Any help on remembering an old-ish game?

Okay, so, eh, there was this game that I played on the PS 1 over a decade (must have been about 10 to 12 years) ago. I didn't play much of it, but at the time I had no interest in games of that sort where as now, eh... well, I'd just like to remember the name.

I'll describe what I remember.

It was on the PS 1 (maybe on other consoles as well, but it was in 3D so it wasn't a port) and was a JRPG, I think (it featured stats and anime style artwork/graphics).

When you start a new game (since that's what I did) you're playing as some sort of ninja/air pirate type character who's running through the ventilation systems of some kind of big air ship/flying fortress. The graphics were similar to Final Fantasy VIII or Digimon World in that the 'background' and floor that you walked around on was sort of 'painted' in 2D, while the (relatively realistically proportioned but inexplicably dark blue haired) main character and obstacles/walls were in 3D.

Anyway, you run through the vents for a bit before you get out into what I assume was an area inside the air ship (it was kind of dark with a pale green sort of glow to it), at which point you meet a pair of young anime people (I can't quite remember, but I think they might have been kidnapped, or something?) and a big burly pirate-esque fellow, possibly with an eyepatch, and you fight the burly guy.

The battle is still in 3D but is side-scrolling and 'actiony' in that you can run around (and possibly jump) and attack without waiting for a gauge to fill or for it to be 'your turn' or whatever. The pirate dude mainly shoots weird shock-wave type things (they might have been bursts of fire though, like I said, my memory is a tad hazy) at you or punches/hits you with a sword if you get in his face too much. I remember that there were numbers that would lazily float upwards when you attacked him, and I think there were fairly typical 'status boxes' for the player character.

I don't remember winning the battle, and it was at that point I gave up because I was a bad loser and had the attention span of a goldfish and it was at my brother-in-law's house and he had a ton of other fancy games that my parents wouldn't be caught dead letting me own etc.

I'll mention that the PS 1 in question was chipped, so it's possible that it was a game that wasn't normally available in Europe or North America, though I seem to remember the text being in english.

Regarding the cover art, I don't remember it well but I think it was mostly empty save a picture of the aforementioned blue-haired pirate ninja agent anime guy with the title then overlayed over him.

I can't remember what company made it, BTW, though it was probably a japanese video game company. Probably.

Anyhow, yes, that's all I remember: I have no real idea of the plot or characters, just a handful of images and ideas that stayed in my mind and I'm kind of bored right now so -shrug-. :/

The battle system sounds like something from the Tales Series

There's a whole section dedicated to "I don't quite remember what this is" in this wiki, I suggest taking your question there.

It's called "remember that show?" under Troperville.

edited 17th Feb '12 2:59:16 PM by ThatOneGuyNamedX

Might wanna ask the folks at Digitpress. They're good at finding this kind of stuff.

An added advantage is that they won't pester you to put your inquiry on a forum page nobody reads and where there's no way of being notified if you actually get an answer unless you just obsessively check every day.

Although, I feel kind of sad that I can't identify this game myself. It sounds familiar.

edited 17th Feb '12 3:31:29 PM by MoeDantes

Sound like Tales of Destiny

I think Jamdat 369 is correct. Tales of Destiny was released on the original Playstation, was in English (though the English version included the original Japanese in-battle voices), and started off on an airship. Except for the overworld, nearly all the graphics are 2D sprites. I have the original disc in my collection, so I can verify this.

Yup. Sounds like Tales of Destiny to me. Protagonist sounds like Stahn Aileron.

Stahn Aileron is my favorite tales protagonist. I can't wait for the ps2 remake's translation to be completed. The remake to To D is easily the Tales game I want to play the most.

edited 17th Feb '12 11:55:48 PM by Barrylocke

Eh, I just looked at the trope and character pages for Tales Of Destiny... I'm pretty sure it was different from that. I agree that the battle system was very 'Tales of...'-esque, but like I said: the characters were more realistically proportioned and in 3D, and the protagonist had dark blue or black hair, not blonde.

That said, Tales of Destiny does look pretty cool. I'm just pretty sure it's not the game I was thinking of. Thanks for the help all the same, though.

Re-reading the battle system description again, could it possibly be Star Ocean: the Second Story?

If it wasn't PS 1 I would have said Skies Of Arcadia.

Star Ocean 2 has a blonde hero though, and it starts briefly on a ship, but quickly moves to a typical planet forest area. But for reference...

I'm really curious about whatever game you're talking about now.

So, did the OP ever figure out what game this was?

You know what makes me sad? I've never played a Tales of... game.

If it weren't for the hair color I would have said alundra 2.