What are your favorite RPGs (CRPGs, JRPGs, whatever) that utilize a science fiction plot/aesthetic/etc.? Kind of burnt out on fantasy and want something with a sci-fi

Pic randomly chosen

>>11765517 (OP)
your pic was the best Sci-fi steampunk.
Star Ocean 1 and 2 pales in comparison.
Chrono Trigger is overrated now but it was mostly played in fantasy time eras.

IMO the best scifi games were >>>/vst/
like Front Missons, Mechcommanders and Dawn of War 1.

Starflight 2 and Urquan Masters were more like space-sims than RPGs.

>>11765517 (OP)
Chrono Trigger

>>11765517 (OP)
I'm unsure if it counts as "sci-fi" per se but you should absolutely play Ar Tonelico

>>11765517 (OP)
If you haven't played phantasy star 4, do it

Both of the English language console ShadowRuns.
Wild Arms kinda straddles the line between fantasy and sci-fi but through a Western filter. ffs, the theme song is an obvious homage to The Ecstacy of Gold, the theme from The Good, The Bad and >>11765557
The Xeno series fits, too. Possibly also the Tenchi Muyo tactical RPG as well as a few Megatens

Front Mission

>>11765517 (OP)
Metal Max

>>11765517 (OP)
There's Fallout 1 and 2 for CRPGs but I don't know if that's what you're looking for when you say sci fi. Same with the Mother series for JRPGs. Deus Ex is an immersive sim with real rpg elements. Strife is an attempt at an rpg in the Doom engine. There's KotOR which is a Star Wars rpg by bioware(who also made the Mass Effect games which are non retro sci fi rpgs). Fallout was inspired by Wasteland but I never played it. There were also Shadowrun games for SNES and Genesis, I only played one for a few minutes and it seemed more SRPG which isn't really my thing. Shadowrun is cyberpunk like Deus Ex.

>>11765556
I like SO1&2, and PS4

>>11765517 (OP)
Zelda II and Faxanadu

>>11765517 (OP)
I really like the first parasite eve. I play it around Christmas time.

>>11765517 (OP)
The first Phantasy Star game. 2 is good, 3 tries something novel (that you definitely should still experience first hand) but is ultimately flat, and 4 is good.
Nothing will quite beat the simple experience of that first game. The Sega Ages port on the switch is the definitive way to play it I think (and it runs great in Yuzu if you don't want to buy it)

>>11765517 (OP)

XENOGEARS

Also Phantasy Star 4 is a another great option as >>11765608 said.

Anachronox
Omikron
KotOR

>>11766289
Xeno a shit.

>>11766842

And that is fine if you hate it, it's not going to appeal to everyone. I love it and OP may like or hate it until they try it.

>>11765556
>Chrono Trigger is overrated now
What an idiotic, meaningless statement. Great games don't stop being great just because you don't feel like a unique special snowflake when it's popular.
Grow up.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

>>11765517 (OP)
SMT Strange Journey is the only one that comes to mind so I guess that. It's my favorite SMT despite not fitting in with the typical post apocalyptic type SMT vibe.

>>11767203
Not retro
But MT 2 and SMT 1-2 probably fit since post-apocalypse is sci-fi, maybe Nine if OP can read Japanese. Soul Hackers leans a bit towards cyberpunk.

>>11765574
If not Ar Tonelico, then definitely Ar Nosurge (not retro I know)

>>11765608
Just finished it yesterday
It was great

Buck rogers: count down to doomsday is fantastic. Its is an SSI gold box game still using dungeons and dragons rules and turn based combat, but also has spaceship combat and a great story.

The game is better than it has any right to be.

>>11767707
The character class skills were pretty unique as well. The game reminds me of a proto-fallout in a way, only with a party of characters.

Cosmic Fantasy 2

>>11769604
And 3 and 4

>>11766184
Seconding this. NES or SNES version. Both are a lot of fun. And pretty short.

Metal Saga on the PS2 is... okay. It's too long overall and eventually became a bit of a slog. Sadly the novelty of Metal Max can and does lose it's appeal after 50+ hours.

