RPG List for the Nintendo DS (dsrpgs)

[namzep]

Heroes of Mana is sort of borderline but is usually listed as being an RPG.

[Daria]

A note on Orcs and Elves. The game isn't quite real-time, though it would depend on what your definition of what an action RPG is.

Combat works very similar to a mysterious dungeon game. You take an action, then everyone else takes an action. Repeat over and over. If you watch video of the game it appears to be in real time just because people are playing it fast.

Thanks, yeah the videos made it look Elder Scroll-ish which it...isn't.

Moving to turn-based.

Heroes of Mana moved to Non-RPG RPG Spin-off since it's an RTS.

[PapaStu]

Are the Battlenetwork games real time? From the video it looked like the action paused, you queued you attacks then watched everything play out.

Save for the one moment where you call up the screen to select chips, yes. Calling up the chip screen freezes game play while you make the decision to either pick chips, or wait and get to see an additional 5 after another charge session (which is like 5-8 seconds, whole point of the battle is to beat them as fast as possible to get the better/rarer versions of the chips.

[Daria]

Save for the one moment where you call up the screen to select chips, yes. Calling up the chip screen freezes game play while you make the decision to either pick chips, or wait and get to see an additional 5 after another charge session (which is like 5-8 seconds, whole point of the battle is to beat them as fast as possible to get the better/rarer versions of the chips.

Are chips your attacks? Or are they specials?

[PapaStu]

Are chips your attacks? Or are they specials?

Both. They are attack/health/defensive moves depending on what chips you've got. You can attack w/o ever using a chip, but as you get farther and farther into the game that little buster takes longer and longer to polish off a baddie alone and the whole point of the game is to use the darn things.

[Press_Start]

I don't personally see the Castlevania's as RPG's (yes they do have EXP) they to me are Action/Adventure ala Brave Fencer Musashi and Dragon Valor. But all in all this list is going to be a bit subjective no matter who makes it.

Come on, no love for Drac?

You do play as a party. Evidently shown in Portrait of Ruin as your team is a so-called "vampire killer" and a sorceress able to pull off combination attacks. Dawn of Sorrow has this (to an extent) in Julius Mode.

The World Ends With You - Surprised no one has vouched for TWEWY as many on here has praised the game as a great hit (even had its own thread when it was released).

[carlcarlson]

The World Ends With You - Surprised no one has vouched for TWEWY as many on here has praised the game as a great hit (even had its own thread when it was released).

It's already on the list.

[PapaStu]

Come on, no love for Drac?

You do play as a party. Evidently shown in Portrait of Ruin as your team is a so-called "vampire killer" and a sorceress able to pull off combination attacks. Dawn of Sorrow has this (to an extent) in Julius Mode.

The World Ends With You - Surprised no one has vouched for TWEWY as many on here has praised the game as a great hit (even had its own thread when it was released).

Oh I love me the DS Castlevanias. I'm just not really sure if one would claim them as RPG's is all.

Oh and clarifying a point on Mega Man, everything is real time, you push the buttons to attack, you move about the grid on your own to attack and dodge enemies, its not automatic in the slightest. It only freezes action when you call up the chips for selection.

[Daria]

Oh and clarifying a point on Mega Man, everything is real time, you push the buttons to attack, you move about the grid on your own to attack and dodge enemies, its not automatic in the slightest. It only freezes action when you call up the chips for selection.

I'll move them all to action.

Press_Start: What kind of Battle System does TWEWY use?

[Press_Start]

It's already on the list.

Oh yeah! Now I see it under...."not categorized?"

Daria: I believe TWEWY has a system similar to Xenogears combat system. Wish I could go more into specifics but its finals week over here and I should be cramming for upcoming finals and projects. I'm sure many on here can shine some light on the subject.

[Daria]

Oh yeah! Now I see it under...."not categorized?"

I've never played it. I don't know what kind of battle system it uses and couldn't deduce enough information from videos.

[PapaStu]

Don't know why I didn't think of these earlier, but Izuna and Izuna 2 should probably be in there somewhere.

[Daria]

Don't know why I didn't think of these earlier, but Izuna and Izuna 2 should probably be in there somewhere.

They are. :P

[Overbite]

The Izuna games would fit better under the mysterious dungeon category and not action rpg because they're not action rpgs, more of a dungeon crawl like nethack or dwarf fortress.

[Daria]

The Izuna games would fit better under the mysterious dungeon category and not action rpg because they're not action rpgs, more of a dungeon crawl like nethack or dwarf fortress.

That was my initial impression of the game, but then doubted myself based on videos. (I only own like 10 DS RPGs at the moment). Thanks!

[Skelix]

From my experience on Orcs & Elves its very "Eye of Beholder"-ish.

I know this is just lists of RPG's. But being a RPG master, any chance you could asterick like must have RPG's?

Time is limited, RPG's are never ending

[lendelin]

Great job! Developers, publishers, release dates, nicely done!!

Did you enjoy looking up all the data? The nicest thing: you learn a lot doing it, in particular how difficult developers are structured with all the subsidiaries, seperations, mergers, parent companies, it's a capitalistic mess....and you get a nice overview of the developers, publsihers, and the game series.

