What's your lineage of favorite RPGs?

[J T]

Over the years, various RPGs have vied for the number one spot in my list of all-time favorite RPG, but few have seized the crown. Here's how it's gone down over the years.

Dragon Warrior was my first RPG, and therefore favorite at the time.
It would later be succeeded by Final Fantasy, which remained my favorite RPG throughout the NES era. It was later replaced by its SNES sequel, which I knew at the time as Final Fantasy II, but would later come to realize was actually Final Fantasy IV. Final Fantasy IV even beat out VI in my book, but eventually lost its number one position to Chrono Trigger. The N64 era had few RPGs of note, unless you count Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (which would knock out Chrono Trigger in my mind). However, I did play my brother's Playstation enough to have Final Fantasy VII take the position of favorite RPG for a good long while. This would hold until I finally discovered Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, which was later beaten out by a member of its spinoff franchise, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. Now, my current number one spot is held by The Witcher 2, appropriately subtitled in this case as Assassin of Kings.

[sevin0seven]

mine would be:

Chrono Trigger: the first RPG i've finished multiple times. enjoyed every bit of it during summer time in my late teens. great story line and battle strategy. simply one of my favorite snes games.
Final Fantasy 3 (VI): most likely my favorite FF of them all. great story line with unforgettable characters, awesome sound tracks and the second RPG i've played over and over again.
Secret of Mana: the first multi-player RPG i've played and it's a good one. really enjoy this classic.
Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: i love this 3D RPG. one of the reason i got a N64. simply classic. memorable music and puzzles i still remember to this day. i can hear the music of Kokiri Forest music now...

[brunoafh]

Interesting, I've found myself doing the same thing. I'll share my thoughts as well.

For awhile Final Fantasy 4 was number one. It's the benchmark for JRPGs for me so to speak. I quite like Final Fantasy in general but 4-6, and maybe 7 out of nostalgia, are the only ones I'd say would get top spots.

I really like Squaresoft RPGs in general, particularly the PS1 stuff. Top contenders would be Valkyrie Profile and Xenogears. I've still got a lot of them to play, and deciding which ones I like best out of the ones I've played is pretty difficult. Gotta be those two though.

King's Field games are also up there. My favorite one is King's Field III (II in the US). Demon's Souls and Dark Souls trump it, but it's still a top favorite of mine. It's very hard to pick between them, but I would say Demon's Souls is my all-time favorite RPG at the moment.

Love Saturn RPGs too. Still a ton I haven't gotten to yet since I haven't been gaming on Saturn for very long, but of what I've played, Shining Force III and Dragon Force are my favorites.

Ryu ga Gotoku would be the last franchise/category that really resonates with me. Of those games, my favorite is Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan.

It's hard to boil everything down, and I've played and loved tons of RPGs. When thinking of my top favorites though: Final Fantasy 4, Valkyrie Profile, Xenogears, King's Field III, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Shining Force III, Dragon Force, and Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan. Hard to not include classic stuff like tons of SNES RPGs, Tales games, Suikoden, Super Robot Taisen, SaGa... but none of that stuff surpasses my top favorites.

[Jmustang1968]

mine would be:

Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: i love this 3D RPG. one of the reason i got a N64. simply classic. memorable music and puzzles i still remember to this day. i can hear the music of Kokiri Forest music now...

[sevin0seven]

mine would be:

Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: i love this 3D RPG. one of the reason i got a N64. simply classic. memorable music and puzzles i still remember to this day. i can hear the music of Kokiri Forest music now...

to each it's own mr Mustang or co-host of podcast

[Gamerforlife]

My first was Final Fantasy 6 (known as FF 3 in America), it taught me what an rpg was. It was a game I played numerous times and really loved. I still own a complete (and I do mean COMPLETE) copy of it in very good condition. I took care of that thing. Chrono Trigger, fun as it was, just never had the same impact on me. I view it as a lesser game. I don't actually remember playing a lot of rpgs in the 16-bit era, too busy with platformers and beat 'em ups (the two genres I love more than any others). However, I got back in to rpgs on the Playstation with Wild Arms.

