7 PS3 RPGs Still Locked on Original Hardware

The seventh generation of consoles saw a pivotal shift in the gaming landscape. It was a major generational leap for high-fidelity graphics and an era where Unreal Engine 3 was on the rise, especially in Western games. However, since the engine never had an official Japanese translation, many Japanese game developers had to create their own engines or simply fail to adapt, letting their series fall into obscurity.

On the other hand, we saw a return of RPGs from the Western market, many of them following the same 3D action structure based on Diablo, but RPGs nonetheless. Most of the titles released in the seventh generation have already received a port or remaster in some form, and few are still stuck on the PS3.

Still, I wanted to point out which RPGs are stuck on the original hardware, either because the developers never had any interest in porting or because it wouldn't be worth the effort. There aren't many games, but I did my best to find as many RPGs as possible. Also, no JRPGs here because that's a whole other list.

7 How to Train Your Dragon

And Battle With Them

The PS3 didn't have many licensed games, but it still brought one or two. How to Train Your Dragon wasn't necessarily an RPG, but it had elements of the genre. The game takes place one year after the movie ends, and the celebrations are now in full swing. To commemorate, dragon tournaments occur, which is where the title's entire gameplay revolves.

The loop of How to Train Your Dragon is about, well, training your dragon and engaging them in fights. The battles give me a Monster Rancher vibe, but we have greater control over our dragon, attacking them like in a fighting game and even performing correct input combinations to launch a combo.

While we are not fighting, we are training and collecting ingredients to feed our cute little ones and improve attributes such as Mood, Trust, and Food. We obtain new ingredients by going into dungeons and participating in minigames with the chosen dragon.

Time To Tell A Legend

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is a type of 3D hack-and-slash game that has been popular since the PS2 era, alongside games like X-Men Legends and Champions of Norrath. At the start of the game, we pick a class, and then go smashing enemies while leveling up and increasing our attributes, learning new spells, and also collecting more equipment.

The reason we had so many games like this at the time is that they worked. There was something cathartic about just crushing our enemies as we gradually grew stronger and more destructive. Even better if we did it in co-op, where Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom offered two-player local or four-player online.

As the name implies, the title is part of the Untold Legends series, which was born on the PSP. The game does not have a shared plot with its predecessors. In Dark Kingdom, we play as elite soldiers who return home after a long time, only to discover that their king has fallen to the temptation of an evil force, and only they can do something.

5 Genji: Days of the Blade

Samurai vs. Demons

Genji: Days of the Blade is another RPG-adjacent title on the list because, for the most part, the game is more of a pure action hack-and-slash title than anything else. But still, who's counting, right? It is often considered one of the best samurai titles on the PS3, so it deserves a shoutout.

Genji: Days of the Blade is a direct sequel to Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. The Heishi clan returns and can now transform its members into demons, whom the main characters from the old game, Yoshitsune Minamoto and Benkei Musashibo, must defeat. This time, they will be accompanied by Shizuka Gozen and Lord Buson.

It is possible to switch between the four characters at will in the middle of the action, each with their own skills, strengths, and weaknesses. The RPG elements are found in the progression. In the stages, we find resources that can increase character stats and weapon attack power. It is also possible to find new weapons and items, adding variety to combat.

4 Tokyo Jungle

Welcome to the Jungle

Can you survive in the jungle? What if the jungle is in Tokyo and you're a beast? That's what Tokyo Jungle is all about. In the 21st century, humanity is almost extinct, leaving Tokyo overrun with wildlife. We control some of these animals as they try to survive in this new world.

There are two modes in Tokyo Jungle: story and survival. In story mode, we pass from animal to animal, starting with a Pomeranian, then a deer, a hyena, and even a lion, until we discover what happened to humanity. Each animal has distinct gameplay that forces them to be either more stealthy or more aggressive.

Survival mode has the player complete challenges to see how many years they can survive, tallying up a score at the end. It is this mode that has the major RPG elements. Each animal has its stats, and by completing challenges or rising in rank, such as defeating animals, the stats increase, which consequently increases the odds of surviving for more years. It's a pretty neat premise that reminds me of the time when I played E.V.O.: Search for Eden on the SNES, minus the evolution part.

3 Dungeon Hunter: Alliance

An iPhone Game Remake

If you thought it was Mega Man X DiVE or Octopath Traveler 0 that started the strategy of turning mobile games into premium console titles, then you never played Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, a hack-and-slash RPG that is a remake of Dungeon Hunter, an iPhone game released in 2009 — which is crazy considering I got my first smartphone in 2010.

As a hack-and-slash game with an isometric view, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance has all the tropes of the style. We choose one of the three starting classes, face randomly generated dungeons, level up, increase attributes, learn new skills, find new equipment and wear it, rinse and repeat indefinitely.

It was a formula that, for the time, was still popular and worked, as I already said above, so you know, going back to the well and such. Dungeon Hunter: Alliance also had a version for the PS Vita in 2012, but it remains stuck on these old Sony consoles.

2 Ragnarok Odyssey: Ace

More Poring Deaths

While Ragnarok Odyssey: Ace could be on the list of PS3 JRPGs stuck on the hardware, it is more akin to Monster Hunter than anything else (a series I don't even consider an RPG de facto), so I'm trying to stretch the genre a bit thin just to add this entry here. And in the end, it's well worth it, even more so if you are a Ragnarok fan.

As I've already mentioned, Ragnarok Odyssey: Ace has a gameplay loop similar to Monster Hunter, but grounded in the lore of the Ragnarok franchise. We start by creating a character and choosing a Job, some of which are inspired by the series. Afterward, we are thrust directly into the Guild Hall and forced to accept a mission to hunt innocent Porings.

The whole gist of Ragnarok Odyssey: Ace is just that: accepting new missions, completing them, getting rewarded, and so forth. The game doesn't have a level system and instead bases progression on equipment, both by finding it in the field and by crafting. There is a card mechanic that lets us insert them into equipment to increase character attributes or learn new skills.

1 The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Helping in the Background

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a strange case because the game was once ported from the PS3 and became available on Steam, but if you check its game page, it's no longer available, thus making it locked on the original hardware once again — it's on Xbox 360, but without backward compatibility.

War in the North is a typical action RPG. We can take control of three characters: Eradan, Andriel, and Farin, a human ranger, elf mage, and dwarf warrior, respectively. Each has their own gameplay style, an exploration gimmick, and their own skills. At each new level, it is possible to increase attributes and learn more skills, in addition to, of course, finding or buying new equipment. If playing single-player, you will be with AI-controlled party members, but you can also play local co-op.

The story of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North takes place in the background of the main story, from the moment Frodo leaves the Shire until the destruction of the ring. The role of the three protagonists is to defeat Sauron's General. The game's path overlaps with the main story characters, but it's clearly not canonical, just a bit of flair. Also, we can't control the book characters, only the game's original ones.