Can you name some "modern fantasy" RPGs?

[ZeronHitaro]

Honestly I have to kick myself for forgetting the Personas and Parasite Eve. >.<; Then again I haven't played then in years so...

[Dincrest]

How about Earthbound or Contact?  Those have modern, post-modern, and/or contemporary settings and plenty of fantasy stuff, though more of the outlandish zany variety than orcs 'n elves. 

Vampire- The Masquerade: Bloodlines also comes to mind.

And in terms of tabletop RPGs, Shadowrun.  It's a cyberpunk future where magic has returned to Earth so you have, for example, dwarves with cybernetic enhancements. 

Would Septerra Core and Anachronox count?  They blend fantasy and sci-fi skillfully like Phantasy Star.

[neogalahad]

resonance of fate, parasite eve, persona, the world ends with you, star ocean games kinda, alpha protocol (Not great from what I hear), soon to be final fantasy versus XIII, and I cant think of any other ones right now.

[Prime Mover]

While many of these suggestions are good, I don't think they are "modern fantasy" in the same way that FF8 was. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of ANY game that fits that bill. The thing about FF8 is that it's culturally and technologically so close to our reality, while being subtley different, and with magic. It's not supposed to be earth, or even our universe, really, and yet it feels very familliar. Where-as many of the games suggested here ARE supposed to take place in our world (Persona, TWEWY, Parasite Eve, etc), but with some mysticism thrown in the mix. Steam Punk RPGs still tend to feel very fudal in their cultural makeup: FF6, Lost Odyssey, FF12, etc. They're basically medival fantasy, but with steam machines thrown in the mix. Very different from FF8, which features modern society with a few magical things thrown in.

Shadow Hearts is a little closer, but it's historical fiction, so it's kind of a different genre, itself.

Skies of Arcadia isn't anywhere close. It's an exceptional game, and it does paint it's own style of culture/technology besides Medival, but it's decidedly age of exploration mixed with WWI steampunk thrown in the mix. It's a sea-faring game, that's not a modern concept, and a lot of the cultures are based off of historical groups: Spanish imperialism, German scientific advancement, Carribean piracy, south american triblism, Arabian theocracy. It's a world of cherry-picked historical cliches. It's light, fun, and very unique, but nothing like modern reality.

I'm also hearing quite a bit of cyber-punk/dystopian near-future games like FF7. While somewhat similar, their bleak tone makes them more stylized and dissolutioned, and they feel much more removed. Sci-fi as well.

I just can't think of anything that blends modern-day culture and technology so closely to reality, while remaining alien. Day to day life in FF8 seems very similar to our world: high-school, modern nationalism, mass transit, presidents and dictators, ect. But outside of day to day life, there's magic and high-technology. I, too, would love to see a game that does something similar.

Wild Arms 2 strikes me as one of the closest. It's got a kind of WWI era technology level, a bit of Wild West (not as much as some of the other games), and a touch of medieval knights and chivalry feel at times, but it's one of the closest things I can think of.

[Maxximum]

I still say BoF is more "fantasy" than it is "modern".
Id say that Wild Arms got closer to this kind of setting with every game.

[Dann]

Rogue Galaxy may fit your criteria. The game was developed by one of my favorite game companies: Level5 (although the plot is a bit cliché).

[Zendervai]

Rogue Galaxy is most reminiscent of Disney's Treasure Planet. It isn't really what one would call modern.

[Prime Mover]

I love how people are just pulling their favorite game out of their ass and trying to justify why it's "modern". We get it, there are plenty of games out there that could be considered "modern", but really not in the way that the poster is defining it (FF8). And honestly, I agree with him. Whatever your opinion of FF8, no other game comes close to its precise fusion of the contemporary feel and the alien.

[Dann]

I love how people are just pulling their favorite game out of their ass and trying to justify why it's "modern". We get it, there are plenty of games out there that could be considered "modern", but really not in the way that the poster is defining it (FF8). And honestly, I agree with him. Whatever your opinion of FF8, no other game comes close to its precise fusion of the contemporary feel and the alien.

Then... you're suggesting that we should ignore the guy's request just because there isn't any game as close as FF8 or any other that fits your standars on "modern fantasy"? If I'm not hallucinating the title of the thread is "Can you name some "modern fantasy" RPGs?", and that's what we are doing, isn't it?

