a try

 

Fan-translated:

Mother 3 - I got through most of this but I kind of got busy then forgot about finishing it. Fantastic game with a story that will really, really surprise you. Kumatora is in Smash Bros for Lucas's final smash and that alone was my favorite piece of news from Smash Ultimate. The fan translation is great and you will probably understand why Mother fans have been begging for a localization of Mother 3 for all these years and still continue asking for it.

 

Zero No Kiseki - I'm a Kiseki fan, but this one is kind of special. There's a new team working on a better localization as the current one is a bit of a hit or miss, but damn is the game good. I've only played up to chapter 2 and it is probably going to become my favorite in the series. You can jump into this one first, but I would recommend at least trying to beat the Sky series first to get all the needed info or you'll get slightly lost. It's a tad bit different from the other games as over half the game takes place in a single city as you play a detective and beat up the mafia and monsters. It might end up in my favorite game...even with a rough around the edges translation.

 

Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War - If you're new to the series, this odd duck game might be one of the best to get into the FE franchise. PoR is what hooked me in but good luck getting your hands on that or an emulator for it working. The game does have only 10 chapters all consisting of huge maps, but you can save at any point in time on any map. I really need to play and beat this one.

 

Fate/Stay Night - Yes, there's the anime, but the VN is surprisingly really good and worth diving into if you have the time. I'm not gonna tell you how to do that as it takes a few steps. But yes, it's worth it.

 

Re;write - Don't know much about this VN but it's somewhere on my PC I should really get to playing.

 

Steam:

 

Tales of Vesperia - If you hear the words best tales game you'll usually end up hearing one of the three: Vesperia, Abyss, and Destiny. Tales of Vesperia is probably the game right in the middle of the newer styled combat and the old styled 2-d focused combat. Imagine your protagonist being a little bit of a jackass and you're in for a fun ride. It's such a good game and I've played about 30% of the way through and had very, very little gripes or issues. The cast is fun the combat is easy to learn, but hard to master, and the graphics really work. Also the definitive edition gives you a ton of costumes which is always fun to see some of their ridiculous outfits in cutscenes such as Karol in a dress. Graces is my favorite, but Vesperia is a close second.

 

Final Fantasy IX - I recommend it more on the Playstation but easily my favorite FF game in the series. Let me tell you something: I went into this game thinking I would absolutely hate it because of how the characters looked. It's the story. I don't know how they pulled it off, but they did and it kind of got buried between FFVII and FFX which is kind of sad.

 

The Longest Journey - This is not to be mistaken with Dreamfall: The longest journey that is the sequel. This point and click adventure is very charming and honestly had me stumped a couple times as you had to do some ridiculous stuff to get past a certain segment. You may have a few little hiccups since the game was made in the 90s but it really wraps everything up pretty well.

 

Atelier Rorona - Oh my god if you have not at least tried an Atelier game what are you doing with yourself. Atelier is a very strange series where you collect ingredients to make stuff to save your shop. No literally, that's the entire plot of Rorona. Alchemy is actually really fun and you kind of have to balance everything out on a time management system. It's not all that bad but you will have a hard time doing everything. Just...play one of them. It'd be easier than me trying to explain it to you. Also, BARRREL!

 

I could continue but I don't know what y'all are interested in. Tried to put a mix of well known games and some gems.

[Lillietea]

3 hours ago, ShadeStrider said:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

 

First one was the best. Perfect Atmosphere, perfect setting, et cetera. Also, People actually died in that one. Not that "It was all a simulation" stuff, which to be fair, worked in MGS2 ("Only because all of the events were real. The President really did die. Solid Snake really did nearly die in the Tanker Incident, only to resurface during Big Shell. Solidus Snake really did die. Emma Emmerich is really dead.")

I've played 1st part and liked it, though, I couldn't fully enjoy it cuz I've watched anime first and knew beforehand who the culprit is. But still this is a great game and I'm kinda immune to spoilers tbh -_-

I'm still didn't play the 2nd one, but going to 

[Godot]

My only concern regarding Visual Novel threads is that I have to push that talking about Eroges and sexual content is against the rules of this community.  We've had a VN thread once before and that became a bit of a problem.

