Action/RPGs

[sfchakan]

This is sort of continuation from another forum, but I wanted to get your guys' opinions and expertise. I love this genre to pieces and want to make sure I don't pass anything really solid up. Recommendations, please!

Here's the list of my favorites/honorable mentions off the top of my head.

Beyond Oasis/Legend of Oasis (GEN/Saturn) - Great Zelda-like fun.
Brainlord (SNES) - Zelda-type game with tougher puzzles.
Demon's Crest (SNES) - This game seems pretty underrated. Loved it.
Diablo ONE (PC/PSX) - Good clicking/slashing fun OFFLINE. PSX version has simultaneous 2-player AND loading time from hell!
Exile games (Gen/Turbo Duo) - First game available on Genny, both on the Duo. I enjoyed them.
Gargoyle's Quest games (NES/GB) - Series that prequeled Demon's Crest. Fun, but all of them are short.
Gauntlet Legends (N64) - I feel like I enjoyed this version the best. Has a good shop.
Golden Axe Warrior (SMS) - Good Zelda clone.
Illusion of Gaia (SNES) - Good rental.
Landstalker (GEN) - I never got to play it, but wanted to so badly.
Neutopia (PCE/Turbo) - Very competent Zelda clone.
Popful Mail (Sega CD version) - Awesome. Working Designs does "the funny" in a game that doesn't get destroyed by it.
Secret of Mana (SNES) - Great action, actually have memories of playing with my Mom. XD
Shadowrun (GEN) - OMFG... but you should know about it already. SNES Shadowrun game blows in comparison.
Skyblazer (SNES) - I remember it being pretty fun as a rental.
Wonderboy series (SMS/GEN/PCE) - Wonderboy 3 for GEN is typical good A/RPG fare, other games allow you to change in monsters and such. These were great back then.
Ys - various... Ys III is a side-scroller and usually hated
Zelda - obvious?

I haven't played Terranigma yet (the thread ended up becoming derailed into the Terranigma jerk off thread).

[steven]

<< Skyblazer (SNES) - I remember it being pretty fun as a rental. >>

You're confusing this with SoulBlazer. Skyblazer is Sony's platformer and a good one at that. A couple sleepers are Twisted Tales of Spike McFang, Addams Family Values (yeah really) and Equinox on SNES. Young Merlin and Brandish also can be enjoyable.

[sfchakan]

Nah, it's Skyblazer. I rented it from the local shop back in the day for $2.11 including tax.

www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/588665.asp

SPOILERS
www.vgmuseum.com/end/snes/c/skyb.htm

[steven]

sfchakan said:

Nah, it's Skyblazer. I rented it from the local shop back in the day for $2.11 including tax.

www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/588665.asp

Then I suggest (not correctify) Soul Blazer =P

[zzz]

If you are willing to go with emulating:

Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC) ~ Sequel to Secret of Mana. Among my favorite games, regardless of genre.
Front Mission Gun Hazard (SFC) ~ Amazing game that plays like a 2-D action game rather than a Zelda clone.
Terranigma (SNES) ~ Sequel to Soulblazer and Illusion of Gaia.
Cyrstalis (NES) ~ Discussed here at HG101.
Little Ninja Brothers (NES) ~ Battles play like a beat-em-up. Sequel to Kung Fu Heroes for NES.
Super Chinese 3 (Famicom) ~ Sequel to above.
Ninja Boy (GB) ~ Sequel to above.
Ninja Boy 2 (GB) ~ Sequel to above.
Super Chinese Land 3 (GB) ~ Sequel to above.
Super Ninja Boy (SNES) ~ Sequel to above. Japanese release, Super Chinese World, was better.
Super Chinese World 2 (SFC) ~ Sequel to above.
Super Chinese World 3 (SFC) ~ Sequel to above.
Holy Umbrella: Dondera no Mubo (SFC) ~ Has sections that play like a platformer.
Rejoice: Aretha Oukoku no Kanata (SFC) ~ Awesome, bizare, wacky themed action rpg that has yet to be translated.
Esper Dream (Famicom) ~ Has yet to be translated. It's sequel has however.
Esper Dream 2 (Famicom) ~ Sequel to above.
Gunple: Gunman's Proof (SFC) ~ Excellent western/humor themed Zelda clone.
Crystal Beans: From Dungeon Explorer (SFC) ~ Ok.

I am rather fond of action rpgs also. Are there any others for SNES/SFC or NES/Famicom?

[steven]

There's also Ladystalker for SFC. Lagoon for SNES which is a like-or-hate title.