And this abstract fusion of the "contemporary feel and the alien" you so call, I call it being too lazy to make other stuff up that might give the impression of a futuristic reality where the common sense is applied.
Why would you spend the budget to build trains that even go under water when you already have the technology to fly with spaceships around the world with an infinite amount of fuel in literally 15 seconds or less? And if by some unexplained reason there is other people using this means of transportation where are they? And where's all the traffic air? Why are they still sailing the seas if air technology is supposed to be old technology? Oh yeah the sorceress's prision was transmiting waves all around the planet, but seems that levitating an entire institution wasn't a problem whatsoever, and since levitation and flying are two different concepts I have no option but to deal with it (yes, this was sarcasm).

And by the way since my recommendation of a modern rpg was too childish (or so they say above) try Resonance of Fate. It has that FF8 style you're looking for. And if it doesn't I give up.

[ZeronHitaro]

And this abstract fusion of the "contemporary feel and the alien" you so call, I call it being too lazy to make other stuff up that might give the impression of a futuristic reality where the common sense is applied.
Why would you spend the budget to build trains that even go under water when you already have the technology to fly with spaceships around the world with an infinite amount of fuel in literally 15 seconds or less? And if by some unexplained reason there is other people using this means of transportation where are they? And where's all the traffic air?

To kind of interject on this point; I think you might be forgetting who had such technology and where it was located. The only city in the entire world in FF8 that had such technology was Esthar. A continent completely isolated from the rest of the world except for one trans-ocean railway that connected it's western coast with Galbadia's eastern with the city of Fisherman's Horizon making a neutral way point. Esthar itself is only reachable by passing through a very unfriendly ice field on foot and even then the entire city, actually the entire central to eastern half of the continent, is obscured by a massive cloaking field.

While they never say directly this pretty much indicates to me that Esthar is pretty much slightly xenophobic when it comes to sharing their technology and pretty much does everything in its power to keep the rest of the world from having it. So as for the "why": The rest of the world simply has no other option. There is no other technology available except for trains or boats; and from what I've seen trains are significantly faster so when you have the aide of things such as magic and mythical beasts to help you dig tunnels; why not?

[Dann]

And this abstract fusion of the "contemporary feel and the alien" you so call, I call it being too lazy to make other stuff up that might give the impression of a futuristic reality where the common sense is applied.
Why would you spend the budget to build trains that even go under water when you already have the technology to fly with spaceships around the world with an infinite amount of fuel in literally 15 seconds or less? And if by some unexplained reason there is other people using this means of transportation where are they? And where's all the traffic air?

There is no other technology available except for trains or boats; and from what I've seen trains are significantly faster so when you have the aide of things such as magic and mythical beasts to help you dig tunnels; why not?

Prisons that can go up and down: Yes. Flying transportation: No. Fine... then why don't they tame the beasts? ajsdfqbvweiojvc Whatever.

[Maxximum]

I don't think its a matter or naming their favourite games, its just that games people like are easier to think off. Its a matter of differently interpreting what "modern fantasy" actually is.

[Dincrest]

Sci-fi could be defined as a form of fantasy.  Something like Shin Megami Tensei weaves supernatural elements into modern/contemporary settings, so to me that's modern fantasy, perhaps urban fantasy.  It's interesting how Persona and Earthbound take place in very similar settings, yet are such totally different animals. 

In terms of novel, despite A Song of Ice and Fire taking place in medieval times, it's considered "modern/contemporary" fantasy because its more gritty fantasy nature pushed the genre into a different direction from the Tolkien standard.  It goes places that Tolkien never went.  So while the setting is traditional, the plotlines and narratives speak to a more modern/contemporary literary audience. 

FF8 does present a unique world.  It's a fantasy world with magic and monsters, but there are also contemporary appointments like automobiles, the architecture, the dress, technologically advanced schools.  And this isn't even getting to Esthar- that futuristic town is one of my all time favorite RPG towns (though its music got grating after a while.) 

[darcthelad]

I don't think its a matter or naming their favourite games, its just that games people like are easier to think off. Its a matter of differently interpreting what "modern fantasy" actually is.

Yeah, this is what I did. I didn't know what the slang "modern fantasy" meant, and I logically assumed it meant ~modern stuff mixed with fantasy stuff~. Now that I think I understand what people mean by it (similar to ours in a bunch of ways but mainly terminology, architecture, and culture), I'd say the following games fit it best:

FF7
FF8
Arc the Lad 2
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

And that the Breath of Fires don't.

Provided replacing kingdom/empire with company, king/emporer with president, squire/cadet with student, etc. are all superficial changes anyway.

[Commander Jubby Shepard]

Just a thought, but some of the worlds in Kingdom Hearts have some pretty modern stuff, but I don't think you could call it full out "modern fantasy." Its genre seems to be all over the place.