Everyone was playing Final Fantasy 7 at the time, while I worked through Wild Arms. Some idiot friends of mine spoiled a major death in FF 7 for me at that time and even showed me the ending of the game. Eventually, a girlfriend bought me FF 7 for Christmas and I played the hell out of it. Despite having every major element of the story previously spoiled for me by friends, I still enjoyed the game a lot. The game was just very epic and cool for its time, and the graphics were also amazing at the time. This was probably my fave rpg for a while, though I didn't replay it as many times as FF 6. So you could argue that that was still my favorite Final Fantasy game overall. Still, FF 6 was the past for me at the time, and FF 7 was the future.

The next one to really hook me was probably Final Fantasy Tactics, and I truly loved that game for quite a while. Interestingly, it was watching those same friends who spoiled Final Fantasy 7 for me play Final Fantasy Tactics that made me want to buy it. I was so impressed by the epic music and how chess-like the gameplay was. I bought it and played the hell out of it, spending hours upgrading characters and job classes. It was my first real strategy rpg, long before I played Disgaea. Once again, the Final Fantasy series would define rpgs for me.

Later, I would play Grandia. This was the first rpg not by Square to make a lasting impression on me. I loved the characters, the anime aesthetic, and the music in that game, and I think the combat system is still my favorite to this day. It is only rivaled for me personally by the excellent combat system in Final Fantasy XIII. I eventually played the Lunar Games, which I think were by the same developers. They just didn't impress me the same way with their generic combat. Even when Grandia II came out on the Dreamcast, I didn't enjoy it as much as the original. It had a less likable cast, a blander story, and a slightly downgraded combat system. The original Grandia is a classic with no peers.

I would end up playing other rpgs on the Playstation like Vagrant Story, Chrono Chross, etc. None were as awesome to me as Grandia, Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Though I did enjoy Final Fantasy 8 a lot, almost as much as FF 7. FF 9 was very "meh" to me. It felt like a step backwards in every way, and a lame attempt to please the whiners who didn't like FF 7 and FF 8. I enjoyed Legend of Dragoon quite a bit, but still would not rank it up there with FF 7, FF Tactics, and Grandia. Those were my top 3 Playstation rpgs. Yes, I know Grandia was better on the Saturn, but it was never translated.

Then the next gen of consoles would come around. I would discover Nippon Ichi through Disgaea. As fun as it was, Disgaea 2 was better. I eventually lost interest in Nippon Ichi games though, as I hated the fact that you could never really "complete" a Nippon Ichi game as there was an infinite number of things to do. After a while, you just felt like you were wasting time investing all these hours and never really reaching an end goal. Same reason, I never got into MMORPGs. I would try the Shin Megami Tensei series with Nocturne and the Digital Devil Saga games and came away unimpressed by their bland, cheap as hell gameplay and pretentious storytelling. I tried Shadow Hearts and enjoyed it, actually finding it a nice, supernatural alternative to the Shin Megaten games. I may try SH Covenant someday.

I fell in love with Final Fantasy again with Final Fantasy X, though once again I would end up playing it after a friend from work had already gotten a head start on me. He was an rpg freak, much more into the genre than me. He talked up the game so much, I eventually caved and bought it. I loved every minute of it. It is still, in my opinion, the last great FF game. Though I have enjoyed subsequent installments, they all had significant flaws while FF X was just great all around.

I also discovered two other games that really had a major impact on me that gen. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic introduced me to Bioware. Well, I'm not counting me playing MDK 2 on the Dreamcast, as that game, great as it was, was really outside their usual, rpg wheel house. I loved KOTOR. I've played every Bioware release since, though I never finish Dragon Age due to how mediocre the console ports were. Any interest I may show in any Western style rpg like Skyrim for example, can be credited to KOTOR. I had played Western style rpgs like the Ultima series through my PC gaming buddies years before playing KOTOR, but they never hooked me in, much like PC gaming in general.