 

As for VNs Danganronpa and 999 are both great.

 

As for JRPGs;

Persona 3-5

Digimon Cyber Sleuth

Golden Sun

Crono Trigger
Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced

Dragon Quest 11

Final Fantasy 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10

 

for Action RPGs

Dark Cloud

Rogue Galaxy

Odin's Sphere

Star Ocean: Til the End of Time

Megaman Battle Network

Bloodborne

Dragon's Dogma

 

Western RPGs

Bioshock
Borderlands 2

[ShadeStrider]

Oh, and I forgot the entire Xeno series.

 

Xenogears is a decent game with a rushed second part. This one stars Fei. At its release, It was overshadowed by Final Fantasy VII, But I still think it’s worth playing.

 

Xenosaga has a Trilogy, starring Shion and KOS MOS.

 

Xenoblade Chronicles is the most well known series. The first one Stars Shulk, And it’s the best game in the franchise, even above Xenosaga. The Second one Stars Rex, And while I don’t like it as Much as the first, It’s still amazing. And the spin off stars a guy named Cross... I have mixed feelings about Xenoblade Chronicles X.

 

Also, Final Fantasy 8. It is absolutely not a bad game. 

[Commander]

34 minutes ago, ShadeStrider said:

Oh, and I forgot the entire Xeno series.

 

Xenogears is a decent game with a rushed second part. This one stars Fei. At its release, It was overshadowed by Final Fantasy VII, But I still think it’s worth playing.

 

Xenosaga has a Trilogy, starring Shion and KOS MOS.

 

Xenoblade Chronicles is the most well known series. The first one Stars Shulk, And it’s the best game in the franchise, even above Xenosaga. The Second one Stars Rex, And while I don’t like it as Much as the first, It’s still amazing. And the spin off stars a guy named Cross... I have mixed feelings about Xenoblade Chronicles X.

 

Also, Final Fantasy 8. It is absolutely not a bad game. 

 

Let me just talk a bit more since I played all of these. I'll start with FF8. If you get past the bullshit, it's actually a really fun game. There's a couple scenes that are just so stupid you'll want to chuck the game across the universe on top of some horrible design mechanics but it's got a lot of my favorite things in that game. I can't say it's good, but it is worth playing for the highs. I accidentally skipped the most important part of the game since it's optional which is the crazy thing. I finally learned what it was years later.

 

Xenogears oh boy Xenogears. That's a really, really old RPG which actually doesn't look too bad compared to some of the other PS1 era games like Legend of Dragoon and FFVII. If you like Mechs and a story that goes a little out there with the psychological stuff then give it a try. Chrono Trigger if it was rated M and a budget cut is the best way to describe it. You will get lost at some point and have no idea what's going on. I still really enjoyed it, but I'm not a fan of the non-mech combat (which is not all that common).

 

Xenosaga is easily my favorite in the Xeno series. It's one of my favorite casts despite how annoying the main character can get. The three games (plus the Missing Year and Pied Piper) add up to about the same length as Xenogears so be perparred for a long journey that'll make you go through all the emotions. It's like riding on a train that's diving straight into a trainwreck and somehow comes out just fine. Read the Pied Piper if nothing else as imo it's the best part of the series going into the backstory of primarily two characters and a bit of a couple others. The order is XS1, XS2, Pied Piper, the Missing Year, XS3. Jumping from 2 to 3 will make you a bit confused and have to read up on it with some really, really condensed summaries. I don't recommend diving into this series unless you know what you know what you're getting into. I loved it though.

 

Xenoblade I..............don't think it's as good as the others. The combat is leagues above the previous entries as it's actually fun, but the story is really, really dumbed down and predictable. It really is pretty much an inferior Xenosaga story with much, much better combat. That's not so much bias but it reuses a lot of the story elements from Xenosaga but simplifies them. I guess you could call it the best one since it does everything good and has super solid combat as the other entries have very heavy flaws. It really only wins that title due to best gameplay with really no flaw holding it back. Music is a debate as I'd give it to Xenoblade but Xenosaga 3 challenges that one. It's a great RPG worth play, but it's a Xeno game in name only. Which is funny as it was supposed to be called Monado but was changed to a Xeno game to attract people into buying it.