Also try Lagrange Point. Man, I'm not sure why, but that game really sucked me in when the translation initially came out. Ended up playing it multiple times and having an absolute blast.

whats the best way to play the phantasy star games?

I feel it's hard to find good sci-fi games because they're either just "space" or "mecha" and little else. Unless it's StarOcean which is just standard fantasy world with maybe a laser gun the one guy from space brought with him.

Albion from 1995

It's pretty wild!

>>11767707
Why can't we go back to this aesthetic?

>>11766184
Agreed. Metal max returns and 2 on SNES are fanfuckingtastic. I'm also going to add mars saga/mines of Titan and b.a.t/b.a.t 2 as good fun scifi RPGs.

Robotrek on SNES was alright

I rather sort of strongly dislike the uninspired hodgepodge potluck slop of japanese "sci fi+fantasy" admixture that is just the chosen default of most games in this supergenre. There's very few games that actually take a specific science fiction principle and attempt to conceptualize a story around it. Instead it's just an endless marsh of vaguely techy skyscrapers and neon lights and maybe rocketboots incongruously jumbled with pseudo-pilgrimage wandering hero shibuya-kei boys moving from self-sufficient town to town without any concept of global communication or mailing addresses or steady income beyond walking into the woods and bashing imps in the head with a techsword for gold coins. I hate that there's no attempts to actually try and define what a believable world would BE like with monsters roaming the wild harassing travelers (inevitably on foot or in wagons, despite TECHNOLOGY), and what impact that would have on world trade and economic and social development and governance. Instead it's just the lowest common denominator attempts to appeal to 12 year old who like blinky lights and jangly keys. Which is fine, but like, put that shit on the box, don't try and pass it off as "science fiction".
>once upon a time there was an evil empire that built magitech only they were really bad cuz empires have to be bad i mean how else will the wandering hero boygirls be heroes walking from town to town fighting the magitechs if the empire isn't defacto bad just becuz

>>11776862
>Why can't we go back to this aesthetic?

I don't enjoy the idea of flying on aerial dildos.

>>11779358
i kinda do
i mean why not? it's like a big codpiece
watch out ladies, here comes my love rocket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfNsQaAKhk

Without a shadow of a doubt

>>11765574
fukken based.

>>11779308
This is how I feel about 90% of fantasy settings I encounter in anime and Japanese games. Playing through metaphor right now and while I enjoy the gameplay, the world doesn’t feel cohesive or believable at all. Like why the fuck are some people dressed like they’re from the 1970s, while another from the 1880s, and another from the 1300s?

>>11779308
Xeno tried to break this by worldbuilding...it failed and drifted into what you're talking about. You see, at ultimate, the Japs see all as parody to their world view.
>>11779358
Can't you have fun for its own good?

>>11779504
Because its really all tropes to them held together by the glue of their perspective

>>11779457

Well more power to you, enjoy! lol

>>11779680
>Can't you have fun for its own good?

NO! You can't make me ride on PP rockets dammit!

>>11779730
Why not?

>>11781086
There is nothing wrong with retro futureism.

>>11765517 (OP)
I posted this image on /vrpg/ but ill post it again here. This game sucks but the art is cool, probably because it was from a media property (I think a novel then an anime) before a game

>>11767007
>Great games don't stop being great just because you don't feel like a unique special snowflake when it's popular.
And shit games never stop being shit. Chronic Shitter falls into this category.

>>11781329
Do you realize how pathetically weak this sounds? Why do you advertise to all of 4chan you're just a miserable loser?

>>11781329
Is this yutz different from the, well, once dead Xenoshitter?

>>11779308
that would take actual world building. most of the slop your complaining about is just a way to dress up the imp bashing in these "sci-fi" games.

>>11772263
emulate phantasy star generation 1 and 2 with the fan translation, they're super faithful remakes (it's not like modern remakes, they're the same games but better) of the first 2 games. You can try the third if you want but as far as I am concerned it's shit. The fourth episode is 16 bits so it aged pretty well and is a solid jrpg. Just emulate the mega drive version.

