Coming out of the RPG closet - help me choose

[Geoff D]

I own 3 classic RPG/adventure games, but shamefully have never played more than a few hours of each - I'd like to blame the time constraints of adulthood & so on, but it comes across as a rather flimsy excuse.

I've flagellated myself for this crime against gaming of course, & I fully intend to rectify the situation - just can't decide which order to do it (bearing in mind that each one will take me aaaaaaages to finish) - some help & opinions would be most welcome.

The 3 games -

Secret Of Mana
Final Fantasy VII
Chrono Trigger

[VR46]

FF7 is one of the best RPG's ever imo, would certainly get into that one first if I was you.

[fuse]

If you can con a couple of mates into playing it with you, Secret of Mana's absolutely fantastic in 3 player mode. Further than that I'd say you can't really go wrong with any of those 3, absolutely top drawer stuff all round.

[vertigo]

It depends.
FF7 is your traditional (and in my opinion 95% of the time boring, predictable and overly-long) turn-based battle RPG.
Secret of Mana is an action RPG, in the vein of Legend of Zelda, but with less puzzly bits and with levelling up of weapons and spells.
Chrono Trigger is turn-based in battle but often allows you the choice of getting into the battles because Square actually bothered to put the enemies on the screen instead of having randoms (a pet hate of mine).
If I hadn't already finished SoM and CT and didn't hold the FF series in utter disdain, I'd probably choose CT first, or if I was horny for something more Zelda-like, I'd go for Mana.
I come down very much on the side of action RPGs now anyway, have done for probably about 10 years since I left school and don't have the time to slog through a cavalcade of levelling up and the same plot of evil empires vs resistance but with slightly improved graphics.
Also depends how long you want to devote to one game, both in a daily sense and from start to finish. In order from short to long, I'd put them at SoM, CT and FF7.

I'd also recommend trying something like Terranigma or if you want something bite size and really light weight for starters, try Illusion of Gaia.

[Polygon Window]

I've just got into old skool RPG's, never really played 'em when I was a teen, was mostly into things like Thunderforce and Gynoug back then, the nearest I come was spending a few hours on a rented copy of Sword of Vermillion from Blockbuster video, I liked it alot but not enough to sway me from my shoot 'em ups.

Fast forward about 15 years and do you know what I'm looking forward to playing the most above anything else?

Zelda: A Link To The Past

I've never played it! EVER! I know it's fantastic, I know deserves all the plaudits it ( continually ) recieves so I decided to treat myself to a US SNES ( not JR for RGB reasons ) and a copy of said game and I CAN NOT WAIT!

[S3M]

I own 3 classic RPG/adventure games, but shamefully have never played more than a few hours of each - I'd like to blame the time constraints of adulthood & so on, but it comes across as a rather flimsy excuse.

I've flagellated myself for this crime against gaming of course, & I fully intend to rectify the situation - just can't decide which order to do it (bearing in mind that each one will take me aaaaaaages to finish) - some help & opinions would be most welcome.

The 3 games -

Secret Of Mana
Final Fantasy VII
Chrono Trigger

The RPG doctor is here to give his advise. (But it's seems vertigo has beat me to it. )

I would suggest playing Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII in that order, unless you don't want to do two turn based combat RPG's in a row. In which case play Chrono Trigger first.

Chrono Trigger is wildly regarded as the best RPG ever made. Can't say I'm a big lover of FF VII as it wasn't a patch on the three SNES FF. Secret Of Mana is a classic but it's SNES sequel is slightly better.

You may also want to try a tactical RPG if you haven't tried one in which case I would recommand Shining Force III or Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.

One's thing is for sure which ever order you play them in, it will effect your opinion of each one.

Enjoy

[Sketcz]

Secret Of Mana - Best of the bunch to start with. No random annoying battles, a really good narrative (I thought better than FF7 in places, certainly more melancholly), some very jolly music, and overall a fun RPG with a lot of variety and decent real-time combat. A classic; I honestly cannot understand why the FF series went to number 13 or whatever, while the SoM series only went up to #4, since I think it was Square's finest hour!

Final Fantasy VII - Excellent, but very involving. Lots of random battles. I finished it once with maxed stats and materia, and I can't stomach going back to it. Clocked over 99 hours. Good, but if forced to play through this or SoM for the very first time, I think i'd vote for SoM.... Oddly enough, that's actually what happened back in the day!

Chrono Trigger - Bleurgh! Never understood why people liked this. I started it, spend ages in that stupid festival, boring as hell, can't be skipped, and then got warped somewhere. After 10 more minutes I said "To hell with this bollocks" and promptly quit. Also, I think Akira Toriyama's artwork is grossly overated. My brother got quite far in it, and I watched him at times, but I just didn't see what was so great about it. Characterisation was dull imo - not an RPG that I liked. Sorry.

[Champloo]

Secret of Mana would be my pick from the 3. It is best if you can get some multiplayer going, but a lot of fun on your own as well.

The other 2 are great, Chrono definitely beats FF VII, although to be honest I havn't finished VII, it came victim to the death of one of my memory cards, what a horrible day that was!

[Applefiend]

I'd go for FF7, but not on a PS1/PS2, I'd drop it into a Windows PS1 emulator, it'll look much better for it. FF7 is pretty damn good, Square don't make games like this anymore.