If the PS1 represented a golden era for JRPG fans, the PS2 was the rare sequel that was just as good as the original. From the system's beginnings in 2000, until a few years into theඣ PS3's lifespan, the PS2 cranked out classic title after title.

This is an era you could get lost in if you weren't careful, so this list exists to point out the best JRPGs of the PS2 era, to give both experienced and novice JRPG fans the perfect checklist. From Square Enix and Namco to smaller studios with just as much heart, here are plenty of our favor♋ites.

Rogue Galaxy

Rogue Galaxy's setting was something new for Level-5, whose previous endeavors weꦯre based on fantasy. In the game, you follow Jaster Rogue as he's suddenly taken 🍨from his quiet life on an isolated planet and thrust into space piracy. But it turns out he may not just be an ordinary guy after all.

Rogue Galaxy was Level-5'꧙s biggest game at the time, and it showed. Its graphics were impressive, and it had some open-world elements. There were also a bunch of side quests in addition to the range of exploration, so you could put in tens of hours into the game and still find new things to do.

Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne is one of those game titles you'll hear being thrown around when 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:discussing hard JRPGs. Its infamous Matador fight is often used as an example of the game's difficulty spikes. Beyond that, though, it leaves quite an impression because💃 of how its story is structured.

It starts with an apocalypse in Tokyo, leading to the protagonist becoming a Demi-fiend and potentially becoming part of one of several people's plans to reform Tokyo in their own ꩲvision. Gameplay-wise, the Magatamas you equip and press turn system can make or break your battles, meaning you'll always🌼 be on your toes.

Suikoden 5

Despite Suikoden losing its series creator after the third installment, some still regard 5 as the best Suikoden title ever. It manages to make up for the mistakes of the fourth game while improving on🦹 other important aspects like graphics and character development.

You take on the role of the Prince of Falena, a m💫atriarchal queendom which is gradually beginning to be torn apart thanks to the machinations of royals acting be꧂hind the scenes.

Eventually, the Prince f🎐inℱds himself cast out of the kingdom and forced to assemble his army to take his land back for the sake of his sister, the next queen.

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Kingdom Hearts

It's difficult to overstate the cultural impact that Kingdom Hearts had on the gaming world when it launched for PS2 in 2002. Final Fantasy was still enjoying its fever peak, and Disney is, well, Disney. The promise of something with roots in the former but bespectacled in a suite of themes, settings, and characte🉐rs from the latter was positively tantalizing to many players.

The game was a smash hit, of course, with Kingdom Hearts going on to become one of Square Enix's premier franchises. Nowadays, there are just as many people playing Square's titles who got their start with Sora as those who k💖icked off with Cloud and Tidus; Kingdom Hearts is timeless stuff, and it all started right here.

Star Ocean 3: Till The End Of Time

Once a generation, tri-Ace manages to bring out a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Ocean title. This time around, the game focused on Fayt Leingod, the son of a f♊amous sci𝄹entist.

Fayt was enjoying a peaceful vacation until an alien race known as the Vendeeni caus🍸ed him to hastily abandon the vacation planet, sending him on an 😼adventure across the stars.

Though not quite as perfect as its predecessor, Star Ocean 3 is still a fantastic game, working at a much larger scale than the previous games. You can travel between multiple planets on your way to figuring out just what’s d🌠eclared war on the Pangalactic🎃 Federation.

Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille Zur Macht

A spiritual successor to his legendary Xenogears game, director Tetsuya Takahashi decided to leave behind the confines of a single planet for something significantly far more 🌜galactic in scale.

Shion Uzuki is an employee of Vector Industries battling against the alien Gnosis, who - alongside the android KOS-MOS - ☂is pulled into a captivating tril💜ogy-length mystery.

If there’s one flaw t🔯hat holds this game back, it sometimes feels more like a film than a game, boasting cutscenes so long they needed ꦿsave points in between.

Nonetheless, the first Xenosaga is still a great first part of a wonderful, ifꦉ slightly convoluted, trilogy.

Suikoden 3

Suikoden director Yoshitaka👍 Murayama pushed the experimental nature of his series even further with the game’s third installment and first appearance on the PS2. As ever, the nature of Suikoden titles doesn’t put the fate of the world on the line.

Instead, it becomes about a separate area of the world you’d seen already, the Grasslands, and the people who sought to control them, as well as the story of the runes, ꩵthe sources of magic in the Suikoden world🌠.

What made this game special is that it has three different lead characters, and the story switches points of view between them, making it a perf𒆙ect game ജfor those willing to pay attention to the narrative it was weaving.

Disgaea: Hour Of Darkness

Disgaea is another one of those Japanese franchises th🌺at hasn't received too much l❀ove in the West until fairly recently, but this very first entry is every bit as good as those modern offerings, if not better.

Its creative approach to game design would go on to become one of the series' defining traits, asౠ too would its fantastic character designs and wicked sense of humorꦇ.

Not many people picked tജhis one up when it was first released, but thanks to a string of enhanced ports and remasters, it's never been more accessible and is finally starting to receive some o♒f the love and recognition that it deserves.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

One of the odder games to come out during the PS2 era, Shadow Hearts: ♉Covenant was set in the early 1900s in an alternate universe version of World Wa💛r 1.

During that time, German lieutenant Karin Koenig meets up with Yuri, the protagonist from the original Shadow Hearts, and a group of other warriors who wind up facing off against a secret soc👍iety that turns out to be behind the Great War.

Nearly everything about Covenant m﷽ade it stand out as unique among other JRPGs at the time. It drew on both a period (the 1900s) and setting (Eurasia) that no other game was even thinking about, and also leaned into the occult and supernatural, making for an experience unlike any other.

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

It may be difficult to recall, but there was a time when Valkyrie Profile felt like it might truly take off in a big way, leading to more than the paltry offerings us diehards have gotten in the decades since. Even the recent 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Valkyrie Elysium just wasn't up🦄 to par with the first game - or the second, for that matter.

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria might l൩ack some of the experimental charm of its predecessor, but this is a gorgeous PS2 JRPG just the same. It contains certain "standardizations", if you will - fields and settlements can be roamed for as long as you like, for i🌠nstance, which is in sharp contrast to the core tenets of Valkyrie Profile on PS1. But just because it's more of a traditional role-playing games doesn't mean Silmeria is "more of the same"; indeed, tri-Ace's relentless charm is on full display.

A challenging title split 🍸between six compelling chapters, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria is a must-play.