Good games for X360?

[Dist]

I got X360 a while ago, but I haven't even unboxed it yet .. Mainly because no time and nothing '' interesting '' to play. Time to fix that. I would like to hear suggestions on any games you think are good.

However, do not suggest Sport, Driving, or FPS games. I have PC for FPS and the former two don't interest me.

Of course, given the forum we're in, I'm mostly interested in JRPG's but I'm open for other game suggestions as well. The only game I know I will be playing is Tales of Vesperia.

Note : If the game has PC port, don't bother suggesting it, as I always prefer PC over consoles so I've most likely played it.

Cookies are being prepared for those who will help me

[jedinat]

Dark Souls & Red Dead Redemption

[Darkbeat]

You're in luck, there's quite a few good choices here for JRPGs.

The best JRPG on the 360 and one of the best this gen all round is Lost Odyssey. Should be able to pick this up fairly cheap, but it's basically old school Final Fantasy under a new name (which is what you should expect from Sakaguchi and Uematsu). Get this one first.

Another exclusive by the same company (Mistwalker) is Blue Dragon. If you liked Final Fantasy 5, then pick this one up. It focuses heavily on job changing and team building, at the expense of a somewhat uninspiring story. It's fun though.

Tales of Vesperia is certainly worth getting as many feel it's the best Tales of game in the series. It's probably my joint favorite. Refined battles, good soundtrack, pleasing graphics and the best male protag in any Tales of game. You'll probably get 80+ hours of play out of it too.

Final suggestion for JRPGs goes to Enchanted Arms. This is a forgotten gem. Came out early in the 360s development by the graphics are top notch by today's standard. Some funny dialogue, interesting/nostalgic grid battles and a golem collecting mechanic make it a lot of fun.

Non-JRPGs to pick up; Mass Effect, Skyrim, Gears of War, Halo (recommend ODST for something different), Deadly Premonition, Bayonetta, Viva Pinata. (there's more but can't think of them)

[Sides]

I can recomment these: Infinite Undiscovery, Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata, Star Ocean, Vanquish, Shadows of the Damned.

Relatively new titles that I have not checked out yet: Asura's Wrath, Binary domain, NeverDead

All the people say that Catherine is awesome, I don't think so. Not sure if the demo is still up, check out marketspace and grab the demo, if it is still there. think it is one of those games that either clicks or not.

[MeoTwister5]

Well Catherine has the typical Atlus-MegaTen twisted sense of humor, so you either love it or hate it.

RPG wise you have to play Tales of Vesperia. You might want to try FFXIII, but this game is the very textbook of linearity so...

[Dist]

Any more? Also, it would be nice if you actually read the post. It clearly says no fps games, or games that are available on the PC, such as Skyrim.

I also already said I'll be playing Tales of Vesperia :x

I'm sure there are many other good games available though .. aside from what was listed.

[hyl]

I enjoyed Galgun, which is a silly railshooter (just look it up on youtube or google for more info) that was released last year on the 360.

To be honest, the xbox360 is quite thin on the jrpg's and the ps3 has most of the titles that the 360 also has and more.

[creb]

My recommendations for the 360:

Lost Odyssey is a classic, old-school JRPG. Just in high definition. If you love story-driven JRPGs (ie: older final fantasies), you should enjoy Lost Odyssey. If you're the type of person who wants JRPGs to 'evolve' or try to be something other than a JRPG, you'll likely hate it. That said, there are two annoying little brats, and they almost made me hate the game, as I have a very low tolerance for annoying little brats. Thankfully, neither are remotely considered main character material.

You've said you're going to play Vesperia, and it's also a game I would recommend. It's the most polished last-gen Tales game, so if you enjoyed Symphonia and/or Abyss, you'll likely enjoy Vesperia as well. I say 'last-gen', because the Tales games have made some real strides since then, whereas Vesperia was almost a carbon copy of Abyss/Symphonia. Unfortunately, none of the newer ones are on the 360.

Nier. Yes, I consider it a JRPG. Sort of. I'm actually not particularly fond of the gameplay, but it has a great story and great characters. It's on the short side, but I consider Nier to be the most underrated 'JRPG' on the 360. Too many people wanted it to be a God of War.

If you're 100% fine with corny anime-style JRPGs, then you might want to give Enchanted Arms and Magna Carta 2 a look. Both were hit hard by western media critics, but my inner otaku almost guiltily enjoyed them. Neither are masterpieces by any definition of the word.

Here are the 360 JRPGs I have a hard time recommending:

Star Ocean the Last Hope. Great fighting if you're into real time battles in your JRPGs. Unfortunately, the translation and english dub are among the worst I've heard in the last ten years, making the story an agonizing mess. That said, if you aren't bothered by those types of things, then you will probably enjoy this game. There's definitely plenty to do, and item creation remains a massive time sink, as in previous Star Ocean games. The visuals are quite nice as well. If it matters, despite how silly it is that you fight with a sword in an ostensibly sci-fi JRPG, I consider Star Ocean Till the End of Time the pinnacle of the series, and was probably projecting a little too much in my hopes for the Last Hope, which I'm sure added to my disappointment.

