RPG Progress Report

[Exhuminator]

I loathe that particular Star Ocean game.

Anyway, I suppose I should put together a "real" list of some of my favorite RPGs. Some of what is on this list may surprise you guys, but I really did enjoy playing all of these more than most others I've gone through in the genre. This will be in no order:

Final Fantasy 6
Baldur's Gate
Diablo
Final Fantasy Tactics
Castle of the Winds
Lufia II
Mega Man Legends
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Xenogears
Shadowrun Returns

I know you're still not serious because 7th Saga isn't in that list.

[Ack]

Haha, 7th Saga is good, but it would be another case of just out of the top 10. I had to debate with myself on whether it and Star Ocean: The Second Story should be here or not. I also really liked Arcana, Dungeon Siege, Titan Quest, Parasite Eve, and many others, but just not as much.

[pierrot]

3 is pretty awesome and I beat that last summer. Took me 10 years to warm up to it (no joke, I despised it for years), but now I'd argue it has the best characters in the franchise. But I like the bigger scale of 2's plot.

I replayed Suikoden 1-3 and 5 in college, and while I held a serious grudge against 3 from the time it was released, on replaying it, I found it to be the best in the series. Conversely, while I liked 5 more than 4 and 3 initially, upon replaying it, I realized it was the most soulless, otaku pandering tripe, next to Tierkreis. The ending to 3 is still a bit unpleasant, sure, but the more tactical battle system, and character customization in the form of skills (along with the staple rune system) were a huge boon to the game as a whole. While I like 2 a lot, I feel the main reasons for its popularity are its art style, Luca, and that it returned almost a quarter of the cast of the original.

Now I do incidentally own parts IV and V cuz I found them locally for cheap. Haven't touched 'em though.

You should probably keep it that way.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Arcana

I considered that one too...It is such a fun game, but it didn't quite make the list for me.

[ElkinFencer10]

If we're doing top lists, I guess I'll throw mine up. Don't judge me too hard for the ones I don't have on here; I'm still fairly green when it comes to JRPGs, so I probably haven't played a lot of the "great" ones. Anyway, here's my meager top 10. I'm also only including one game per series (otherwise all 10 would be Hyperdimension Neptunia....). Also also I'm mixing JRPGs, WRPGs, and TRPGs.

1. Megadimension Neptunia VII
2. Fallout 4
3. Xenoblade Chronicles X
4. Phantasy Star
5. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
6. Mass Effect 2
7. Dragon Age: Inquisition
8. Final Fantasy VII
9. The Last Story
10. Earthbound

[Ack]

No worries, Elkin. I put one up, but honestly the top 10 thing is pretty limited. There are many, many great RPGs I've played over the years, be they Japanese or Western, action RPGs, strategy or tactical RPGs, roguelikes, MMOs, hybrids, etc. An arbitrary list of just 10 is not an easy thing for me to come up with.

[Sarge]

I agree with that completely. Once you get outside my top one or two, it gets really hard, because there's lots and lots of good games that I've played over the years. I mean, CT still sits alone at the top for me, but when you start getting me to weigh in on, say, FFVI vs. The Last Story vs. Valkyrie Profile vs. whatever else you come up with, it gets really hard to try to rank them, much less put them in a top 10.

[touchofkiel]

I was going to write a list, but then I remembered that all you need is Etrian Odyssey and Final Fantasy XII.

[Sarge]

It's easier to just nail down the best time for RPGs in general. I think that was the SNES-PSX-PS2 era. There was so much good stuff then that it's hard to complain even now, when we're getting comparatively less quality stuff overall.

Speaking of RPGs, I put down Paper Jam for a bit and booted Brandish: Dark Revenant back up. I hit the tower last night.

[Jmustang1968]

It's easier to just nail down the best time for RPGs in general. I think that was the SNES-PSX-PS2 era. There was so much good stuff then that it's hard to complain even now, when we're getting comparatively less quality stuff overall.

Speaking of RPGs, I put down Paper Jam for a bit and booted Brandish: Dark Revenant back up. I hit the tower last night.

I think the quality of stuff now is high, perhaps higher than then, but I also have higher expectations now. Those are the games I grew up playing, and got me hooked on the genre. I am not sure how well they would hold up in a lot of aspects had I first played them recently.

Stuff like the Persona series and Trails games are representing JRPGs well, and we have had a renaissance of classic style WRPGs as well as more modern takes. 2016 is packed with RPGs that look promising.