The must have RPGs on the DS

[freeflow^]

So I just recently purchased a Nintendo DS with what little money I had left from travelling, and I was wondering what RPGS you guys would recommend as being the best on the handheld. I know the DS has literally dozens of games that seem to be worth a try at the very least. I purchased FFIV to start off, and I'm thinking of buying Pokemon Platinum and Suikoden Tierkreis. I know there's also Partners in Time, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Dragonquest IV and V, a game from Lunar etc... Which RPGs stand out to you?

[Luisfe]

Dragon Quest IV
Dragon Quest V
SMT: Devil Survivor.

[Trillian]

So far the only RPGS I've played on the DS are Chrono Trigger and FFIV. I think it has become my preferred method for playing RPGs though. When I wake up on the weekends I roll over, pick it up, and start playing without even getting out of bed :) I just ordered The World Ends with You and had it delivered to my Mom's house because I'm moving, I should be receiving it next week, I'm pretty excited because I've heard tons of good things about it.

I'm also interested in purchasing Puzzle Quest, which is an RPG that is a couple of years old but the battle system is supposed to be very addictive and kind of bejeweled-esque. Oh, and I can't wait for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days since I'm a big Kingdom Hearts fan and Chain of Memories for the GBA had one of my most favourite battle systems of all time, so I'm looking forward to another KH game on a handheld.

[pigeon_of_doom]

I've heard good things about The World Ends with You. And of course the remakes of FF and the Dragon Quest games speak for themselves. The Lunar game may be alright, although I can't imagine a Lunar game without Working Design's influence.

[Nickoten]

I don't know why, but I couldn't get into Devil Survivor. I wanted to like it, and I really tried, but in the end it just never clicked for me. It honestly felt lazy to me.

However, I can completely vouch for Dragon Quest IV. It's downright shameful that an NES game can have game design that modern RPGs fall short of. When I played it, I thought it was made easier and more forgiving than the NES game, but I went back and checked, and the original really doesn't require much grinding, either! Yet it still manages to remain adequately challenging.

I've started Dragon Quest V and like it so far, but I can't really give a full opinion yet. It's looking as good as Dragon Quest IV so far.

I'd agree on Chrono Trigger, but it's because it's Chrono Trigger. As far as a port goes, I liked the new translation and little else. I didn't find the extra content compelling at all. But if we're judging these games in a vacuum, this game is of course always amazing.

It's not available in the US yet, but Soma Bringer is a good investment if you like Diablo and/or have some friends to play it with. It's an action RPG that, as you might guess, plays fairly similarly to Diablo. There's a good variety of fairly unique classes, and while the plot is pretty lame you can skip pretty much everything. It doesn't exactly require much strategy depending on your class, but if you like experimenting with skill trees (It lets you reset skill points at any time) and hunting for good loot, you'll get a lot of mileage out of this.

[freeflow^]

I've never played Dragon Quest games, for any extended period of time, so maybe I'll give IV a try. I looked at some pics of the World Ends With You, and read about the gameplay, and man this looks like a really interesting game. Something unique coming out from Square Enix in the last year? I thought they had lost their inspiration.

The FFIV remake on the DS is blowing me away. IV used to be my favorite game, and it was the first RPG I played, so it's great to relive all the glorious nostalgia. Square did such a great job preserving it's feel, while adding to it with things like proper voice-acting and a different battle system. Fuckin bueno.

[Temporal Distortion]

Allow me to recommend TWEWY as well. I sincerely doubt any other game on DS could outdo it in terms of awesomeness.

[TheBlatantKatana]

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. It's a sonic RPG by BioWare, creaters of KOTOR, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect. 'Nuff said.

The World Ends With You is indeed awesome. I have it, played it, it's addicting as hell. It's the kind of game that developer Atlus would come up with. Oddly enough, there is indeed an Atlus game out for the DS as well that is almost identical to it. Forgot its name though.

If you like strst RPGs then I highly recomment any of the Fire Emblem games. I think there's a DS one. I have the 2 GBA ones, and they are also incredibly addicting.

[Luisfe]

The Sonic rpg is silly and kind of fun, the battle system is solid (very reminiscent of Elite Beat Agents), but in the end it feels like it should have a bit more content, or something.

The lack of an ending (or a sequel-bait ending) is bad though.

Oh shit, trap sprung?

In any case, you forgot the best thing Bioware has ever been involved with: Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Bad you, bad.

[TheBlatantKatana]

In any case, you forgot the best thing Bioware has ever been involved with: Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Bad you, bad.

D'oh.

Actually, I've never played either Baldur's Gate. I've never had a PC competent enough to handle more than internet and word, let alone games. Pity the me.

Oh, and I also forgot the Mario and Luigi DS games. I highly recommend Partners in Time. Donno about the most recent one with Bowser though. Haven't played it yet. Looks like an appitizer compared to PiT.

[Luisfe]

Baldur's Gate is not exactly the most resource intensive game ever. It ran pretty well in an old celeron 800 with 64 megs of RAM (I played it first in such a machine), and it will run flawlessly even in the most underpowered current netbook. GETITGETITGETIT, etc. It's still very, very playable.

[CoolOtaku]

I hope I'm not too late with this, but stay far FAR away from Lunar: Dragon Song (or Lunar: Genesis if you're getting the non-US version). It is horrendous. I couldn't put up with it for more than an hour. It's painfully slow and... just not good. The battles even are horrible. You just choose "attack" or not basically. You don't choose WHO. You just... rush in, I guess. Not fun. That's all I got for that.

Destiny Links is a pretty entertaining action RPG so far, sooo... check out my thread on it? :p
http://www.allrpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2259

It's Japanese, but it's pretty entertaining. It's been likened to Monster Hunter if that helps.

Also, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier (I think that's the title...) is pretty damn good. My one issue with it is the fact that the towns are streamlined into a list of options, such as the basic shop, rest at the inn, talk to this person, talk to another person, and leave. That sort of thing. You don't actually get to explore the towns. But that's my only real issue with it, so that's saying something.
It is pretty challenging if you don't level up your characters a bit extra before fighting a boss (just learned this the hard way without saving >_< ), but the combat system is very involved and pretty fun.

Oh, and if you have friends who play DS, Final Fantasy: Echoes of Time or Final Fantasy: Ring of Fates are both good choices. Echoes of Time definitely has a better solo experience though, if you don't think you'll be enjoying the multiplayer (which is kinda the highlight of both).

Hope that helps a bit :)

[scorpion]

a great rpg for the ds would be ff tatcis a2 & disgaea ds both excellent rpgs well worth the money.

[Ges]

I doubt anyone has this, but Contact is a quaint little time-waster. Reminds me of Earthbound (just visually, though). It won't knock your socks off but it ain't bad.