 

Xenoblade X is the first time I have to admit that the story was bad. It's like a WTF happened moment. The gameplay is actually really solid and superior to Xenoblade but the story and characters are just not as good. I had a lot of fun playing it but I just have to admit the original was better due to the story. I'd say pick it up and try it if you've been a Xeno fan for a while to pick up all the small subtle references to the series but don't expect too much otherwise you might be slightly disappointed. It's a good game, but doesn't live up to the Xeno name. I'm hoping for a sequel to this one.

 

I haven't played Xenoblade 2 so idk about that one.

 

But if you want me to rank them from favorite to least XS3 > XB > XBX > XG > XS2 > XS1

 

As for me with Final Fantasy: IX > V > X > IV > VIII > VII > VI > II > I >>>>>>>>>> III

[ShadeStrider]

41 minutes ago, Commander said:

 

Let me just talk a bit more since I played all of these. I'll start with FF8. If you get past the bullshit, it's actually a really fun game. There's a couple scenes that are just so stupid you'll want to chuck the game across the universe on top of some horrible design mechanics but it's got a lot of my favorite things in that game. I can't say it's good, but it is worth playing for the highs. I accidentally skipped the most important part of the game since it's optional which is the crazy thing. I finally learned what it was years later.

 

Xenogears oh boy Xenogears. That's a really, really old RPG which actually doesn't look too bad compared to some of the other PS1 era games like Legend of Dragoon and FFVII. If you like Mechs and a story that goes a little out there with the psychological stuff then give it a try. Chrono Trigger if it was rated M and a budget cut is the best way to describe it. You will get lost at some point and have no idea what's going on. I still really enjoyed it, but I'm not a fan of the non-mech combat (which is not all that common).

 

Xenosaga is easily my favorite in the Xeno series. It's one of my favorite casts despite how annoying the main character can get. The three games (plus the Missing Year and Pied Piper) add up to about the same length as Xenogears so be perparred for a long journey that'll make you go through all the emotions. It's like riding on a train that's diving straight into a trainwreck and somehow comes out just fine. Read the Pied Piper if nothing else as imo it's the best part of the series going into the backstory of primarily two characters and a bit of a couple others. The order is XS1, XS2, Pied Piper, the Missing Year, XS3. Jumping from 2 to 3 will make you a bit confused and have to read up on it with some really, really condensed summaries. I don't recommend diving into this series unless you know what you know what you're getting into. I loved it though.

 

Xenoblade I..............don't think it's as good as the others. The combat is leagues above the previous entries as it's actually fun, but the story is really, really dumbed down and predictable. It really is pretty much an inferior Xenosaga story with much, much better combat. That's not so much bias but it reuses a lot of the story elements from Xenosaga but simplifies them. I guess you could call it the best one since it does everything good and has super solid combat as the other entries have very heavy flaws. It really only wins that title due to best gameplay with really no flaw holding it back. Music is a debate as I'd give it to Xenoblade but Xenosaga 3 challenges that one. It's a great RPG worth play, but it's a Xeno game in name only. Which is funny as it was supposed to be called Monado but was changed to a Xeno game to attract people into buying it.

 

Xenoblade X is the first time I have to admit that the story was bad. It's like a WTF happened moment. The gameplay is actually really solid and superior to Xenoblade but the story and characters are just not as good. I had a lot of fun playing it but I just have to admit the original was better due to the story. I'd say pick it up and try it if you've been a Xeno fan for a while to pick up all the small subtle references to the series but don't expect too much otherwise you might be slightly disappointed. It's a good game, but doesn't live up to the Xeno name. I'm hoping for a sequel to this one.

 

I haven't played Xenoblade 2 so idk about that one.

 

But if you want me to rank them from favorite to least XS3 > XB > XBX > XG > XS2 > XS1

 

As for me with Final Fantasy: IX > V > X > IV > VIII > VII > VI > II > I >>>>>>>>>> III

9

If you think Xenoblade 1's story was predictable, then you really aren't gonna like Xenoblade 2. It starts out extremely slow, and the combat isn't really fun until you've gotten through the first two chapters. I found it enjoyable, but still...

