Can anyone recomend any short rpgs

[Jedi]

Live-A-Live is fairly short, and episodic till the end. Difficulty tends to depend on how much you know of the game.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Jedi

[Lord Raven]

Also let me take a short amount of your time to talk about the greatest JRPG of all time, Devil May Cry 4...

Yeah, the lack of random encounters really shortens the time it takes to beat it imo. I also recommend Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Edited July 26, 2016 by Lord Raven

[Dual Dragons]

As bad as I get with game time, the first series of .hack// I can do in 15 hours each game and that's even when I'm doing sidequests. Due to the nature of the games, it's not too necessary to grind outside of dungeons. There's no random encounters so you can pick your fights if you need to. I mean, if you do the story + sidequests (which there's not many of them in each title as long as you data transfer) and clear out dungeons entirely, you'll probably have the levels and equipment/skills to beat the game.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Dual Dragons

[Alertcircuit]

You NEED to play Undertale. And don't look up anything about it.

[sirmola]

You NEED to play Undertale. And don't look up anything about it.

Played It. It was around the right length if you count both neutral and pacifist. (and it was one of the best RPGs i have ever played). I'll admit i looked up how to get the pacifist run on the second playthrough. (and also how to cheeze metiaton/get the temie armor, because i was having a ton of trouble on that fight due to my reflexes)

[The Draco Knight]

It's been a while since I last played LAL, too. What's the trigger range for Odio's Petrify attack, if you remember? I do remember though that the Death Prophet has some petrification moves of his own, and you have to run away from a certain number of fights to trigger his battle.

Yep, for Death Prophet you need to run away from 100 battle. As for the trigger range of Odio's petrify attack, I must say that I don't remember it as well, but I do remember that he use it a lot tough.

[eclipse]

As someone who hates having action in her RPGs (but makes an exception for the Tales series). . .

- Radiant Historia is amazing. The game itself can be broken into chunks, though remembering what you did and where/when is sort-of crucial.

- FTL: Faster than Light is closer to a text-based roguelike with some interactive elements. However, the interactive part can (mostly) be automated, especially if you play as the Engi (humans can sort-of go this route, too, but it takes a lot more effort).

- The 3DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeons have a very short story.

[Tangerine]

Suikoden, because it needs more love. They tend to sit around the 20-30 hour mark though, and that's your upper limit.

Konami knew how to make a good RPG, too bad they stopped :'(.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Tangerine

[Topazd]

Suikoden 1 is definitely a safe bet when it comes to length, and a great entry point to boot. The later (main series) games are - while ubiquitously more refined products, also greater timesinks, to varying degrees.

[PeaceRibbon]

I might look into child of light. It looks like it has real time elements, though.

I guess that's fair. I'd go into why I think the game is leagues less real time than the majority and that you could totally handle it, but I know what it's like to try getting someone with low reaction time to play video games with said elements sooo... yeah I'll just let it be.

[sirmola]

As someone who hates having action in her RPGs (but makes an exception for the Tales series). . .

- Radiant Historia is amazing. The game itself can be broken into chunks, though remembering what you did and where/when is sort-of crucial.

- FTL: Faster than Light is closer to a text-based roguelike with some interactive elements. However, the interactive part can (mostly) be automated, especially if you play as the Engi (humans can sort-of go this route, too, but it takes a lot more effort).

- The 3DS Pokemon Mystery Dungeons have a very short story.

I played radient historia, and i have to agree. It is amazing.

I don't really like roguelikes. I played "explorers of time" a lot back in the day, and I might get some enjoyment out of the 3ds one, but not enough to justify paying more than 5 or so dollars.

Edited July 26, 2016 by sirmola

[Thane]

If you want to go for two classics, Knights of the Old Republic I and II are easy to get into even if you're not into Star Wars (like me; I know nothing about that universe). The second game has my favorite video game character of all time.

It has not aged well in the graphics or gameplay department, but I believe they're still good games to play. They're available for cheap on Steam, and the second game has a mod that restores some of the lost content with a click of a button.

I'm not doing a good job of selling this series, but I'm just being open about its flaws - there are some genuinely great moments in this game, especially story-wise.

[Refa]

Suikoden 1 is definitely a safe bet when it comes to length, and a great entry point to boot. The later (main series) games are - while ubiquitously more refined products, also greater timesinks, to varying degrees.

I dunno man, does this count Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tierkreis? From what I played, even Suikoden III didn't feel nearly as refined as the first game, maybe due to how ambitious it was.

EDIT But yeah, I recommend the first game for sure. I hear the second one is awesome but a decent bit longer (although since it's a direct continuation, you'll probably want to play it anyways).

Edited July 26, 2016 by Refa

[Augestein]

I also agree with people that say Paper Mario. Timed Hits are not needed, and you can even turn them off if you want. Regardless, you can beat the game without using them. I've done it before (hell, I've low leveled the game I love it so much).

