60 replies to this topic

[Rone Rivendale]

My best friend is a gamer but he has never been able to get into RPGs. He plays puzzle games and action games as long as they don't have too many buttons. He told me he wants to get into RPGs but he wants a sort of 'starter' RPG to help him get into it.

So what is an easy RPG that doesn't involve alot of reading, or alot of extras? He has a short attention span so Final Fantasy type stuff is just going to put him to sleep.

He has a PS2, a DS, a Wii, and a SNES.

[King of Spooks]

POkemon. 

[Carrion Crow]

FF7 is where it started for me but I have seen many a friend get tired and sack off the reactor scenes to begin. RPGs require patience as a genre, it's pretty fundamental so you may be fighting a losing battle here mate.

[General Robert E. Lee]

Perhaps he should play an Action RPG like Diablo 2 or Titan Quest.

[Evangel]

I've seen many people pick up Oblivion or Fallout 3 whereas they'd never touch a Final Fantasy.  A fan of FPS could pick it up and not really have to worry too much about stats and number values.

[Neophyte]

Puzzle Quest for the DS seems to be a good mix of what he wants. I think he would enjoy it.

[Sludgelord]

How far back is your friend willing to go? If he's willing to play an SNES RPG, he might like Live a Live since it's a collection of smaller stories that play relatively differently. It's not that difficult, it's one of the best SNES games, and it's pretty easy to get into because he can pick whichever scenario he's most interested in first. If you can't coerce him to play it, just tell him it was made by the same company that made Final Fantasy.

[Evangel]

Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario are pretty good and simple starters.  If he can't deal with that, I don't think he can cut it with any other RPG.

[ATARI]

Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario are pretty good and simple starters.  If he can't deal with that, I don't think he can cut it with any other RPG.

Super mario RPG maybe, but I wouldn't say paper mario would be something that I would recommend.  I've only played the first one that was for the N64, but I thought the plot was terrible (Even more so than your regular run of the mill mario plot line), and while I realize that this isn't an important aspect of an RPG that uses Mario as the protagonist (the fact that a story exists is irrelevant anyways), but for somebody who is starting out, this may not be the best thing.  Also, I never at all liked the battle system of Paper Mario.  The timed  hits thing can be fun, but SMRPG did it so much better, and it wasn't as annoying or as bulky/slow as it was in Paper Mario.  Also SMRPG doesn't have characters that are made of fucking paper

[Eltee]

Don't listen to ATARI, the plot/gameplay/music/writing in Paper Mario 1 and especially 2 are amazing

what a heathen that atari

[General Robert E. Lee]

Yeah, the Paper Mario games are great, and so are the Mario & Luigi games.
I can hardly play Super Mario RPG anymore.  It was great when I first played it, but it feels so dated in pretty much every respect now.

[Bobberticus]

super mario rpg, for sure.

[Evangel]

I had a lot of fun with Paper Mario, and it was one of the first RPG's I ever beat.  The guy's looking for a game that's light on the reading, plus the characters are recognizable, so you're not trying to learn the funky names of 17 different J-RPG characters.

The game is also light on the equipment and special attacks.  You're not overwhelmed with learning the mechanics of 10 different spells, plus weapons and armor all at once.  The math is pretty simple, too, you can get hit by a certain attack and know for certain whether you live or die. 

Another thing, the maps are a lot less bland than most RPG's, letting you jump around and interact with all kinds of things.

So basically, the perfect segway into RPG's.  Like RPG's for babies.

[Rajew]

Wait I don't understand.
Your brother is trying to force himself to like RPGs? I don't think this cockamamie scheme will work at all...

[ThugTears666]

He plays puzzle games and action games as long as they don't have too many buttons.

Is he like missing a hand or something?

[Warped655]

Yeah I don't get the "too many buttons" comment either...

Now I'm not to into the hardcore turn based RPGs myself, but I love Action RPGs. and non-RPG games that HAVE RPG elements. like Bioshock and Stalker: SoC. he could always ease himself into RPG through games with light RPG elements.


Random note: the only Turn-based RPG that I REALLY LIKED was Vandal Hearts... and that game was technically a tactical turn based RPG, where character positions actually matter, and thus it actually seems like a battle, rather then 2 groups of people just taking turns punching each other.


EDIT: I Take that back, I loved Earthbound, and the SNES Mario RPG. but that has been about it. I played a little Chrono Cross and it was ok, but I don't think I'll ever bother to beat it.

[Faust]

I totally agree with all sentiments expressed about the Paper Mario series for this purpose - except those by Checkov and shit!!!

I got my partner into RPGs THROUGH Paper Mario 2. Initially it was a case of "THIS LOOKS LAME YOU JUST TAKE TURNS TO HIT EACH OTHER!??!" which, through playing that game, developed into an 18 month obsession with Final Fantasy 12. He's even progressed onto CRPGs now like Baldur's Gate.

I've always described it as a brilliant MYFIRSTRPG!!! To teach someone the basics without overwhelming them with stats and shit, Paper Mario is the way to go.

[Vellfire]

Wait I don't understand.
Your brother is trying to force himself to like RPGs? I don't think this cockamamie scheme will work at all...

Yeah really.  This is exactly what I was thinking.  So what if he doesn't like RPGs?  He doesn't HAVE to.

[Evangel]

He told me he wants to get into RPGs but he wants a sort of 'starter' RPG to help him get into it.

Also, I didn't see the game systems you mentioned he has available.  I'll try and think of something in that range.

[DDay]

If Only he had a Sega I would Recommend Phantasy star 2 (Since that the frist RPG I played and loved) but FF7 is a good one too.(Just tell him to stay away from Aeris she sucks and in the end is not worth it. BTW I never used her that much since I already evaluate she sucks. Anytime I used her she was more of a place holder so when she die I was like there gose one useless character.)