[shido]

I don't count Zelda, Landstalker, Gargoyle's Quest and so as action RPGs, I see them as adventure games. So even though I really like them I won't mention them

Anyway my favorite ARPGs are:
Seiken Densetsu 3
Star Ocean 3
Tales of Phantasia (not the GBA verison)
Tales of Destiny

[klausien]

Though they are not shown in 3/4 overhead perspective, all of the 2D Castlevanias since Symphony of the Night, with the exception of Chronicles which was an old game anyway, have been the very definition of Action RPG. "Metroidvania" is the catch-phrase, but I have never seen Samus gain experience, talk to NPCs, use shops, or have single use items at her disposal. They are more RPG than Metroid.

I will also throw a vote behind Soul Blazer - Illusion of Gaia - Terranigma. Enix really knew what they were doing on the SNES.

[ed]

Zelda arguably isn't an Action RPG because the character progression is all story or item based. No stats.

I mean hey, but there you go.

I personally wouldn't call Super Metroid an ARPG. There's nothing RPG-like about it. That, in turn, makes it hard to call Zelda an ARPG (although the swords + sorcery setting makes me want to).

Anyway, you can ignore all I've written you want to (I don't believe any of it either). :I

[shido]

I believe It's matter of what the game is concentrate on

Zelda, Metroid, the "Castleroids", Landstalker and so are concentrating more about exploring, puzzles, Items and abilities collecting (mainly for puzzles) so they are advanture games

Star Ocean, Seiken Densetsu, Tales of, Kingdom Hearts and so are concentrating more about story (even though in most of them the story sucks), customization and tactical battles. Just like regular console RPGs.

But I guess sometimes the line between those two is really thin like in the Blazer series for the SNES

[Scylla]

Personally, I can't stand the term "Action/RPG" to begin with. To me, it's an oxymoron. A game can't both an action game and an RPG at the same time; the genres are on opposite ends of the spectrum. If you're talking about a middlepoint between the two genres, then, well, that's what the term "Adventure" game is for. It's been around since the 80s and it's a lot more clear and easily applied when necessary than the myriad of sub-genre titles that have sprung up in recent years where people are just grasping at straws as to what to call their games and whatever happens to catch on spreads like wildfire.

The thing about genres is that they're not designed to plot out every last detail about a product. A degree of variety is always expected, and that degree can be pretty wide depending on the circumstances (like "rock" music). Instead of trying to differentiate an "Action/RPG" from an "Adventure game" and having your brain explode as a result, it makes a lot more sense to label them all as Adventure games because 1) the title is fitting, and 2) people will know what you're talking about and understand that some titles will lean closer to RPGs (Secret of Mana), while others will lean closer to action games (Super Metroid).

Edit: Oh, and on the subject of games like Star Ocean and Tales, I agree that there is some degree of blurriness. I wouldn't say those games belong in the Adventure genre at all. There is a similarity, but in this case, I think using a sub-genre of RPG is necessary, with the "real-time (as in, the combat) RPG". The games are wholly RPGs, it's just that the battles play out a bit different. If you reduce the nature of the real-time element, you'd get something like Chrono Trigger, with its "Active Time Battle" system, and if you reduce that real-time element further then you're back to turn-based. And then you have games like Baten Kaitos where you start off with taking as much time as you please in the turn-based battles, but as the game progresses, they introduce time limits on how long you have to make your selections, which decrease further and further until you have a meager few seconds. They all are still RPGs, as far as I'm concerned.

[sfchakan]

Heh. Forgot Faxanadu. Love that carnival-like music.

[papersquadcontrol]

shido said:

Tales of Phantasia (not the GBA verison)

Why not? The GBA version is the only one I've played, so I'm wondering what is superior about the other versions (the translation so far has been the main complaint about the GBA version that I've read).

Succubus, I think that Action/RPG makes sense - an RPG game with focus on real-time combat. But I agree that it's better to label a game as either "RPG" or "Adventure". For example, I primarily look at the Tales games as just plain RPGs even though the battles aren't turn-based. The traditional RPG elements outweigh the action elements in those games by far.

Edit: Just saw the edited portion of your post, which is pretty much what I said. So yeah.

[MRSKELETON]

You should definately grab the Tales of series of if you ever can.
Another one is the entirety of the Soul Blazer series - And though it may not be exactly an action/rpg Pick up Actraiser

[steven]

Don't forget Super Adventure Island II which included RPG-like features, and is a solid game. Same for Joe & Mac 2 also on SNES, though it had less RPG-like features than SAI II.