Any good PS2 PAL RPGs?

[Bananamatic]

Preferably one that is actually hard or with several difficulty options so I don't blow through it in 20 hours.

[helvetica]

No access to a swapmagic disc?  If you can get one of those you can either install the memcard exploit or use a bootdisc to play NTSC games on a PAL PS2.

[Ryuu]

No access to a swapmagic disc?  If you can get one of those you can either install the memcard exploit or use a bootdisc to play NTSC games on a PAL PS2.

yeah but if the .iso isn't hacked/displays both natively, the display comes in really fucked up if you play NTSC on PAL or vice versa

[Bananamatic]

No access to a swapmagic disc?  If you can get one of those you can either install the memcard exploit or use a bootdisc to play NTSC games on a PAL PS2.

If I had any way to get non-PAL games, I would be playing Ketsui instead of making this thread

[helvetica]

yeah but if the .iso isn't hacked/displays both natively, the display comes in really fucked up if you play NTSC on PAL or vice versa

Err you load a GS patcher that sets PAL compatible settings for NTSC games first, hence the bootdisk after the Swap Magic (the Swap Magic is merely to load the GS patcher disc).  If you can memcard hack, you don't even need Swap Magic since all it's doing is loading patcher ELF which you can do with uLaunchELF.  The only difference between PAL and NTSC games on the PS2 is the resolution and colorspace that gets set by the game executable.  I've went from PAL to NTSC with a GS patcher with no issues so I assume the reverse isn't any more difficult (it shouldn't, it's doing the same thing just in reverse).

If I had any way to get non-PAL games, I would be playing Ketsui instead of making this thread

I seriously doubt importing is that hard.

[Bananamatic]

The hard part would be convincing my parents that paying for something on the internet isn't super dangerous :V

[helvetica]

Your problem not mine o/

Either get an NTSC console/a way to play NTSC games or suffer in the fact that Sony absolutely hates Europe.

[Third Eye Lem]

Persona 4 fits the difficulty bill pretty well. I would suggest Xenosaga, but it doesn't seem it's out in your region, which is unfortunate. Wild ARMs III isn't...Too hard, but it does involve quite a bit of grinding and exploration (good luck trying to get all the EX Keys without a guide).

Ratchet and Clank (the series) is also pretty good, though it doesn't get the RPG element until the second game. If you can find going Commando, I recommend playing it, so you can get free weapons when you play Up Your Arsenal.

[Grand Octopus]

Gonna break this down into ones I've played and ones I've heard good things about.

Played:

Dark Chronicle - Shallow as hell combat 'system' but tons of stuff to do. Random dungeons also. Love it.
Suikoden V - Found this really compelling despite the slow start. Lots of characters to collect.
Breath of Fire V - Weird. It's sort of survival horror'ish in that enemies don't respawn, there're no inns and you have limited saves plus an irreversible GAME OVER countdown. So you can't grind and it's possible to get to a point where you're complete fucked. But there's a 'restart anytime' option that lets you carry some stuff over. Difficult to summarise effectively, so look it up.
Grandia II - Standard stuff, but good battle system and (some) decent characters.

Heard good things:

Valkyrie Profile 2 - Seems incredibly polished. Watch a video or something.
Dragon Quest VIII - Traditional RPG done well apparently.
Final Fantasy XII - Meh.
Ar Tonelico 2 - People seem to dig the anime/VN influence.

Might be worth looking at:

Megaman X: Command Mission - Surprisingly polished and enjoyable.
Odin Sphere - Beautiful game world/scenes/bosses. Repetitive though.
Shadow Hearts Covenant - Generally held in high regard.

I'd mention SO3, DDS and P3/4 but I know you've played them. Nocturne is the best SMT game so get it if you haven't already and you can actually find it. If you want to play a NI game get Phantom Brave.

I would suggest Xenosaga, but it doesn't seem it's out in your region, which is unfortunate. Wild ARMs III isn't...Too hard, but it does involve quite a bit of grinding and exploration (good luck trying to get all the EX Keys without a guide).

We got Xenosaga II, but it's pretty bad. We got WA3/4 as well, though I've played both and wouldn't recommend them to others (despite enjoying 4 quite a bit).

[Chaotic Phoenixma]

Your problem not mine \o/

Either get an NTSC console/a way to play NTSC games or suffer in the fact that Sony absolutely hates Europe.

I thought all the gaming companies hated Europe.


Outside of Nocturne/Lucifer's Call, I'm having trouble thinking of PS2 RPGs that you haven't played.


I would recommend the Disgaea series, but you asked for something hard, and they're not hard outside of postgame bosses, and postgame bosses are a huge grindfest which you hate. Plus there's no difficulty levels outside of stronger bills anyway, plus I have no idea if you would even be interested in an SRPG.


Oh yeah, definitely Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2 are worth playing. But you probably can't find them since they've been out I don't know how many years. They're not hard, but they're fun.

[Bananamatic]

About Nocturne...I searched.
And found nothing. It doesn't exist where I live or something, while we have too many DDS/2 copies. I'd give a kidney for Nocturne.

Heard about Disgaea how it's just a lolgrind and nothing else. I don't want to become a Fatlus :V
I don't really like SRPGs anyways.

Both Dark Clouds are impossible to find now.

FFXII got the difficulty right, both the enemies and bosses feel threatening if you don't overpower yourself.

VPII was good even if it wasn't hard.

BoF5 looks interesting...it's been a long time since an RPG screwed me over.

[trancehime]

go get breath of fire 5 if you want ball breaking difficulty