I'm looking for a good traditional dungeon crawler here. Zelda types need not apply. I'm kind of drawing a blank and am wondering if anyone would mind giving me some insight. What were your favorite RPGs for the GBA? I was going to finish Golden Sun: The Lost Age, but the emulator on my iphone won't run it at playable speed and I can't seem to find my micro.
Well you've always got the option to go with Final fantasy I/II, IV, V, and VI. I'd saty away from IV though, I heard it was a little broken. If you also like puzzles I might suggest Cima: The Enemy, it had some mixed reviews but I found it quite enjoyable. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/gba/cimatheenemy?q=cima
Too bad for Golden Sun, that was exactly what I was going to suggest you. I loved the Pokemon Firered/GreenLeaf remakes if you're in those kinds of things.
I'm right now deep into Shining Soul II, but that's arguable more of a Diablo-styled action RPG, and the combat definitely evokes Zelda. Have you had a chance to try either of the Demi Kids games? The setting is a little goofy, but they win for traditional turn-based combat and being Shin Megami Tensei offshoots. The two Summon Night: Swordcraft Story games are also sitting on my plate, and I want to try to finish those before the DS sequel comes out.
I really enjoyed Lunar Legend, although I am a bit partial as Silver Star Story was one of my favorite rpg's.
I enjoyed Lunar Legend too. Very good game. I just picked up Cima and ordered a copy of Grandia Parallel Trippers for GBC. I'm not so sure about The latter as it'll be my first Japanese language RPG in quite some years, but it might be worth the effort. I've already got nearly every Final Fantasy available, but for some reason have yet to complete any of them. Blasphemy I know, but I'll get around to them when I have more time to complete the chore.
Fire Emblem. Its an SRPG, but I really like the both of those games. The only SRPG I own that actually requires freaking strategy and thought. Also theres: FFTA - (Kinda easy, but I found it fun) Breath of Fire 1 - (Good if you've never played the original) Breath of Fire 2 - (Same as above) Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga - (Fun and funny) Phantasy Star collection - ( A little torn on this, I hated the 3rd PS game, but I loved the first 2) Shining Force: Ressurection of the Dark Dragon - (Another easy SRPG, but its fun and memorable) Riviera: The promised land - (This may fit what you want a little more) Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis - (Kinda like FFT, but you create the God units and God Weapons with the right items, therefore, you become indestructiblier than Cid. lol) I own Swordcraft Story 1 and 2, as well as Yggdra Union, but I haven't played them yet. As for CIMA: The enemy, I loathed that game. Its one long huge escort mission of 40+ NPCs at a time. WTF! EDIT: Oh yeah, You may want to take a look at Shining Soul 1 and Shining Soul 2, because those I think would be similar to what you want. I found them pretty mediocre, though. But also kind of addictive. Its hard to describe.
I thought Sword of Mana was kind of boring. I got stuck and had no clue what to do. Maybe I'm just dumb though. I'd play Mario and Luigi.........or Metroid Fusion. But thats me. I haven't played GBA forever.
I also recommend Mario and Luigi (my wife played through it then got me into it). Also great for a play is Tales of Phantasia (unless you've already played it on Z/SNES [I and most everyone else preferred the fan translation], none the less it was worth playing again on GBA). ~Krelian P.S.: Oh yeah, and my wifes favorite GB game is Final Fantasy Adventure (she still plays it these days) but she didn't like Sword of Mana either...
