The worst RPGs

[ZeoDefender]

Worst RPG? That would be Hoshi wo Miru Hito for the Famicom. Here's a few choice details from that article.

"Anyway, the first town is invisible. That's right, it appears as a nondescript tile on the overworld, but if you step on it, you'll be transported right to it. "

"When you leave towns, you're transported to a predefined area, sometimes places that aren't even remotely close to the town. Leaving the second town (which actually is visible on the map) will teleport you right back to where you started at the beginning of the game."

"There's no battery backup, so you need to track your progress with passwords. They're shorter than, say, Dragon Quest II, but they don't even save all of your progress. Right at the beginning, if you build up to Level 1, then start up again using your password, you'll be knocked back down to Level 0. "

" And the graphics are even worse, with possibly the most appalling use of color seen in a Famicom game."

[Joeyg329]

i played lagoon back in the day and remember hating it, i almost bought it a few months ago but i didnt want to punish myself. Not a fan of any FF after 9. That being said. . .

Drakkhen (snes): i know its a very early title, but this game is a bland, generic boring headache, so bad it makes me sick to my stomach. i just remember spending hours wandering around fighting polygon wire frame assholes.

Paladins Quest (snes): Got this CIB at a yardsale for 2.50 about 15 years ago. Boring and weak, had some good elements but i never got drawn in to it, some people may argue about this one, but i could do without it.

Beyond the Beyond (ps1): I think this was the first rpg offering for the ps1, graphics are very 16 bit (not that 16 bits are bad, but not a great show for ps1), minus the sweet looking 3d battles at the time, story is dry, and you end up lugging a cursed teammate around who was a truck when you got him (Samson, he gets poisoned quickly). I tried a few times to play it over the years, but it becomes a grind fest with non likeable characters to keep you from enjoying it. Meh

[dunpeal2064]

Do people really consider Final Fantasy X a bad game? I can see someone claiming it disappointing compared to prior FF titles, but a "worst rpg"?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Lunar Dragon Song - the worst of the worst.

I've ranted about it before. I'm not going to get worked up in this thread.

Uh oh...I picked this up last year. During the very limited amount of time that I spent with it, it did not seem like it would live up to Silver Star Story or Eternal Blue. It has the Lunar name, though; so, it can't be all bad, right? Right? <sobs>

Do people really consider Final Fantasy X a bad game? I can see someone claiming it disappointing compared to prior FF titles, but a "worst rpg"?

Don't believe anyone who would call FFX one of the "worst" games of all time. It is both a fine RPG and an engrossing video game. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I prefer it to some of the classic FF games.

[BurningDoom]

Finally...I gave up on JRPGs for a while when they were going through what I call the "Precious Moments" period. That is the period when all the characters in JRPGs looked like "Precious Moments" figurines:

I know exactly what you mean. And I'm damn glad I'm not the only one. I mention this and most people on forums act like there's something wrong with me because I don't like cutesy things.

My pick would be Shadow Tower on PS1. I absolutely adore the King's Field games. So naturally, I eventually found out about the similar Shadow Tower game. So I'm excited as can be after playing a promising demo of the game. I finally get my copy off of eBay and I proceed to die, like 50 times. The game is freaking impossible! What's the point of making a game that only appeals to a niche crowd, and then making it even more inaccessible by making it so freaking hard that only the gaming elite could get through it?! WHY TEASE ME WITH THIS ALMOST KING'S FIELD THAT I CAN'T PLAY?!

[prfsnl_gmr]

Finally...I gave up on JRPGs for a while when they were going through what I call the "Precious Moments" period. That is the period when all the characters in JRPGs looked like "Precious Moments" figurines:

I know exactly what you mean. And I'm damn glad I'm not the only one. I mention this and most people on forums act like there's something wrong with me because I don't like cutesy things.

I know what you mean...

[AppleQueso]

Finally...I gave up on JRPGs for a while when they were going through what I call the "Precious Moments" period. That is the period when all the characters in JRPGs looked like "Precious Moments" figurines

Man, I'm gonna have to ask exactly what games are looking like that. The handful of modern jrpgs I've played don't really look anything like that at all... or maybe I have, but can't remember... Yikes!

[prfsnl_gmr]

If you see characters with jodhpur-like pants, over-sized shoes, and a plethora of unnecessary buckles, then you are probably in trouble...

[tintinmayo]

I haven't played enough to have an opinion on the worst RPG, but of the ones I've played, the one I hated enough to stop playing twice (I tried to play it once, stopped after a while, then tried to play it again after a few months only to stop again) was Shining Force Neo. The story failed to stick, and the graphics looked like it was done by sweatshop animators trying to ape anime-style drawings. I also kept getting lost because the game wasn't very good at pointing you in the right direction, while providing you with similar-looking maps that have forking paths. The voice acting was also crappy.

What's worse is that I played and finished Shining Force EXA before getting my hands on Neo. The only crappy thing about EXA was the voice acting, but everything else was tops.

[johnny turbo]

Golden Sun gets my vote. I know allot of people love this game series, but i could never stand it. It sure was a good graphical showcase of the GBA. The gameplay was VERY VERY generic. The characters themselves had next to no personality and the whole game was just one long trek across the huge world map. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if any of the towns were distinctive or cool. The only one that comes to mind is the asian themed town from the first game.