Hidden PS2 RPGs Nobody Played

Legaia 2: Duel Saga

Legend of Legaia was a cult classic on PS1, having won over fans due to its unique battle system that involved chaining together combo attacks to fight enemies. Basically, press buttons sequentially, do cool stuff.

Although Legaia 2: Duel Saga on PS2 inherited those fundamentals, like many other JRPG franchises out there, it’s got a brand new world and story to experience. While the original Legaia featured a story involving symbiotic creatures, Duel Saga instead focuses around people called Mystics that have the power to summon spirits called “Origin”

As is common in the genre, Duel Saga’s story deals with the effects of discrimination, as Mystics are societal outcasts, loathed and feared for their powers. Though protagonist Lang comes from a family that lacks these prejudices, he is soon thrust out into the world after a magical crystal — which generates his village’s water supply — is stolen.

Though Legaia 2 makes some smart improvements to combat, the reception to it overall was way more tepid, and the game has sadly been forgotten as a whole. This second entry was also the last, as the IP hasn’t seen any action in the two decades since release, and that first game is still stranded on PS1! It’s enough to leave you jaded.

 

Jade Cocoon 2

This monster catching RPG stars Kahu, a young hero looking to become a beast hunter. Kahu ends up in serious trouble though, being hit with a curse that slowly transforms him into a demon — and the rest of the story is focused on getting cured.

Jade Cocoon 2’s core gameplay should be familiar to fans of dungeon crawlers, as Kahu explores a variety of forests in order to fight and captures the monsters within, before taking down the boss at the end. The monster raising mechanics and battles, though, are where the game truly shines. There are hundreds of monsters to catch and breed, and tons more different combinations of them with a variety of skills and elements to consider.

The combat system places Kahu at the center of a grid, surrounded by up to eight of his monsters that can be rotated around him. Battles are a matter of figuring out who to put on offense each turn. While the monsters have their own health and mana to manage, it’s game over if Kahu goes down, as he can only be hit a certain amount of times in battle. Battles against other beast hunters work similarly — you’ll win by either taking out all their monsters or taking them out directly.

Despite its unique combat and monster raising mechanics, as well as a great art direction helmed by Studio Ghibli artist Katsuya Kondō, Jade Cocoon 2 remains obscure in the RPG world — likely due to the fact that the game’s western publisher, Ubisoft, decided it would be a good idea to release it on the exact same day as the North American release of a little known gem called Final Fantasy X. They must have been left pretty red-faced about that.

 

Ring of Red

Developed and published by Konami, this turn-based strategy RPG presents an alternate history where Japan was split into two countries after World War II. Of course, this being a strategy RPG, peace doesn’t last, and the history of the two Japans in this timeline is marked by war — with 100% more giant mecha.

Beginning in the 1960s, Ring of Red follows two South Japanese AFW test pilots as they’re sent to infiltrate North Japan after a North Japanese agent steals an AFW prototype. Though the story presentation is a bit drab, with a lot of very very boring text crawls, edited real life war footage, and visual novel cutscenes, the actual plot is captivating, featuring copious amounts of political intrigue and espionage.

Ring of Red, like many other SRPGs, has its battles play out on a grid-like map. But when combat actually initiates, you’ll be taken to a real -time environment and given control of your AFW unit. It’s a pretty unique, novel take.

Ring of Red is held back a tad by a kinda shoddy localization, but it’s otherwise a relic of an era where publishers could and would take on more risks to deliver creative projects like this. Compared to other games with giant mecha, Ring of Red distinguishes itself for how grounded it is and how hard it leans into realism. We will keep shouting this game out for eternity.

 

Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity

Released in 2005, this strategy RPG from Atlus and Pinegrow marks famed Persona artist Shigenori Soejima’s first project as art director. Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity is set in Solum, a fantasy world where a substance called Miasma is slowly killing everyone off.

To make matters worse, the local church is preaching that everyone should simply give up and die, a warlord is wreaking havoc across the land, and an alchemist is killing Spirits under the belief that his experiments will help save the world. In the midst of this, protagonist Spero seeks to open the titular Gate of Eternity to stop the Miasma for good.

