Quote:
Originally Posted by Ledgem
I don't know about Persona 3 as a first RPG. The lack of control over the characters in your party can be a bit of a turn-off.
For RPGs, two major modern "lines" are Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei (which includes the Persona series). Both are quite different from each other, but games within each franchise tend to have similar styles (art, occasionally gameplay, storyline) and themes. Shin Megami tends to go for darker themes and heavily takes from occult and myths, whereas Final Fantasy is generally brighter and more... "fantasy."
I think it's hard to go wrong with Final Fantasy. If you can stomach the older graphics, Final Fantasy VII is pretty good. Final Fantasy VIII wasn't as well-loved, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (it was also my first Final Fantasy, and I think it left a very good impression on me). Final Fantasy IX got a bit more creative with the art style, but presented a good story and world setting. Final Fantasy X kicked the graphics up a notch and had a pretty nice world setting, but I don't think that its story was as strong as some of the others... I don't know that it would be good to start with this one. (I never got around to the others, excluding Final Fantasy III, which definitely had more of an "old school" feel.)
If you're more into science fiction, Xenosaga might not be a bad choice. There was an anime series made off of it, as well.
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Well, I did mention that the game would be rough for a first timer, haha. However, in the PSP version, you do have full control over party members.
As far as Final Fantasy, I agree with the titles you listed but also want to mention that I would recommend strongly
against anything after X. My opinions about XII and XIII aside (I could write an essay), they both feature unorthodox combat systems that I think would be more than a little intimidating to a first time RPG player.
Something important to note about Xenosaga also is that the ratio of cutscenes to gameplay is very high. I enjoyed that because the story was interesting but I can definitely see it as a turnoff to some.