Favorite RPG series that is NOT Final Fantasy

[Moon Rabbits]

it's lunar you morons.

[VeloZer0]

Wow, the other than Chrono Trigger/Cross (which I absolutely love) the I have only been able to get through Suikoden I, Zelda OoT, and Fire Emblem 2. Everything else I have lost interest in half way.

Starting to think I might be a bit too picky.

[Wolf Kanno]

MegaTen, I've been replaying through Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and once again being blown away by how radically different it is. The Persona games are all awesome and I'm looking forward to diving into DDS, Devil Summoner, and Devil Survivor. Really, I feel this is one of the best franchises out there.

Out of the choices above... Chrono is pretty good but like many, I'm not in love with Cross. The story is great but the game has too many little issues that get on my nerves and distract me from enjoying the game.

Wild ARMS was a good series but I fell out of love with it after WA3 kinda let me down. I've been meaning to check out WA4 but the change to sci-fi tones kinda irked me a bit cause despite hating the "Wild West", I always enjoyed the visual themes it gave the series and kinda felt like 4 turned back on what made the series special. Still... I blame this series for why I can't enjoy Golden Sun...

Breath of Fire is a pretty damn awesome series and while I have issues with how weird and generic BoF1 is and god knows BoF2 has some game play mechanics and story issues (why in gods name can't I have Rand in my party!? Why must the game keep forcing me to use stupid Sten who I can't stand!?) I love the Playstation entries and I tend to look at them as guidelines on how you should do game mechanics and storytelling.

Suikoden is just full of win. The numbered entries are all pretty golden even if Suikoden 4 is a bit less shiny. Suikoden Tactics is a pretty fun FFT/Tactics Ogre rip-off but what in gods name is wrong with that? Tiekries is like WA4 in that I feel it strays far from the series roots and drops many of the elements that made the series special. (I get you guys kept the whole 108 stars thing but what about the deep seated politics and True Runes?! Smurf You). This is probably my favorite series of the ones listed.

Xenosaga is also a great series despite the fact it suffered countless production issues and lot of bad decisions. In fact, if you don't live in Japan or import you never got most of the story since Pied Pier was never released here, nor Xenosaga 1*2 for the DS (which rewrote the story a bit mostly Episode 2 and is the actual canon version) not to mention all the online stories that lead into Episode III. The series is like dot.Hack gone horribly wrong in terms of marketing the series through other mediums. Still, the plot is great if a bit preachy and convulated and combat is really solid in Episode I and III at least.

[vinnie's mini's]

Mine would have to be:

Zelda,
Mario,
Tales of,
Star ocean,
Golden sun.

Probably some others that aren't listed too.

[Christmas]

Harvest Moon!!! But it is a pity that the female version only come in japanese!!!

[Madame Adequate]

I voted for Breath of Fire, Star Ocean, and Suikoden. I also give credit to Chrono, because I think both are superb games, but I've never got 'into' them like I have with a lot of others.

I'm with Wolf Kanno's opinions on BoF and Suikoden, though I've not yet played Tactics or Tierkries. I also think that despite having the worst voice acting this side of Resident Evil, Star Ocean is a wonderful and charming series. I think 2 is the best, it really hit that sweet spot for me in so many ways.

[Raistlin]

Suikoden is far and away the best RPG series.

Honorable mention: Lunar series. Lunar SSSC is one of my favorite RPGs. Lunar 2 isn't as good, but the first one is good enough to make the series notable.

[Laddy]

Megami Tensei~~~~

And Zelda is Adventure, not RPG.

[Dreddz]

Phantasy Star gets my vote which, from looking at this thread, is quite the underrated series indeed. PSII and PSIV rival anything the FF series has done. People that thought Aeris dying in FFVII was a big deal clearly never played PSII.

The Dark Cloud series is also a notable mention. I noticed both Phantasy Star and Dark Cloud weren't included in that poll. Quite the error you made there Crossblades.

[Chloe.]

I would say Zelda but I didn't really think that was an RPG. I love the Star Ocean Series and definitely Dark Cloud as mentioned above, and one that hasn't been said is Secret of Mana. I love that game

[The Man]

I don't know how I forgot the Mana series. The two games I've played (Secret of Mana and Holy Sword Legend 3, which was never released in the U.S. and is only available as a fan translated rom) are superb. I even used to use a rabite as my avatar here.

[vinnie's mini's]

I would say Zelda but I didn't really think that was an RPG. I love the Star Ocean Series and definitely Dark Cloud as mentioned above, and one that hasn't been said is Secret of Mana. I love that game

Dah! How could I forget Dark Cloud and Secret of Mana? I love both of those so very much!

[Christmas]

I would say Zelda but I didn't really think that was an RPG. I love the Star Ocean Series and definitely Dark Cloud as mentioned above, and one that hasn't been said is Secret of Mana. I love that game

Dah! How could I forget Dark Cloud and Secret of Mana? I love both of those so very much!

Yeah!! Secret of Mana!!! I also like Legend of Mana too!!!

[vinnie's mini's]

Yeah!! Secret of Mana!!! I also like Legend of Mana too!!!

I've never played that one; what's it like?

[Christmas]

The gameplay is quite similar to Secret of Mana but you get to execute more special moves compare to Secret of Mana. You can create a world of your own and do tons and tons of mini quests which most of them are pretty fun and cute at least for me!

The characters found in the world are very adorable! I really will recommend the game, It is avaliable in the playstation!