I also discovered Skies of Arcadia on the Gamecube, having missed it on the Dreamcast (probably because I was more interested in Grandia II at the time). I LOVED that game, and it reminded me very much of the love I had for Grandia. I enjoyed getting to play an enhanced version of the game, though I'm told the DC version has better music. So there you go, my favorite rpgs of the last gen of consoles were Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the enhanced Skies of Arcadia port on the Gamecube, and Final Fantasy X.

As for this gen, I haven't played much in the genre. I am an rpg fan, but it has never been my priority as genres go. I have played Final Fantasy XIII, as I feel practically married to that series. I was disappointed by it overall, but I loved, loved, LOVED the combat system. Only combat system I've had as much fun with as I did in Grandia. Also, the graphics in FF XIII was ridiculously gorgeous. It's one of the most beautiful current gen games period. I also like the soundtrack. What sucked about it was the linear to a fault gameplay, lack of sidequests, a seemingly never ending tutorial that severely limited what players could do, and a shitty story despite having some cool characters like Fang and Sazh. I guess my fave rpg right now is Mass Effect, though that series really blurs the line between rpg and shooter. I would not even play them if not for the rpg elements as I don't like shooters in general. I don't have a favorite PURE rpg this gen. Oblivion bored me pretty early on (despite my previously mentioned FF X loving, rpg freak friend raving about it), Skryim I haven't had a chance to get deep into yet with Mass Effect 3 coming out, and Dragon Age lost my interest and seems like Bioware's weakest game (at least on consoles anyway).

I gotta hand it to the portables though. I absolutely adored Jeanne D'Arc on the PSP. That gets my award for my favorite PURE rpg this gen, well, strategy rpg that is. In fact, it ranks right up there with Final Fantasy Tactics for me. I may even love it more than that game. It told a more moving story and the gameplay was not as rigid, hard and time consuming as Final Fantasy Tactics. Having re-experienced FF Tactics on the PSP with War of the Lions, and Disgaea as well with its PSP port, I actually enjoyed Jeanne D'Arc more. So now that I think about it, Jeanne D'Arc is my favorite strategy rpg. Sure it's not the deepest entry in the genre when compared to heavy weights like Disgaea and FF Tactics, but what matters is the overall enjoyment you get out of the game and I really loved every moment of it.

So let's list my favorite and most impactful rpgs based on this post:

Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy X
Grandia
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Skies of Arcadia
Mass Effect
Jeanne D'Arc

EDIT: Valkyria Chronicles is another excellent game that hooked me. Forgot that one, if Jeanne D'Arc is my fave portable strategy rpg this gen, then VC is my fave on consoles. It's innovative, has an excellent story, memorable characters, superb art style, great music and QUALITY DLC the likes of which few games can boast. It's also polished. Not to say it's a perfect game, but clearly not through lack of trying. It has the same magic as Skies of Arcadia and manages to cater to the modern era's fascination with shooters while still feeling very much like an rpg.

[Gamerforlife]

Oh hell, I forgot Valkyria Chronicles in my last post. That game was excellent, and one that I appreciate more and more in retrospect than I did while playing it. I'm going to edit it into my last post

[Dakinggamer87]

mine would be:

Chrono Trigger: the first RPG i've finished multiple times. enjoyed every bit of it during summer time in my late teens. great story line and battle strategy. simply one of my favorite snes games.
Final Fantasy 3 (VI): most likely my favorite FF of them all. great story line with unforgettable characters, awesome sound tracks and the second RPG i've played over and over again.
Secret of Mana: the first multi-player RPG i've played and it's a good one. really enjoy this classic.
Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: i love this 3D RPG. one of the reason i got a N64. simply classic. memorable music and puzzles i still remember to this day. i can hear the music of Kokiri Forest music now...