>>11765517 (OP)
Chrono Trigger is my favourite. But Secret of Evermore is my 2nd favourite, it has some sci-fi elements, you're basically in a simulation for the whole game so it's arguably more sci-fi than Chrono Trigger. It doesn't have as many epic story moments as Chrono Trigger though.

>>11781370
For a game about time travel and changing the past/present/future, it's awfully fucking linear. It presents little to no challenge even on the first play through, the cast experience little to no character growth and I guarantee you, it wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is we're it not for ChickenMountain's involvement and his sameface character designs.
That said, I owned it as a child, I beat it as a child, I recorded every ending as a child on my VCR and I even double charmed every single event to log what they all give. I don't talk about things I haven't obliterated. Case in point:
>>11781462
>Xenoshitter
Haven't a clue who that is. I've never played the Xeno games.

>>11783296
A myth...a legend. A being with a hateboner for the Xeno series greater than anything.

>>11783645
>A being with a hateboner for the Xeno series
Why? I have an IRL friend who hates it but I've never bothered asking him for specific reasons. I've got another friend who really, really likes the first game but I'm not sure he's ever mentioned any others. And I used to hook up with a fat-assed Puerto Rican bitch who was playing some PS2 entry in between rounds of sex and takeaway Chinese but I didn't really pay attention to the game as it was played.
The one who liked it mentioned some aspects of the story line I recall: apparently, there's a race of technologically advanced beings that eat people or something and call them lambs or sheep or whatever? Also mecha and a teddy bear character.
The one who hated it mentioned that the artwork was done by the same guy who did Chrono Cross.
That's literally everything I know about anything Xeno.

Has anyone played Gunparade March? How is it?

>>11783730
And all you need anon

>>11779308
True!

>>11779472
Brotherhood of Steel is underrated. Imhho the beginning is great and later it falls off and becomes tedious.

I'm not sure to what degree Terranigma counts as sci-fi but it's at least more so than some of the examples in this thread. Taking the evolution of earth/life/history and making it into an action jrpg is a pretty fun concept.

>>11765517 (OP)
more of a strategic simulation than an rpg but you do build a party with unique attributes and then have to move cargo throigh pirate infested space dealing with vatious crises

bump

>>11767007
Chrono TRIGGER is overrated. that is fact. glow up and stop spamming the meme.

>>11779472
>>11784367
just play FO:Tactics.

>>11781086
i wished MOO games had these designs.

>>11784380
>Taking the evolution of earth/life/history and making it into an action jrpg is a pretty fun concept.

play EVO:Search for Eden?

>>11773814
So what's your idea of sci-fi? There's always Deus Ex

>>11788410
>>11788415
>Don't play -game you like-
>Play -other game-
Why nigga?

>>11765517 (OP)
I would say Front Mission counts. 2, 4 and 5 are more strategy and simulation oriented but I would say 1 and 3 are firmly in the JRPG ballpark.

>>11765556
>Chrono Trigger is overrated
Not as overblown as FF6-7 are

>>11779308
japs aren't the right kind of autistic for sci-fi world building. They want escapism fantasy, not nitty gritty 'how-the-world-works' fantasy.
It's probably why they eschew 'regular' sci-fi in general and instead default to sci-fantasy or just regular pastoral fantasy.

>>11788394
>>11789861
And nowhere as bad as Xenogears.

>>11790180
i was pretty sure many complained about Xenogears/FF7's FMVs being too long.

>>11789872
fun things are fun, anon. stop being unfun and autism bucks.

>>11788659
i thought this was a whocaresabout rules /rec/ thread, duh?

>>11788394
>overrated
This word literally means nothing but "I'm an NPC who can't make opinions for himself, I need to know what the consensus is to modulate my feelings"

Anyway who uses "overrated" as an argument is a small-brained retard who will never have anything of genuine value to say.

>>11790221
Nothing as long as Sagas.

>>11788394
How about Threads of Time?

>>11765517 (OP)
Saga Frontier! You really need a guide to fully enjoy it but it’s got some very interesting mechanics and you can basically play Pokémon in it.

>>11791294
wym play pokemon in it?

>>11793014
I think he's talking about getting all the monster characters and then morphing them into various other monsters.