My suggestion would be an old school game "Castle of the Winds." It's really old, and it might be hard to get into now, but it's very simple and it has charm. It's also free now too.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Augestein

[Original Alear]

I was able to beat Knights of the old Republic 1 in 25 hours. The gameplay is not stellar, but I think the story is pretty amazing. I don't think I did absolutely every sidequest, but I probably did most of em.

(Kotor 2 took me 55 hours, but I suspect a great of that was spent idling. Not really sure how long it actually took.)

I see Thane already recommended

If you end up trying and liking Paper Mario you should also consider Super Mario RPG. Consider, I say. I know you said you probably won't like RPGs with platforming/real time elements, and it has both platforming and timed hits. But despite being on the SNES it's a BEAUTIFUL game.

EDIT But yeah, I recommend the first game for sure. I hear the second one is awesome but a decent bit longer (although since it's a direct continuation, you'll probably want to play it anyways).

Suiko II is not really a direct continuation...certain character backstories and sidestories get expanded upon and continued, but the main plot barely involves the toran republic (the region is more of a cameo appearance). I actually think that Suiko II->Suiko III probably involves more plot thread carry over (due to Harmonia being a presence in suiko II) even though the longer span of time means less characters are directly carried over from II to III.

It's still a good idea to play suiko I first.

[Samias]

The first Devil Survivor is quite short even with multiple endings accounted for, but it is pretty fun. Overclocked for the 3DS shouldn't be too hard to track down. Not sure about the length of the 2nd game though I heard it was longer.

[sirmola]

The first Devil Survivor is quite short even with multiple endings accounted for, but it is pretty fun. Overclocked for the 3DS shouldn't be too hard to track down. Not sure about the length of the 2nd game though I heard it was longer.

I actualy played around half of devil surviver on the DS years ago. Didn't really like it. It's one of those games that is theoretically short until you factor in losing repeatedly and grinding.

[Zera]

sirmola, you should put up a poll with the RPG recommendations you're interested in, and let the SF community vote.

[Lord Raven]

zera how is that relevant to what sirmola is looking for

[eclipse]

I played radient historia, and i have to agree. It is amazing.

I don't really like roguelikes. I played "explorers of time" a lot back in the day, and I might get some enjoyment out of the 3ds one, but not enough to justify paying more than 5 or so dollars.

Perhaps the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 3DS games will go on sale or something. I felt the story was too short, but it might fit your needs.

FTL shouldn't take more than two hours for a single successful run. The writing's pretty good, even if the story makes FE1 look like GoT.

[Samias]

I actualy played around half of devil surviver on the DS years ago. Didn't really like it. It's one of those games that is theoretically short until you factor in losing repeatedly and grinding.

Fair enough. If you ever picked it up again I suggest getting the easy "bad ending" and that allows you to sustain levels and learned skills through repeat playthroughs, making the other endings much easier to obtain. The bosses are definitely huge difficulty spikes too. I really did enjoy how vastly different some of the scenarios played out, though.

[sirmola]

Fair enough. If you ever picked it up again I suggest getting the easy "bad ending" and that allows you to sustain levels and learned skills through repeat playthroughs, making the other endings much easier to obtain. The bosses are definitely huge difficulty spikes too. I really did enjoy how vastly different some of the scenarios played out, though.

I've heard people recommend that. I didn't get anywhere near the ending before giving up though. Is overclocked less grindy?

sirmola, you should put up a poll with the RPG recommendations you're interested in, and let the SF community vote.

I find that voting is less useful than reasoned argument for things like this.

One more thing. I impulse bought "luminous arc" a while back because my local game store was having a 2 for one DS game sale and i wanted to get pokemon platinum. Is that game good and short?

Edited July 27, 2016 by sirmola

[Samias]

I've heard people recommend that. I didn't get anywhere near the ending before giving up though. Is overclocked less grindy?

I just played the original but it looks like there were a lot of quality of life changes that make the game a lot easier.

[Topazd]

I dunno man, does this count Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tierkreis? From what I played, even Suikoden III didn't feel nearly as refined as the first game, maybe due to how ambitious it was.

EDIT But yeah, I recommend the first game for sure. I hear the second one is awesome but a decent bit longer (although since it's a direct continuation, you'll probably want to play it anyways).

By main series I mean I-V, though I've admittedly only dipped a toe into IV. Tierkreis doesn't really feel like a Suikoden proper.

S1 was essentially the developers testing the waters for many of the concepts that would later be realized in S2, so it does feel like a 'demo' for the second game in many a sense. It could just be the terrible translation the game received (though S2 is arguably even worse off in that regard) clouding my vision, but it's oftentimes difficult to really get much out of the characters or setting (relative to the later games) with what's offered. Furthermore, there's stuff like the boss bribe glitch and multiple characters potentially starting out at level 99, as early as Kuromimi. The gameplay does flow quicker than 3-5, for sure.

Edited July 27, 2016 by Topazd

[eclipse]

One more thing. I impulse bought "luminous arc" a while back because my local game store was having a 2 for one DS game sale and i wanted to get pokemon platinum. Is that game good and short?

Luminous Arc's story is okay. I think it was a bit on the longer side, though.