Gaming RPGs worth playing on the 3DS?

[astrangeone]

I love RPGs like Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and others - great story, spanning a thousand ages and having you defeat HUGE monsters. What RPGs on the 3DS would you recommend?

I've played:
- All the main game Pokemons!
- Mario/Luigi Dream Team - meh. The story is actually quite good, but I would rather die than play through that again.

Considering:
- Sticker Star - heard battles are ridiculously boring and tedious because of needing to use stickers/resources. What say you?

 

[Xiphiidae]

The main ones I'd recommend are:
Bravely Default & Bravely Second (if you like more traditional turn-based JRPGs)
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (if you like action RPGs)
Fire Emblem Awakening (if you like tactics games)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (New3DS only)

I would seriously caution against Sticker Star; I'm a long-time Paper Mario fan, but Sticker Star is one of my most regretted 3DS purchases.

Edit: There're also games like Tales of the Abyss, Stella Glow, and the Etrian Odyssey games, which have been strongly recommended to me but I haven't actually played too much of them myself.

 

[Ace_Axel]

Sticker Star was such a let down... Monster Hunter 4 is great but challenging! Bravely Dafault is a must play if you're into JRPGs. I also played a bit of SMT: Soul Hackers And Persona Q. They're 1st person dungeon crawlers like the Etrian Odyssey series.

 

[astrangeone]

Might have to give Bravely Default another try. The demo was so MEH.

I love MH. One of the best games ever.

 

[Zetman]

Bravely default is a masterpiece for old final fantasy nostalgic.

If you like monster hunter maybe you will like final fantasy explorer too

 

[Noelemahc]

Consider Etrian Odyssey (old-skool dungeon crawling with turn-based combat), Shin Megami Tensei (beginner of the Mon genre popularized by Pokemon; multiple sub-series made it to 3DS - SMT IV is a straightforward Epic RPG With Deep Philosophical Subtext; Soul Hackers is a port of an old classic cyberpunk nightmare; Devil Survivor is a pair of tactical-RPGs, the first is all "why Mons are a bad concept" and the second is like an upbeat Evangelion, both are highly non-linear).

Bravely Default is a major YMMV depending on which gen of Final Fantasy you love, if any, but it, like Etrian Odyssey, has free demos in the eShop.

 

[Zetman]

Codename S.T.E.A.M. is also very nice

 

[blax722]

Try Etrian Odyssey, it started as dungeon crawling turn based RPG on DS, on the 3DS is oldest is Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan. I was never into these kind of things but I tried this one and I spend like 200 hours playing this and still didn't finished.

 

[CeeDee]

- Sticker Star - heard battles are ridiculously boring and tedious because of needing to use stickers/resources. What say you?

If you really like Paper Mario games, feel free to try it out. If you haven't played any yet, you could try playing Paper Mario 64 or The Thousand-Year Door first.

 

[Ente]

I would recommend both Fire Emblem games

 

[Binebina87]

I cannot recommend Tales of the Abyss enough!
It has an awesome Story, great battle machanics and lots of content.

More games should use that action based battle style and not the turn based Final Fantasy / Bravely Default mechanics (which I honestly dont like)

 

[awalsh053]

I love RPGs like Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and others - great story, spanning a thousand ages and having you defeat HUGE monsters. What RPGs on the 3DS would you recommend?

I've played:
- All the main game Pokemons!
- Mario/Luigi Dream Team - meh. The story is actually quite good, but I would rather die than play through that again.

Considering:
- Sticker Star - heard battles are ridiculously boring and tedious because of needing to use stickers/resources. What say you?

Mario Luigi paperjam Bros is not bad I'm playing now.

 

[zhdarkstar]

Bravely Default/Bravely Second are some of the best turn-based JRPGs I've played in a long time. If you liked any of the Final Fantasy games from 1-10, you'll enjoy these two. Legend of Legacy is another turn-based JRPG that takes a different approach to leveling, increasing stats based on actions taken instead a generic exp system.

If SRPGs are more your style, you've got more choices than you might realize. You have your staple Fire Emblem games in FE: Awakening and FE: Fates. Stella Glow is a SRPG that uses a relationship-building mechanic to gain news skills and abilities. Project X Zone 1&2 are part of a crossover franchise that mixes tactical unit-based gameplay with combo-based combat. Codename S.T.E.A.M. is an interesting hybrid of SRPG and TPS, with Abraham Lincoln as your commanding officer. Then you have a couple of hidden gems in games like The Legend of Korra, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, and Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.

There are also a bunch of ARPGs, such as Xenoblade: Chronicles, Monster Hunter 4G/4U/X, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Xenoblade is N3DS-only, so it won't work on your O3DS. While the rest of the games listed will run on the O3DS, gameplay is a lot better if you're using a Circle Pad Pro.