Ray Porreca of Entertainment Buddha writes: "Role playing games, as genres go, have seen many of their best entries lie dormant for too long. After the golden era of SNES, PlayStation and PlayStation 2 RPGs, the past generation of consoles left much to be desired for fans of the genre. While 2014 and beyond looks to usher in a RPG revival, many of the genre’s best and most unique franchises have been abandoned."
Tired of grinding through dungeons non-stop? Want to take a break for once in your life? No worries. Check out the best PS2 action RPGs.
Didn't expect to see Drakengard in a list like this, considering the awful gameplay. Still, it's the best terrible game I've ever played. 10/10 would recommend
Would love to see a remake one day, but only if they don't censor the fucked up story and characters. That and a Drakengard 3 remake, of course.
Drakengard made it onto the list mainly because Nier gave it a cult following later on. Honestly, it wouldn't have made the cut for any ACTION RPG list on its own. The characters are cool, the story is mess up in a good way, the lore is confusing and great, but the gameplay alone kill any chance of it being a recomended ACTION RPG.
Would love a remake of the series with updated gameplay. Drakengard 3 with Automata's hack and slash would be gold.
Some absolute gems on this list. Wholeheartedly agree with Rogue Galaxy, Dark Cloud 2, Radiata Stories, Odin Sphere, and Devil Summoner 2.
Some others, I can't comment on because I've never played or I didn't feel particularly strongly about them.
But hot take: I don't think Kingdom Hearts II really survives the test of time.
I cannot recommend Rogue Galaxy enough. It is on PSN+ as part of the subscription, so definitely check it out.
For some gamers, The Legend of Dragoon is, hands down, the best RPG ever. Isn't it time for a remake or reboot and not just a port?
It never will. The game may have been good, but it was just average at best. The kind of game that is one and done.
Story was good combat was better than ffvii. Game deserves a REMAKE not a remaster
It was anything but average! The story and characters were highly captivating, the gameplay was enjoyable, and the world was interesting. Fans have been requesting a remake for quite some time. I revisited the game last year and found myself completely immersed in it once again. The PS1 had numerous beautiful classic JRPGs that truly deserve remakes.
I'm happy with the PS Classics port, but if they did, I'd like a port/remaster of Legend of Legaia as well (please put that on PSN).
I was just going to say legend of legaia REALLY needs to get the remake. Also keep the combat the same, and the OST. Legend of legaia a truly a gem. I still have my original ps1 game, mint condition.
I wish I still had my disc, I really enjoyed that game as a kid, but then the disc disappeared (I'm normally pretty good with my games, so it's strange that it's the only game I've ever lost), I have Legaia 2 still, but it's not as good as the first game, unfortunately. It's surprising the first has never been on PSN when Sony owns the license for the game, they seem content to sit on it and do nothing with it.
A team of modders has been working on an unofficial PC port of the 32-bit Playstation JRPG, The Legend of Dragoon.
If Square Enix can remake FF7, then why not Sony?
Remake these classics, Sony ... not recent games like Until Dawn
lets see ... Bluepoint's remakes are great ...but not total reworks like RE2 or FF7
but pretty sure they can come up with a good Remake of Legend of Dragoon
to be fair it's a good game, not a great one. I recently played in on PS5. combat becomes stale after doing the same button skills again and again. I think they will have to overhaul combat like FF VII remake then it will shine. Story was good though!
Cory Barlog literally said his dream project would be remaking The Legend of Dragoon. If I remember correctly, he's actually pitched it before but Sony refused to greenlight it.
Damn
I recall Barlog also expressed interest in remaking Silent Hill 1 once ...
Crazy square doesn't do this kind of thing themselves with all their classics. I'd throw lots of money. Thank God we have such great communities as they're always the ones that properly remaster these games.
Porting means rewriting a game's code to run natively on another platform. Many think LoD's release on PS4/5 is a port, but it's actually running on an emulator. Roms are the "game" itself. Both emulators and PC ports use these roms to load the game. The difference? Emulators imitate original hardware, with many of their limitations still in place. It's why some types of modding are difficult or unfeasible. With a native PC port, modding is way easier and the core game runs much more efficiently.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant had to be one of my absolute favorites of the PS2 era. While 3 was decent, it lacked much of the soul of the first two games. Even still, I'd love to see another game in the series.
Good list. Needs more Valkyrie Profile, tho'
Good list but I would add:
Rogue Galaxy - brilliant RPG that came out at the tale end of the PS3. Graphics were excellent and you could explore different planets. Loved the Anime style of graphics and this game is begging for a sequel.
Vagrant Story - C'mon Square, a very underrated and beautiful game. Loved every minute of this game.
Parasite Eve - C'mon Square! Square is sitting on a bunch of IP's that they could bring back instead of FF.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant was one of the best RPGs I've ever played if not the best, along with Xenoblade Chronicles.
Agree with article. Lets have at it bro!