Chaos Rings worked surprisingly well on my 2nd gen iPod, but I don't know how well it'd run on the 1st gen.
My personal favorites are Mission Europa and The Quest, but for a starter I would probably recommend Secret of Mana. Classic gameplay, easy to get into and a much much stronger game, in my opinion, than any of the other bird's eye view action RPGs. It's leagues above Zenonia or Inotia in terms of sheer gameplay if you ask me.
i love Mission Europa but i think he means rpg like KRPG or all rpg. I would recommend Zenonia 2 Wild Frontier Chaos Rings FF 1,2,3
A great one that anyone who has not played an RPG before would be Yipe 5. It is easy to get in to, has clear cut instructions where to go next, enough stuff to level up but not too much to overwhelm you and a very humorous story. The other RPG's mentioned in this thread are great and all but do not answer your original question about never having played one and learning how they work - Yipe 5 will help you and then you can move on to something more in depth in my opinion.
WTF. Here I am, about to write how everyone is WRONG (and why)...and someone does it for me. Those recommending M:E are doing a disservice to both the game and the player by recommending a purebread, hard-core title to a new player who can't handle it. The player will be frustrated, and the game's ratings will likely suffer, as well. Yipe 5 is a humorous and short take on the RPG genre. Another great example of an RPG to try out would be Across Age as more of an "adventure" style RPG. A great Western RPG would be Aralon, although it may actually be too massive for a newcomer to the genre to enjoy. I highly suggest someone who wants to learn about RPGs pick up Sacred Odyssey for an Ocarina-of-time take on RPG/Adventure, Aralon for a take on Elder Scrolls, Yipe for a take on oldschool RPGs, Choice of the dragon for a take on pen-and-paper style RPGs, and World of Magic for an interesting take on the MMO social aspect of RPGs (yes, World of Magic is a better exemple of this than Pocket Legends). As for Battleheart, I think it's a brilliant and endearing game and a worthy RPG in it's own right, but I think the gameplay defines the genre, and as such, Battleheart is cannot truly be grouped with traditional RPGs in any meaningful sense, just due to the way combat unfolds. On some other fronts, Wild Frontier is great (but tedious), Rimelands is fantastic (and truly dungeons-and-dragons-esque, although the storyline/dialogue could use some work), Eternal Legacy is...well....hmmm....and Battle For Wesnoth is a fantastic example of a turn-based strategy title with strong RPG elements like consistent storyline from level-to-level in campaigns and stat-based play with character growth.
thanks for all the replies... so now I am thinking of maybe Queen's Crown or Inotia 3... would they be too difficult? and if not, which of the two would you recommend?
As a few before me said Wild Frontier is great. It might be a bit stat heavy, but it has all the great stuff from typical RPGs: stats, story, pets(!), loot etc. Across Age, ASH (entertaining dialogue) and Dungeon Hunter (DH for more action, less story). Mission Europa nah. The "made by one guy" thing is fine, but that doesnt mean you should automatically love it, and it feels more like a half decent FPS with clumsy menus. Now don't kill me, for not loving it.
The first one that comes to my mind is mission europa,which is a really awesome FPS & RPG with amazing gameplay with hundreds of quests.
Keep in mind that no single game will be fully able to give you a comprehensive picture of what RPGs are like. There are a lot of sub-genres under the RPG label. You've got Japanese RPGs, Western RPGs, Korean RPGs, etc. And then you have tactical games, turn-based strategy RPGs, action RPGS, turn-based menu-heavy RPGs, and more. I think my recommendation for you would be one of the Zenonia games. They're action-based, fairly simple, and they're fun. Too much grinding and too many fetch quests, but that is extremely common, so treat it as a part of your education on RPGs. Also the Final Fantasy games are about as traditional as you can get. They're kind of the foundation for a lot of RPGs, so that would certainly familiarize you with the core concepts. They're way too expensive, though. One game not yet mentioned is Shining Force. It's turn-based strategy, so you don't get the basic RPG feel when you talk about battles, but it's definitely an RPG - with a deep story and good characters, and lots of gear, magic, stats, menus, and items to tinker with. Shining Force is one of my favorites, but as I said, it doesn't have the typical RPG "feel." But I've typed enough. Go with one of the Zenonias. And I hope you enjoy your first venture into the RPG realm. Have fun!
I'd recommend either one of the Zenonias or Rimeslands, but another one that I just thought of was Arvale. It's pretty old, but it was the 1st rpg I played on an idevice and I like it. It is a pretty fun game, good plot and battles.
I'd recommend either of the Zenonia rpg's. Also Rimelands is good but still for a beginner in this genre, Zenonia 1 or 2 is nice
so Queen's Crown is on sale this weekend for $.99... should I buy it? I am having some problems on the lite version though...
Knighturn is a tactical RPG that I've been enjoying lately, seems easy enough to get into. Err... The developer has been liberal about giving our promo codes in the main forum thread.