 

 

I have to question your placing of II as the best of the NES trilogy. I really couldn't get into the NES trilogy, because the combat felt too slow. But I do respect that It kicked off the franchise and how revolutionary they were for the time. Except for Final Fantasy II. Not only do I think Final Fantasy II is the worst of the NES Trilogy, I think that It isn't a good game. The Dungeon design is absolutely horrific (especially the Trap rooms), the Combat is built on good Ideas, but poor execution. The Soundtrack is not very good, with some exceptions. I respect it for establishing a bunch of staples for the franchise, but as a game, it's terrible. Final Fantasy I and III at least had better design choices.... for the most part.

 

I also have to question putting VI so low. Among many Final Fantasy fans, It's considered the best in the franchise. I myself consider it second best, after VII.

[Commander]

3 minutes ago, ShadeStrider said:

If you think Xenoblade 1's story was predictable, then you really aren't gonna like Xenoblade 2. It starts out extremely slow, and the combat isn't really fun until you've gotten through the first two chapters. I found it enjoyable, but still...

 

 

I have to question your placing of II as the best of the NES trilogy. I really couldn't get into the NES trilogy, because the combat felt too slow. But I do respect that It kicked off the franchise and how revolutionary they were for the time. Except for Final Fantasy II. Not only do I think Final Fantasy II is the worst of the NES Trilogy, I think that It isn't a good game. The Dungeon design is absolutely horrific (especially the Trap rooms), the Combat is built on good Ideas, but poor execution. The Soundtrack is not very good, with some exceptions. I respect it for establishing a bunch of staples for the franchise, but as a game, it's terrible. Final Fantasy I and III at least had better design choices.... for the most part.

 

I also have to question putting VI so low. Among many Final Fantasy fans, It's considered the best in the franchise. I myself consider it second best, after VII.

Believe me, I can handle awful combat as seen from Xenosaga II which most people who play that game play it wrong and it is awful if you play it that way. When I figured that out, I actually ended up really, really liking the game but I probably won't replay since it's so draining. I don't mind a predictable story either. I just am bothered by people throwing Xenoblade as the pillar of the best game with none of the others coming close when the others are still actually really good, but different. I'd still recommend playing Xenoblade if you have the time despite my issues as the game is fantastic.

 

I've played Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls on the GBA which imo is the best version to play. I think I is the superior game on everything, but just all these little things made me end up liking II considering how dated and old this game was. It was really experimental and I kind of really liked the emperor. I absolutely understand why people think it's awful and even put it as the worst game, but I just kind of liked the ideas behind it and the risks it took. I enjoyed it for what it was and it's really hard to explain for people who hated it. Leveling up magic was godawful and let's never bring that mechanic ever again. Just because I liked something doesn't mean it's superior or inferior to another.

 

This ties into why FFVII is lower as well but it really grinds down to how the game works. The story is alright and didn't really leave much of an impact other than Shadow's story. There's really no singular focused character and Locke ends up being optional. I just couldn't really get into it and while Kefka is good, the ending is just kind of Kefka is dead so let's live out the rest of our lives in this crappy world. My issue with the game kind of grinds down to how magic is learned. Everyone can pretty much learn every spell so the only difference is their other skill and weapon choice. It's why so many of the characters are more or less just bad. I like Setzer's design and he's my favorite from FFVI but I just could not really get into the game and didn't really wow me like the others.

 

Why do I put FFVII above FFVI even if I think the materia system is worse? It's the cast. Sephiroth I think is a terrible villain but I ended up really liking the FFVII player cast. It's a really, really weird game and while I don't think it's the best FF game there's a lot of good in this one. Disc 1 imo is super solid and I'd even argue the peak of FF. I had a lot of fun there and then the experience kind of just kept getting worse and worse XD. Most people who have VI and VII as their favorite it usually was the first game they played. It's understandable. Though you'd be surprised how many people put FFIX as their favorite FF nowadays. FFVI being in the middle of people's list shouldn't come off as so much a surprise.

[Lillietea]

Oh! I almost forgot! I also highly recommend you playing Satsuriku no Tenshi. There are anime and manga, but they are not as good as game.

[Lorisaur]

I suggest you Pokemon Reborn, an amazing fangame that... wait no I'm an idiot