All amazing RPG's!!

Chrono Trigger was one of my first RPG's aside from Super Mario RPG that I played multiple times.

[ejamer]

Dragon Quest (NES) - First RPG I played.
Final Fantasy (NES) - Not perfect, but considerable improvements over DQ and best on NES. (edit: That's not accurate... but it's the best NES RPG that I actually played on the original hardware, and by the time I played better they had to compete against some top-notch SNES RPGs.)
Breath of Fire (SNES) - Really enjoyed the story and characters in this game.
Final Fantasy III (aka: VI) (SNES) - Blew everything out of the water. After feeling a bit "meh" about FF2 on SNES, this game was an RPG revelation that his all of my hot buttons with a great story, diverse characters, high level of customization, interesting dungeons and combat, tons of hidden content and secrets, and two huge worlds to explore. Still my favorite game today - nothing better than a GB Micro with FFVI in your pocket!


Nothing since has knocked off Final Fantasy VI as my personal favorite, despite playing numerous RPGs on PS1/2, GameCube, and a couple of portable systems. Perhaps it's worth talking about a couple of trends and high points that have occurred since then.

After FFVI, my appreciation for the Final Fantasy series has continually dwindled. VII was very popular, but provided a weaker story and overall experience than several of the games that came before. This started a downward trend that has largely continued up to the most recent releases.

Oddly, as I enjoy Final Fantasy games less I'm becoming much more excited about Dragon Quest games (both new and replaying remakes of the older ones). It's gotten to the point where I'd happily play any DQ game over almost any FF game -- the only exception being the transcendent FFVI.

Didn't play Chrono Trigger when it was released, and only went back to play it years later. Is it bad to say I think the game is a bit over-rated? I mean, it's very very good... but the level of reverence around the game doesn't really hold up in my opinion. Earthbound is the same way, except even more disappointing for me.

Interesting to see how my RPG gaming has almost entirely moved to portable systems. That doesn't mean that console don't get good RPGs... but the convenience and ability to play in shorter bursts on a portable have made RPG games much more accessible to me now that free time is in short supply.

Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii was a real surprise for me. A good RPG that is exclusive to Wii... really?! The characters, battle system, exploration, and huge number of (optional) mini-quests were almost enough to bump off Final Fantasy VI as my all-time favorite RPG. Where did it fall short? First, I just haven't been able to commit enough time to finish due to work/family/life. Second, although some of the MMORPG trappings are enjoyable, I'm not sure that I like them enough to put this game at the very top of my list. A strong argument could be made that playing this game at a different point in my life -- ie: when I had enough free time to really engulf myself in the game world -- could have left it sitting at the undisputed favorite though.

I really like the Tales series, although don't feel that any (or at least any I've played) can compete for the coveted "favorite" title. But if you are talking favorite RPG series, then the Tales games would definitely be in contention.

Some RPGs I really want to play: Skies of Arcadia, Baldur's Gate series, Grandia series

[sevin0seven]

mine would be:

Chrono Trigger: the first RPG i've finished multiple times. enjoyed every bit of it during summer time in my late teens. great story line and battle strategy. simply one of my favorite snes games.
Final Fantasy 3 (VI): most likely my favorite FF of them all. great story line with unforgettable characters, awesome sound tracks and the second RPG i've played over and over again.
Secret of Mana: the first multi-player RPG i've played and it's a good one. really enjoy this classic.
Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time: i love this 3D RPG. one of the reason i got a N64. simply classic. memorable music and puzzles i still remember to this day. i can hear the music of Kokiri Forest music now...

All amazing RPG's!!

Chrono Trigger was one of my first RPG's aside from Super Mario RPG that I played multiple times.

i wished i had played and complete more RPG's but after Oracina of Time, college took all that time away. i did play other great RPGs after but never finished them so i can't consider them on my list.