Stella Deus is a straightforward SRPG; you command up to six units in a grid-based arena, where things like terrain influence the outcome of your battles. There’s a class and leveling system, but it’s incredibly simplistic, without any room for customization like other games in the genre.

Instead, the two standout mechanics of this game come in the form of AP and Zone Effects. All actions cost AP, and as long as you have enough left, you can chain multiple actions back to back.

Stella Deus is a relatively simple game in execution, but also one cited as a good starting point for newcomers to SRPGs. And while the game sadly hasn’t seen any action beyond a simple digital re-release on PSN back in 2013, Soejima would go on to make history at Atlus from Persona 3 onwards with a saga of incredible RPGs.

 

Metal Saga

This mid-2000s turn-based RPG is the fifth main entry (and the first to come west) in the Metal Max series, but renamed to avoid some boring old Mad Max trademark issues. Forget that, like the other games in the series, Metal Saga is a post-apocalyptic turn-based RPG about tanks. The series as a whole is an overlap between fiddling with tank upgrades, turn-based battles with those tanks, and open-world non-linear exploration.

Despite its post-apocalyptic setting, Metal Saga is not only tonally lighter than other such stories, it’s also lighter in story than most RPGs. Like other Metal Max games, one of Metal Saga’s core conceits is non-linear gameplay — you’re mostly just dumped into the world, after which you can explore it at your leisure and hopefully stumble across the main story along the way. And while characters can fight in turn-based battles on foot, most of the game will have them fighting in customized tanks (except the dogs, which just have really big guns strapped on their backs).

Though Metal Saga’s world is a bit too empty, it still succeeds as an eclectic mix of different interests, all blended together to make something not really seen in the JRPG space. It’s probably also a bit too unique, as the series remains niche and mostly Japan-exclusive to this day. Metal Saga and Metal Max Xeno remain the only entries with official English localizations.

 

Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia

Ar Tonelico presents a rich and complex world, one that even has its own constructed language and unique cosmology, featuring an emphasis on concepts like Song Magic. Originally conceived during the college years of its director, the project would be delayed until 2006 due to how complex it wanted to be.

Ar Tonelico opens with the city of Platina under attack from monsters called Viruses. A knight of Elemia by the name of Lyner Barsett is sent to investigate. After narrowly escaping death, Lyner’s goal is to find the Hymn Crystal Purger to help stop the threat.

While the game’s exploration is standard for the genre, the turn-based combat brings a variety of interesting features to the table. Characters have a variety of attacks and skills like you’d expect, but they’re also supported by Reyvateils, a race of people that can use Song Magic. The team’s Reyvateil isn’t bound by turn order, and can use her Song Magic to buff the party at any time.

Though Ar Tonelico’s main story is relatively straightforward stuff, it and the sequels it spawned all stand out due to their sheer amount of worldbuilding. The Ar Tonelico universe is also much bigger than some realise, with anime and manga to tuck into too. This is a forgotten PS2 RPG well worth gobbling up if you can.

 

Soul Nomad & the World Eaters

Set in the land of Prodesto, Soul Nomad & the World Eaters stars a silent protagonist named Reyva who is handed a magical sword by the village elder. As soon as they take it, the sword reveals itself as the resting place of Gig, an evil god sealed away 200 years ago.

Unable to properly possess Reyva, Gig instead allows them to use a portion of his power — under the threat that he will fully take control if Reyva overuses it. With the sword in hand and accompanied by a childhood friend, Reyva ventures out into the world to destroy the World Eaters, weapons of mass destruction that were once under Gig’s command.

Released in 2007, this is one of many strategy RPGs developed by Nippon Ichi. Though the gameplay will likely be familiar to anyone with any experience in the genre, the game does distinguish itself in that units all fight in groups called squads. These squads can all be arranged in different ways for beneficial effects, and positioning in general matters as well. You wouldn’t want to put a squishy spellcaster on the frontlines, after all.

Let’s be real, though, most people who have heard of Soul Nomad will likely know the game for one thing: the Demon Path. Starting on New Game Plus, making certain dialogue decisions at the beginning of the game will put Reyva on the path of absolute evil as they embark on a mass-murdering rampage across the world. It’s a much darker and more brutal storyline, which you can check out in its pretty weak ports on modern systems. They did not cook with that one.

