I don’t know if this goes into CS or IMHO, but I’ll put it here for now.
I’m looking for an RPG to get this Christmas for either PS2 or GC. I just want a game with a thriving fandom I can get into - however, I prefer games with a more serious theme. I was thinking Tales of Symphonia, but it is fairly light-hearted. So I’m falling back on Fire Emblem, one of the Shin Megami Tensei games (don’t know where to start though - which one?) or a Suikoden game (don’t know which one to start with there either, and the whole 108 characters thing scares the crap out of me). I’m more for plot and characters than gameplay. I don’t care how it plays, as long as the characters are endearing and the plot enthralling.
Shadow Hearts 2 - I just finished it last night (finally!), and I hereby pronounce it the best console RPG I’ve played in about 10 years. It’s just an amazing game all around - great story, great characters, GREAT battle and item system, great side quests and sub-plots, amazing art and graphics, and so on.
You probably wouldn’t want to play any of the Nippon Ichi games (La Pucelle, Disgaea, Phantom Brave, Phantom Kingdom), then. They’re all very cartoony in art style, the plot doesn’t take itself seriously, and it’s addicting as heck.
(As for me, penguins that explode when tossed = teh win. XD)