I think most people don't realize that you invested some serious time doing it. Probably around 5 hours with typing and cutting and pasting it into the post from files. Thanks! This list makes me want a DS. (btw, Suikoden Tierkreis got an excellent, enthusiastic preview from IGN)

[Daria]

Great job! Developers, publishers, release dates, nicely done!!

Did you enjoy looking up all the data? The nicest thing: you learn a lot doing it, in particular how difficult developers are structured with all the subsidiaries, seperations, mergers, parent companies, it's a capitalistic mess....and you get a nice overview of the developers, publsihers, and the game series.

I think most people don't realize that you invested some serious time doing it. Probably around 5 hours with typing and cutting and pasting it into the post from files. Thanks! This list makes me want a DS. (btw, Suikoden Tierkreis got an excellent, enthusiastic preview from IGN)

I already had a good idea that Big Developers such as Square Enix, and Nintendo were made out of smaller divisions of developers, and that they also contracted out to independent companies such as Brownie Brown and Camelot. So any time I saw either company blanket listed as developer I knew further digging was required.

But yeah I love research. It's fun in a totally geeked-out nerdy way.

It's also fun piecing together a developers history. Such as Climax Entertainment, they made Shining in the Darkness, Co-developed Shining Force with Camelot, began planning Shining Rouge, transformed that project into LandStalker when they fell out with Camelot. Later the team disbanded and reformed as Matrix Software who developed Alundra, and are now making Final Fantasy handheld remakes for Square. Weird.

Or that Jupiter Software, who developed TWEWY also made all those Spectrobe games for Disney.

[neist]

I already had a good idea that Big Developers such as Square Enix, and Nintendo were made out of smaller divisions of developers, and that they also contracted out to independent companies such as Brownie Brown and Camelot. So any time I saw either company blanket listed as developer I knew further digging was required.

But yeah I love research. It's fun in a totally geeked-out nerdy way.

It's also fun piecing together a developers history. Such as Climax Entertainment, they made Shining in the Darkness, Co-developed Shining Force with Camelot, began planning Shining Rouge, transformed that project into LandStalker when they fell out with Camelot. Later the team disbanded and reformed as Matrix Software who developed Alundra, and are now making Final Fantasy handheld remakes for Square. Weird.

Or that Jupiter Software, who developed TWEWY also made all those Spectrobe games for Disney.

This is slightly off topic, but I can completely understand why you enjoy the research. I've spent quite a few hours now compiling a multi-directional shooter master list, and learning about a genre or subset of games in its entirety is very satisfying. Maybe that list will even be finished some day.

Such work is appreciated though, so this is my token "I appreciate what you're doing" post. It's hard work, and if someone doesn't compile the information, it may be lost. So good work!

[TonyTheTiger]

Oh I love me the DS Castlevanias. I'm just not really sure if one would claim them as RPG's is all.

Agreed. They're Metroid clones with experience points. Genre categories are notoriously vague so it's always a losing battle to try to draw those solid lines but I do believe that there should be at least some quantifiable difference between them. Sometimes new genres or subgenres pop up out of thin air. Prior to Street Fighter II games like Karate Champ were categorized as action games.

I think a helpful exercise is to imagine the least ambiguous title in a genre and then ask "How much does the game in question differ from this one?" So if you don't know whether a game qualifies as a platformer, compare it to Super Mario Bros. I have no problem with people calling Zelda an RPG, for instance. But if it is an RPG then so is Metroid. They essentially have the exact same gameplay/growth style. The only difference is the camera angle. And I don't think that camera angle is significant enough to place them in separate genres. And of course if experience points are enough to put Castlevania in the RPG category then Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is also an RPG despite effectively being a modern Streets of Rage.

[chicnstu]

Since Harvest Moon is on the Simulation list, what about Animal Crossing: Wild World?

[lendelin]

Since you included Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, here is a new entry for the 'not yet released' category. The link is to IGN, just copy and paste:

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix - Q1 2009

[lendelin]

Daria, to use for every second title a grey font is a great idea and smart because it's easier on the eyes and optical navigation is better; however, if someone doesn't use the default black background (white) or tries to print the lists (try printable version in thread tools), then the titles in grey are hardly readible. Maybe you can use a much darker grey.

Now, if you change it back and use white, then the titles in white are not readible at all. In this case I just copied and pasted from my WordPerfect file the titles anew in there (didn't know better-maybe you can figure out the default color setting).

Just to let you know before you change the other titles to a grey font.

[Gabriel]

I know I've said in the past that the games like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin are not RPGs. But, having now played it to completion, I certainly don't see how anyone could say it wasn't a action RPG. So, I firmly believe it should be in the list of Action RPGs.

There is also no doubt that Puzzle Quest belongs in the turn based RPG category. It's combat resolution is, roughly speaking, Bejeweled, but it's definitely an RPG in every measure.

Unless Mage Knight includes the Dungeon expansion heroes, there's not much rationale for calling it an RPG any more than any boardgame.

[lendelin]

Today I got the new GameInformer, and there was a review of Cradle of Rome.

Seems to be in the same category as Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, that means it falls into the puzzle/RPG hybrid category which probably end up as borderline.

Here are two links to IGN: GameData HandsOn