rpg series

[u53r_n4m3]

there's a lot of new rpg comming out that are part of a series. like FFXII which is part of the FF series.

my question is, for the games i will list below, should i play the earlier games in the series (prequel) to understand the storyline? what i mean is, would a game be difficult to understand if i never played the games before that in the same series?

like FFXII, for example, has nothing to do with FFX. and Shadow hearts:FTNW's storyline also has nothing to do with the first two games. but understanding FFX-2 would be difficult if i never played FFX.

the games i wanna know about are the following:
-disgea 2 (played makai kingdom but not disgea 1)
-xenosaga 3
-valkyrie profile 2
-Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
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[sokixx]

For the xenosaga series, I would say yes, they are VERY much connected, as planned by Namco to be an epic rpg trilogy

[Perseid]

Agreed. You must play the Xenosaga games in order.

And the Shin Megami Tensei games are typically not connected so you should be okay there.

[u53r_n4m3]

Agreed. You must play the Xenosaga games in order.

And the Shin Megami Tensei games are typically not connected so you should be okay there.

so, to be able to understand xenosaga 3, then i should also play the first two?

and for shin megami tensei, the one coming out has nothing or very little to do with the older one and playing it without playing the older one would be fine?

[Perseid]

For Xenosaga all 3 games are pretty much 3 parts of the same story. So yes, play all 3 in order.

The SMT games are more like Final Fantasy in that they have a lot of things in common as far as style and atmosphere, but not the plot. So play them as you please.

[guenthar]

The next Valkryie Profile game is a preequal to the first set a long time before the first one. I don't think you will have any problems playing that one without the first one since the events of the first one hasn't happened yet.

[bdragonomega]

Disgaea 2, no probably not. I haven't really played the game yet, but I do have the strategy guide which I looked through. From my understanding, the game's story is practically new. Its a sequel in that it continues with the same battle system with a few new tweaks. The only thing you would probably be missing is a couple jokes/hints at the previous game that will probably be mentioned a few places throughout the game. Theres also a couple returning characters who you proably won't know too much about except for a short introduction about (1 is considered a main character, while all the other returning characters are optional). I can't give you an opinion on how good the game is but part 1 was pretty good and had humor.