Final Fantasy XIII. Words can't describe how bad I thought this game was.

Final Fantasy XIII-2. I just kept telling myself that Final Fantasy series is produced by two different teams, and that Final Fantasy XV should be done by the team that gave us XII, rather than the team that gave us X and XIII/XIII-2. Keeping in mind that I hated X and XIII/XIII-2, while enjoyed XII (with the exception of Vaan). It's the only thing that gives me any hope for a franchise I started (and fell in love) with while pre-pubescent on the NES. TL;DR: I honestly don't understand how anyone who disliked FF XIII vehemently found anything redeeming in XIII-2, and I chalk it up to old fans desperate to find something redeeming in this once proud franchise.

Resonance of Fate. The gameplay is actually very solid. If you're a nuts and bolts RPG gamer, ie: you play the games primarily to battle, rather than for the story, you will probably really enjoy RoF. I can't fault the game for those type of gamers. I, unfortunately, am very much a story-driven gamer (which does not mean the story has to be a masterpiece; I did recommend Enchanted Arms afterall ), and RoF has a very barebones story. You're not meant to play this game for the story. So, you're mileage will vary drastically, depending on what you want out of a game.

Demon's Soul/Dark Soul. I consider these the same game. Almost non-existent stories make it hard for me to recommend, since I didn't care for either game. That said, if you're the type of person who thought games like Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne were the pinnacle of JRPG goodness, you will probably enjoy these two games. A lot.

The Last Remnant. In the early hours, I really thought I would enjoy this game. But, the story and characters...ok, well, mostly the characters. Oh my god. This game stands as the poster child for skirting the line of yaoi, without actually explicitly being yaoi (I'm assuming you're being here on an anime board like animesuki means you know what yaoi is, if not, google is your friend). I have nothing against those who enjoy that type of thing, but it is just not for me. That game was relatively short (~25 hours), so I was able to finish it despite my continous /facepalm at how...well...let's throw political correctness out the window...gay it was. There's actually a fairly decent game behind all that, so how much you enjoy it may result from how much you care about that particular aspect.

Blue Dragon. Not to be demeaning, but I honestly thought to myself: "Is Mistwalker trying to make a JRPG for seven year olds?". Not that there's anything wrong with that. I was about that age when I first started playing Final Fantasy. That said, I'm not seven any longer, and this is the only game on this list I actually never finished, after gritting my teeth through the first 15 hours or so.

Eternal Sonata. When this game came out, western media were all over its jock strap (keep in mind that this was when the western media was really getting into the whole 'JRPGs are stale froth' they continue to this day). Don't believe those reviews. This is an incredibly banal game. As bad as I thought FF XIII/XIII-2 were, at least they had outstanding production values. Eternal Sonata is a low budget game with an incredibly boring story, boring characters, boring world, and even somehow manages to make orchestral classics that make up its soundtrack boring as well. Just because it was 'revolutionary' for not bringing us a gazillion JRPG tropes, doesn't mean it's a great game, western media.

JRPGs I haven't played, were castigated by the media, and plan to play...eventually:

Infinite Undiscovery. This game was just lambasted. That said, RPGFan...about the only 'professional' review site I even remotely can relate to (as well as being one of the few reviewers who obviously actually played the game and have a background love for the genre), seems to think it was a much better game than the general press/forum talks give it credit for. Plus, even a potentially bad game just adds to your experience to better evaluate future games against.

Non JRPG 360 games I would recommend:

Red Dead Redemption. Assuming you like westerns and are generally in favor of past Rockstar games, I can't recommend this game enough.

There are other games I enjoyed, but they had a PC version, and I always buy the PC version if it's multi-platform.

Finally, the best JRPG of this last generation isn't, imo, on the 360. It's on the Wii:

Xenoblade Chronicles. Despite what some media outlets say, Xenoblade isn't a revolution. Rather, Monolith gave us a JRPG for fans of JRPGs. Not people who hate JRPGs, but play them anyways, then bitch and moan because the game is sticking to 'old', 'tired', 'jrpg cliches/formulas'. What Xenoblade is, is a completely non-apologetic JRPG (in stark contrast to say...FF XIII/XIII-2). And, this is a massive game. It helps that this is the same studio/people that gave us Xenosaga/Xenogears/Baten Kaitos, all of which I consider past JRPG greats. There's a ton of JRPG cliches, etc, but if you actually enjoy JRPGs, such things shouldn't bother you.

While I enjoyed the games I recommend in the first section, none of them were the type of games like JRPG classics of old, that put a huge smile on my face and had me staying up all night just to reach the next narrative hook.

Xenoblade did. And, I almost missed it. If you're an old-school JRPG fan, I heartily recommend you do not miss it, even if it isn't on the 360.

The game is worth buying a used Wii to play. I know, until this game came out, I certainly had no interest in a Wii or any of its games. You'll get extra mileage out of it from the Last Story, another Mistwalker JRPG that is pretty solid (way too short, unfortunately).