Roughdawg4 looks at the world of RPG games

Have you ever wanted to submerge yourself into a game where 800 hours plus gaming is never enough? Where game saves are a rare occurrence but the rewards are plentiful?

Welcome to the world of the Role Playing Game. Roughdawg4 started his gaming adventure on RPG games, so over to the man who knows…

There are many different genres of games. My personal favorite though is RPG’s (JRPG’s to be more specific). The first RPG I played was Dragon Warrior on the NES and I was hooked ever since. I love lengthy stories, customizable character’s, intricate battle systems, and side quests to have some fun. In this article, I am going to focus on my favorite RPG’s on the PS3. Unfortunately, RPG’s have the longest average platinum’s but to me they are by far the most fun and sometimes the most rewarding as well.

Here is my list of RPG’s in no particular order:

Fallout 3 / Fallout New Vegas

After doing a great job with Oblivion when the ps3 was released, they came out with excellent blockbuster titles in Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Both games are set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with the world being lived in underground vaults. Although the story isn’t as prominent as most RPG’s, it more than makes up with it by having a very non-linear open world. You can do and go wherever you want at the start of the game. You can easily spend hundreds of hours exploring every dungeon and side quest that is available. In fact, if you are going for the platinum trophy you probably will be spending quite a bit of time anyway. On top of having an awesome open world, the graphics are also top notch as well. The towns are a very realistic representation of a post-apocalyptic future. Of course, since this game is set in the future, there are many tech weapons that increase the fun factor. Throw in voice acting by Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman and you got a classic on your hands.

Unfortunately, freezing problems happen throughout the game and will ruin your experience. They do not happen often, but enough where it will drive you crazy when you lost 3-4 hours of work because you forgot to save. If it was not for the freezing, I would give these games a perfect score but this only downgrades the game once. As for the trophies, the games are lengthy but not very difficult. You can increase the difficulty though if you find it too easy though.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope

If you played any of the previous Star Ocean’s, you should know exactly what you are getting yourself into. You play the game as main character Edge Maverick. The game is set in the future where people live in space colonies since Earth was riddled with radiation in a war. As you continue through the story, you start to realize there is a big threat in the universe. There are a few plot twists in the game and many lengthy cut scenes. At some points, they will get lengthy but the graphics will blow you away. The voice acting however, will leave you wanting a little more. Even though the voices all fit the characters they are portraying, a few of them will get on your nerves after a while…no names though (Lymle).

The battle system is top notch. If you played the previous games in the series, the battle system should look very similar. They took an excellent system in Star Ocean 3 and took it to the next level by making minor tweaks for the better. You can blindside enemies in battle for more damage, you do not have to mash the X button to attack, and there is a bonus board that gives you additional rewards after a battle is over. And if the battle system does not get you going, the music most certainly will. Sakuraba is the composer of the game and he did an excellent job. Many times in RPG’s I get to a point where I need some music on, but not for this game and it says something since I played for nearly 800 hours.

As for the trophies…well it doesn’t get much harder than this. In fact, this is the hardest RPG to date to get a platinum. Not only do you need to drop around 800 hours to get it, the game is not easy by any means either. There is a bonus dungeon you need to traverse and its 20 floors and will take about 3-4 hours. Doesn’t sound that bad, how about throwing in a boss every few floors? No, how about a crazy boss at the end that can easily kill you in seconds if you are not careful? How about you cannot save….got your attention now huh . Throw in the battle trophies that need to be 100% and this game is a crazy one to finish. If you do get the platinum, like I did , you will have a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Final Fantasy XIII / Final Fantasy XIII-2

The best part of the Final Fantasy Series is each game is unique and these are no different. Of course that sums up the whole Final Fantasy series in general. Although its the same name, its never the same game mechanics. The second game is a sequel of the first. If you haven’t played these games yet and you like RPG’s, you need to drop what you are playing and get them now. You start on Cocoon and you are given powers through this monster called the F’alcie who originate from Pulse. Since people fear and do not like people from Pulse, Cocoon wants nothing to do with you….but we are the good guys . I am not going to go into specifics as I do not want to spoil anything but the graphics and cut-scenes will literally blow you away. Square-Enix spent years on this title and it shows. In the beginning of the game there will be a lot of cut-scenes so I hope you enjoy them. The biggest complaint with the game is the game is too linear. In fact, I would say 90% of the game you are going in a fixed route that you cannot deviate from. Enter Final Fantasy XIII-2.

If XIII was linear, XIII-2 is as non-linear as you can get. It is nice to know Square-Enix listen to all the fans complaining about the linear nature of the first title. Now there is side quests and you are free to do things out of order how you see fit. BE WARNED, Final Fantasy XIII-2 assumes you played the first game so you might not understand certain things. You can still beat the game, you just might not make sense of certain things or you will lose some of the value in the game. A new character Noel is starred in this game and you have someone returning in Serah, YES. The battle system stays relatively the same from the first title which works so I am happy with that. The gameplay is overall pretty good until you reach an interesting ending that will leave you wanting more…..literally. I hope the new Final Fantasy due out late 2013 will answer everything.

As Fallout, the trophies are not very difficult just long. Although, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is shorter than the 1st game. Although you can get both platinum’s in probably around 120 hours which is not that bad for RPG’s.

Let us know what RPG’s you enjoy and why.