I'm about to hook up my ps2 again and I'm looking for a very good, high quality rpg to lose myself in. I have final fantasy x, final fantasy xii, dragon quest viii, and star ocean: til the end of time.

I'm looking for something other than those games listed since I've put in many an hour in each of them and about eight months ago I finished final fantasy xii clocked in at over 100 hours. That was the last time I had the ps2 hooked up since I also have a ps3 but I'm looking for a top notch rpg. What can you recommend? I'm looking for the best of the best here and I know it will be hard since I have four of the greats of all time already listed. Please exclude kingdom hearts because I have beaten them both I just don't own them. I want something completely fresh that I haven't experienced. Thanks a lot!

Dark Cloud 2.

This, or if you're looking for something a little different: Steambot Chronicles.

Not Steamboat Chronicles. Paddle Liners don't make very good war machines.

I hear Rogue Galaxy is pretty good.

'Course, I wouldn't know. It's still sitting there in my pile of PS2 games

A lot of people swear by the Persona series. I don't much care for them myself but you might want to look into them. Unfortunately my experience with RPGs on the PS2 is limited but if you need any recommendations for PS1 RPGs there's a lot of good stuff there.

Thanks I've heard of the series but never played it. So I can expect epic story, gameplay and many long nights of endless gaming?

@lemunde feel free to recommend me some ps1 legendary rpgs. Ps2 is backwards compatible so I may choose to go with a ps1 rpg if I get enough recommendations.

Eternal Poison
Front Mission 4
Grandia II
Grandia III

Sakura Wars
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Fes
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Summoner
Star Ocean Till the End of Time
Steambot Chronicles
Tales of the Abyss

Xenosaga I
Xenosaga II
Xenosaga III

psx games:

Nice! How is the xenogears and suikoden series? I've always been intrigued by them. Would you recommend xenogears or suikoden?

Yup.... I read somewhere they were available on PSN. if you don't want to shell out $30+

This.

how good is legend of dragoon?

I'll have to check out the PSN but I don't remember seeing any of those on there.

I found it boring back when I played when it came out.... A lot of people like it though.

Dark Cloud 1 and 2.

Is Suikoden top notch?

I recall my friend playing this ALOT back in the day, I sat and watched a view times, seemed pretty cool.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/drakantheancientsgates/index.html

Okami is a great game to get. Well, I'd say it's more of a Zelda game than anything, but do not neglect it, it's very solid and fun.

Yea I played it and enjoyed it very much.

Suikoden V is my favorite JRPG for the PS2. The first 5-6 hours or so are a bit slow, but then it offer a great gaming adventure

Suikoden III and IV are ok too, but noticeably weaker than V (especially IV which is the weakest game in the series). Suikoden I & II for the PS1 are my favorite PS1 games, so generally it's a very good series I think!

Steambot Chronicles is another PS2 JRPG I enjoyed, and in some ways it reminds me of TES. There's a relatively large open world you can do stuff in, side quests and stuff, and it's all in 3D and realtime and after you finished the main story you can still continue to play the game doing side quests and whatever you missed. The game have two issues, though, which is the loading times and the sometimes very poor framerate. It's also the only JRPG I know of where you can side with the bad guys, but I never tried that. Apparently it have 4 different endings IIRC.

Yakuza and Yakuza 2 are very nice too. Yakuza 2 have arguably the best story of any PS2 game, at least as far as I'm concerned The Yakuza games are kinda like JRPGs but takes place in present day and got a realtime actiony combat system ala Tekken or whatever. The combat in Yakuza isn't nearly as smooth as in Tekken, Street Fighter and so on though, but it's good enough.

Okami is an absolute masterpiece and possibly the only Zelda clone that is better than Zelda I look forward to the sequel for DS that is released in about a month.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are very nice too, but they aren't really that long games and a PS3 port of those are released soon.

I'm not sure I'd consider them the best of the best, but worth checking out:

Odin Sphere
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Rogue Galaxy
Radiata Stories
.hack

• .hack//Infection
  
• .hack//Mutation
  
• .hack//Outbreak
  
• .hack//Quarantine

.hack//G.U.

• .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth
  
• .hack//G.U. Vol. 2: Reminisce
  
• .hack//G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption

These plus Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts Covenant, and Shadow Hearts From the New World

Also these:

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts 2
Disgaea
Odin Sphere
Atelier Iris series
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Legendia (if you can find it )
The Shining force series
.hack// series (very good especially the .hack//G.U. games)
Ys: The Ark of Napishtim

@Freddo Steambot Chronicles bad guy side:

Dark Cloud 2, though stay away from one, it's pretty much garbage by today's standards. Rogue Galaxy was absolutely excellent. Any of the Person 3:Fes and Persona 4, probably the best jrpg series in existence and there's nothing else like them out there.

I'll get the Final Fantasy games out of the way first. Final Fantasy VII is obviously a good choice. The other two... well I can't really guarantee you'll enjoy them. VIII has a convoluted story and a quirky atmosphere. IX is better but I don't care for the disney theme they were going for. Final Fantasy Tactics is an excellent game if you don't mind some strategy mixed with your RPG. As for Final Fantasy Chronicles and Anthology... they were great games on the SNES but the stuttering and load times on the PSX make me cringe.

Suikoden appears to be an awesome game although I've only played a little bit into the first one.

Wild Arms is a definite winner if you like western themes. Excellent music, story and atmosphere, but a little lacking in the combat department. I never played the second one but it might be worth looking into.

Breath of Fire III is probably my favorite in the series. IV not so much.

Legend of Dragoon... has quick time events. If you can get past those it looks like a good game.

Xeno Gears is an amazing game if you throw away the second disc and forget it ever existed.

I didn't care much for Chrono Cross but a lot of people like it so you probably will too.

I remember liking Star Ocean the Second Story but I don't remember much about the actual game.

The Lunar games are very good if you can find them. They're remakes of a couple of RPGs made for the Sega CD. If you can find them complete in box they come with all sorts of goodies.

Epic story: Not the best story on the PS2, but it is very charming and humorous at times.

Gameplay: Pretty fun action RPG stuff. There are two distinct characters each with two kinds of weapons to experiment with.

Long nights: Totally, moreso if you're a completionist. The dungeons themselves have randomly generated floors, so every time you enter you never know what you might find.
Then there's the http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/dark_cloud_2_max_weapon.gif http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/dark_cloud_2_monica_weapon.gif you can acquire, http://darkcloud.wikia.com/wiki/Fishing#Dark_Cloud_2 (including breeding and http://darkcloud.wikia.com/wiki/Finny_Frenzy), http://darkcloud.wikia.com/wiki/Georama#Dark_Cloud_2_.28Dark_Chronicle.29, achievement medals to get in every floor of dungeons, http://darkcloud.wikia.com/wiki/Photography_Guide and invention, http://darkcloudii.wikia.com/wiki/Steve_The_Ridepod, different costumes to earn, extra hard dungeon after you beat the game, http://darkcloud.wikia.com/wiki/Spheda.... easily 100 hours or more.

Thanks for all the replies. I've narrowed it down to Suikoden V, Rogue Galaxy, Dark Cloud 2, and Steambot Chronicles. Out of these which one provides the overall best experience when looking at story, gameplay, and longevity?

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hears II

My all time favorite PS2 games.