The Shiniest New Sword

[Sagacious-T]

What games, in your opinion, have the most satisfying upgrade systems? I need a RPG to play. Something with shittons of upgrades. I love upgrading equipment, skills, and especially towns. Good storylines are appreciated!

And it can't be this: http://babarageo.com/flash/ginormo/

[Dice]

Star Ocean 3, hands down.  It's deep, and helps you deal lotsa damage if done right.

Resonance of Fate?  Something about hearing more and more and more rounds charging and dealing a full bar of damage that makes the heart warm and ticklish

[insertnamehere]

only one I can think of now is dark cloud 2.
in dark cloud 1, it seemed too confusing even though for me, that was a long long time ago (possibly in a galaxy far far away)

[Sagacious-T]

You know, I never got around to DC2, but I got pretty far in the original. The repetitiveness of the combat and the boring dungeons got the better of me though.

[Starmongoose]

Atelier Iris 2 is the only one that really comes to mind...I don't know if it's comparably good to other games I probably havn't played.

Final Fantasy X too, I mean, once you get Rikku you can do cool things to your weapons.

[Aeolus]

Star Ocean 3, hands down.  It's deep, and helps you deal lotsa damage if done right.

Yeah, if you can out-sperglord the computer and make those critical inventions occasionally amidst a sea of 1,000,000 FOL failure salads.

I rather prefer the SRW games since you are given a boatload of mechs and not enough money to fully upgrade even a quarter of them by the end of the first playthrough (nevermind administering weapon upgrades and dealing with the pilots themselves).

[ShadowLaguna]

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say both Dark Cloud games take the cake.

[Dincrest]

Although everything about the game was mediocre or worse, I spent a lot of time in MS Saga ~A New Dawn~ "pimping out" my party's Gundam mobile suits.  But, yeah, although tweaking around with mobile suits was fun, parts could be expensive and everything else about the game was mostly bleh (especially the story and characters.) 

Car Battler Joe is another one where I spent insane amounts of time either in the garage tweaking my cars or scavenging for new parts to tweak up my cars.  Story and characters were cracker-thin and the game has one of the biggest hanging major plot threads I've seen, but I had fun with it.  I definitely liked the game more than I should have. 

Your best bet now would probably be Resonance of Fate.  It's tri-Ace so you have deep item creation and equipment customization along with being able to play dress-up with the characters.  The storyline and characters are pretty badass too.  I liked the game even though I thought it had a few too many gimmicks.  Think of it like a really good steak that's a bit overseasoned.  It's still good, but it'd be better with a tad less salt. 

I haven't played Dark Cloud 2, but consensus is that for many gamers it wins the "most improved sequel" award.  Dark Cloud was seen as meh, even bad, but Dark Cloud 2 is considered by many to be one of the best RPGs on the PS2

[FlamingR1ft]

I haven't played Dark Cloud 2, but consensus is that for many gamers it wins the "most improved sequel" award.  Dark Cloud was seen as meh, even bad, but Dark Cloud 2 is considered by many to be one of the best RPGs on the PS2

I played both and didn't like either. 2 was at least bearable, but still extremely repetitive.

[Darilon]

I always enjoyed how you can create and upgrade your weapons in the games created by Gust. Although it is more crafting than upgrading. However battles to Gust are like graphics to Dragon Quest. They are there because they are needed but do not expect to be wowed by them.

Suikoden games may be better. You can customize your skills with the aid of runes. Your castle/ship also grows as you recruit more characters.

There is also a lot of upgrading you can do to your ship in Infinite Space. It is a bit slow to get into though.

[Prime Mover]

I gotta go with Dragon Quest VIII with a guide.

I think the alchemy pot was the most satisfying item creation tool ever. However, it took some work even if you did have a reference for how to make things. That's why I found it most enjoyable to play with a guide. Not for a game walkthrough, but for ingredient reference. I know that maybe this answer is a cop out, but what works, works... and I've never had more fun with items than DQVIII and the guide.

And on top of the deep item creation system, you get a huge beautiful overworld, great characters and dialog, and some very satisfying boss fights.

[Farron]

I vote for Resonance of Fate, as it's not too confusing and yet it is greatly customizable.
I liked Final Fantasy X as well, as again it was not hard to grasp the gist of it, the only hard thing was finding the items needed to make yourself a killer weapon.

[Dice]

Star Ocean 3, hands down.  It's deep, and helps you deal lotsa damage if done right.

Yeah, if you can out-sperglord the computer and make those critical inventions occasionally amidst a sea of 1,000,000 FOL failure salads.

It's simple math.
You put on characters that make cost go down, and understand the price range of certain items (deduct the % the creators take away from the cost).  One alchemist helps you make an item that sells for more than its worth to create (big fol).

Not enough games take advantage of customization...a shame since it is a great way to "take control" of everything.

[Aeolus]

Star Ocean 3, hands down.  It's deep, and helps you deal lotsa damage if done right.

Yeah, if you can out-sperglord the computer and make those critical inventions occasionally amidst a sea of 1,000,000 FOL failure salads.

It's simple math.
You put on characters that make cost go down, and understand the price range of certain items (deduct the % the creators take away from the cost).  One alchemist helps you make an item that sells for more than its worth to create (big fol).

Not enough games take advantage of customization...a shame since it is a great way to "take control" of everything.

I lost interest in breaking SO2 when I realized that I had spent more time breaking it than it would have taken to actually beat it, and all I've got to show for it is a parade of unwinnable boss fights no matter the level. I don't even get a piece of decent equipment as consolation for being able to own an endgame level boss like in Lufia or something. All I get is a "Fuck You For Playing!" from the assholes at Tri-ace.

And its much easier to break SO2 than SO3. Just not worth it in my opinion.

[insertnamehere]

Star Ocean 3, hands down.  It's deep, and helps you deal lotsa damage if done right.

Yeah, if you can out-sperglord the computer and make those critical inventions occasionally amidst a sea of 1,000,000 FOL failure salads.

It's simple math.
You put on characters that make cost go down, and understand the price range of certain items (deduct the % the creators take away from the cost).  One alchemist helps you make an item that sells for more than its worth to create (big fol).

Not enough games take advantage of customization...a shame since it is a great way to "take control" of everything.

I lost interest in breaking SO2 when I realized that I had spent more time breaking it than it would have taken to actually beat it, and all I've got to show for it is a parade of unwinnable boss fights no matter the level. I don't even get a piece of decent equipment as consolation for being able to own an endgame level boss like in Lufia or something. All I get is a "Fuck You For Playing!" from the assholes at Tri-ace.

And its much easier to break SO2 than SO3. Just not worth it in my opinion.

and grinding takes almost literally forever, since that gauge with rewards like double/triple experience and money only fills up if average party level is around that of enemies in battle.
and why do most reviews of star ocean 3 on here call it turn-based?