I've gone a pretty long time without picking up my DS up until this past Christmas, but it looks like there's a lot of good games released recently that I missed and I'm just starting to work through the backlog. I've been on an old-school kick lately and this system is filling that need nicely.

Dragon Quest V I picked this up last week and am only a few hours into it, but it seems pretty solid. This is only the second DQ game I've played other than the original Dragon Warrior for the NES. I don't really have many expectations for this, but the reviews have been very high and the gameplay seems solid so I think I'll enjoy it.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer This is a roguelike game, in actuality a remake of an SNES NetHack clone that was only released in Japan. That's not a bad thing at all. The story is very lite but the gameplay is addictive. It certainly fills the Diablo/loot whore niche. It carries on the old traditions of permadeath, but has a couple features to soften the blow. When you die, you lose all your items, revert to level 1, and go back to the starting town. But there are warehouses throughout the game where you can store items for a future run, so you're rarely completely empty-handed. Also there is a rescue feature where you can send out a call for help over WiFi, and either a friend or a just a random stranger can do a corpse run for you. I have yet to use this since I don't know anyone else with this game and not sure if there's still an active community a year after it's release.
For being bitten by the old-school bug, this fills that need nicely. The gameplay is very satisfying and addictive.

Disgaea DS I ordered this from Amazon and should receive it later this week. I've always wanted to try this series but never had a PS2. From the looks if it the game is a direct port of the original, with a couple added characters and a minimap function for the top screen.

Etrian Odyssey II Haven't ordered this one yet but have been looking into it. Another game styled after the old school; this one is a Wizardy clone. The Japanese may hate most Western RPGs, but they love Wizardry for some reason. I may hold out for The Dark Spire, which is another very similar game soon to be released.

I doubt I'll have time for all of these, especially being in the middle of Star Ocean for the 360. But I'm traveling via plane several times in the upcoming months, so that should give me a chance to catch up. I was thinking about getting the Chrono Trigger remake, but seeing as I've already beaten that game about 13 times (combining the SNES and ROM playthroughs) that I decided to pass.

A link for more RPG goodness: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3172702

I'll list off the RPGs I've got loaded on my Supercard for my DS...

Blue Dragon Plus
All 3 Castlevania's (Dawn of Sorrows, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia)
Chrono Trigger (definately worth it, I had a blast playing it for the millionth time)
Disgaea (always a good game)
Dragon Quest 4 and 5
Final Fantasy 3 and 4
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (turn based strategy, but still good)
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Heroes of Mana
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time
Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent (these two play a lot like Mega Man Zero games but with a lot of RPG elements)
The World Ends with You

ps...a SuperCard DSONE(SDHC) with an 8gb Micro SD is great. I'd recommend getting one before Nintendo shuts them down. They started winning the lawsuits.

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I'm a big fan of the CycloDS. Rock solid and works like a champ.

Hmm I'll have to look in to those...

Man, there are a ton of new DS RPG's incoming like Suikoden Tierkreis from Konami. The game shipped to stores today, and it should be showing up on shelves tomorrow.

Konami has done a very nice job with the game From the information I have seen online.

I've never played any of the other Suikoden games, but apparently fans are upset that the game breaks with a lot of the series' conventions. It's not in the same world, battle system is simplified, and other changes designed to make the game more accessible to new players.

Sales have supposedly been poor in Japan due to hardcore fans boycotting the game for these changes. But as someone new to the series (the game's target audience) the game definitely has appeal. From the videos I've seen the visual effects are pretty good for a DS game, and the gameplay looks solid.

Speaking of solid games, I've been enjoying DQV a lot. The story is good and moves along at a brisk pace. I've had to grind a few times, but generally I can finish a new dungeon or area in a sitting an feel like I've accomplished something. This game has transferred to the portable format well.

I beat Dragon Quest V this weekend. It clocked in at about 34 hours, but I didn't spend much time in the casinos, and didn't go overboard with trying to collect monsters. I found a group that worked well for me early in the second era, and stuck with them for pretty much the rest of the game.

The game doesn't break any new ground (even at the time it first came out) and the story can get pretty sappy at times, but I would still recommend it to any RPG fans with a DS.

I just bought FFT:A2 yesterday and I only sunk about 3 hours into it last night, but from what I did play its pretty solid. So far nothing super new from the bit I did play of FFT:A, but they have a new shop system. You collect random loot bits when you kill monsters and as rewards for quests, then put them up for sale in a bazaar and you get items as rewards that you can buy in the shop. As far as I know its the only way to get new items into the shop, so kinda cool a little bit of a PITA.

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