 

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

Released in 2008 in the west when we were all eagerly tucking into Lair on PS3, Mana Khemia stands as one of the few games in Gust’s long-running Atelier series to feature a male protagonist, with you invited to the Al-Revis Academy to study alchemy.

As with other Atelier games, alchemy is king here, with gear and item crafting being the primary way your characters get stronger. You won’t get anywhere in this game’s turn-based battles if you simply attempt to level grind your way past obstacles — in fact, Mana Khemia doesn’t even have traditional experience and levels.

What sets Mana Khemia apart from its series brethren is that you’ll be going to classes each week and  graded for your academic performance. Fail to get high enough marks in total for a week, and you’ll lose a day’s worth of free time to detention. Your free time, meanwhile, is spent on things like side quests.

Unlike most other Atelier sub-series, Mana Khemia only spawned one direct sequel instead of a full-blown trilogy. Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy plays similarly to the first game, though you’ve got two story campaigns (and an unlockable true ending) to get through this time.

Both Mana Khemia titles are well worth your time, and stand out in a franchise that already distinguishes itself from most other RPGs for its emphasis on item crafting. If you’ve never tried this series before, it’s not too late to atone.

 

Tsugunai: Atonement

Tsugunai: Atonement opens with protagonist Riese claiming a sacred artifact known as the Treasure Orb. Unfortunately for him, this brings about a dose of divine wrath, and his body and soul are separated. In order to atone — and return to his body — Riese’s disembodied spirit must now help those in need by temporarily possessing their bodies to help solve their problems.

Unlike other RPGs, Tsugunai also only takes place in one town  — Walondia — and its outskirts. To compensate, the town evolves as you progress and complete quests, with NPCs having new things to say.

Tsugunai’s other distinguishing feature is its battle system. It’s a turn-based affair with a unique take on defense that requires good timing. When you’re attacked by enemies during battle, all four face buttons — X, Square, Circle, and Triangle — serve a purpose. The X button is a standard guard to reduce damage. Square performs a Strage Guard, which fills up your Strage meter (essentially your Limit Break or ultimate attack). Circle consumes a chunk of that meter to dodge attacks entirely, and Triangle will allow you to block and counter attacks.

Though relatively obscure and a bit basic to look at nowadays, Tsugunai is an underappreciated RPG that’s worth playing, especially if you’re a fan of composer Yasunori Mitsuda’s music. Take it into your heart and you could have a very nice surprise.

 

Shadow Hearts

Here’s another casualty of Final Fantasy X’s pop culture dominance. Shadow Hearts’s western release was mere days before Final Fantasy X’s, and as a result, Shadow Hearts’s fusion of historical fiction and cosmic horror now lies mostly forgotten — even if the game did well enough to justify two sequels.

Set a decade and a half after the events of PS1 horror RPG Koudelka, Shadow Hearts follows protagonist Yuri Hyuga and exorcist Alice Elliot on a journey across China and Europe, as the former seeks to protect the latter from the clutches of a dark warlock. Bloody warlocks!

Though Shadow Hearts’s themes and aesthetic draw from the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, the story is, well, a different…story. The narrative leans a lot more towards comedy, with characters that are off-the-wall.

Shadow Hearts’s turn-based combat features a few twists: in addition to standard attacks, skills, and magic, characters have to manage Sanity Points, which slowly drain each turn. Run out, and they’ll go berserk and become uncontrollable. There’s also a timing component with the Judgment Ring — you’ll have to press a button right as a line passes through a colored area; pull it off, and your attacks are stronger. And protagonist Yuri can transform into a variety of monsters, giving him a wide range of abilities to choose from.

Though Shadow Hearts is now in the RPG graveyard in the sky, the sequels ironed out the game’s rough edges, and Covenant remains beloved to this day. The whole series deserves to be played, though, thanks to the unique premises and settings you just don’t really see in JRPGs nowadays.

READ NEXT: Forgotten PS1 RPGs Nobody Played